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Review by ASX
	When this game was announced farther back, many people were wondering the same thing - Disney and Square? What's going on? Although putting the two companies together on a game was definitely a strange move, the result of what they produced was worth it. Kingdom Hearts is a very fun game that puts a new twist on traditional RPGs. In KH, you play as a 14 year-old boy named Sora who lives on the Destiny Islands with his friends Kairi and Riku. One day, evil beings called the Heartless invade and Sora awakens in a place called Traverse Town (which is full of Disney characters). He sets out to unravel the mystery of what happened. He runs into Donald Duck and Goofy, who have been set out to look for their King Mickey. The three join forces and set out through several Disney worlds to destroy the Heartless, find King Mickey, and find Sora's friends. Along the way, you'll encounter several familiar Disney characters who will help you. Some will even assist you in battle. ------------------------------ Graphics: ------------------------------ Visually, Kingdom Hearts is stunning. The entire game is set in a vast 3-D world that will mesmerize you. Character models are good-looking, the visual effects that occur while you're casting magic spells or summoning allies are awesome, and the backgrounds in the game are detailed. Although the graphical work in KH was not focused on realism (everything looks a bit cartoony), it still doesn't make a difference. Score: 10/10 ------------------------------ Sound: ------------------------------ One feature in Kingdom Hearts that Final Fantasy players will enjoy is the new voices for older FF characters such as Aeris (Aerith in KH), Yuffie, Cloud, Squall (Leon in this game), and more. There is also ''professional'' voice-acting for some characters... Haley Joel Osment does the voice of Sora, Mandy Moore does Aerith, Christy Carlson Romano does Yuffie, Lance Bass (!) does Sephiroth, and other voice actors that have been famous at some point are included in the game. All the Disney characters have voices too. I'm pretty sure most of them have their original voice actors, but not positive. Some examples of ones that are include in the game are Aladdin, Tarzan, Hercules, Hades, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, and many other favorites. The background music in each area is nothing special, but it's not bad either. Sound effects are crisp and clear and done nicely overall. Everything is great when it comes to sound. Score: 10/10 ------------------------------ Control: ------------------------------ The only flaw in the control is that the button combinations may take some time getting used to. During battle, you'll need to press several buttons to execute a command against your opponent. You'll eventually develop to become used to it, but at first it can get a little tedious. However, outside of battle, things are simple. Moving around, talking to people, examining objects, etc., is easy. No big problems here... Score: 8/10 ------------------------------ Gameplay: ------------------------------ As mentioned in the beginning of the review, Kingdom Hearts definitely puts a new twist on traditional RPGs (sort of like The Legend of Zelda). Instead of fighting random battles or turn-based battles, you will enter battle as soon as you sight an enemy. Fights take place in real-time, so you're vulnerable to enemy attacks even while you're changing attacks or options. You will need to attack your enemies manually by pressing X, and heal manually too, all in real-time. There are various things you can do during battle, such as summon characters to assist you, cast traditional Squaresoft magic spells, and use items. Defeating enemies results in them dropping ''balls'', small spheres that have various effects. Some may restore HP or MP, while others may have special results. During battle, you, Donald, and Goofy have your own traditional HP and MP bars. Donald and Goofy are sort of like part of the game's AI since you can't control them and their actions are unpredictable (not in a bad way though). There are several mini-games scattered throughout the game, and these add to the fun. Although the ''Gummi Ship'' game you need to play in order to cross worlds is boring, everything else is good. Score: 9/10 ------------------------------ Buy or Rent? ------------------------------ Buy. You'll most likely enjoy this game, especially if you've played other action-RPGs. ------------------------------ Overall: ------------------------------ Although at first it may not seem like it, Kingdom Hearts is actually an excellent game. The graphics will stun you, the audio will keep you satisfied, and the gameplay will leave you wanting more. Everything's just awesome here. Pick this one up ASAP. Overall Score: 10/10
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by Badgerman
	Sora and his friends live on Destiny Island, a peaceful place with apparently no adults. However, after a strange dream, Sora's world is assaulted by hideous shadow creatures. He tries to fend them off with a mysterious Keylike weapon that appears to him, but ultimately his world is destroyed. He awakes in a strange town, alone, with the mysterious ''Keyblade'' in hand . . . Little does he know that far more is afoot. The strange beings known as the Heartless are rampaging across the worlds, and one of the few people who understands what may be going on has vanished - King Mickey. With Mickey's loyal followers, the wizard Donald and the knight Goofy, they hope to unriddle the mystery of the Heartless - and it starts with the Keyblade . . . Or, in short, this is a fantasy adventure that tosses in tons of Disney worlds and characters. However, if you expect a bunch of slick and soulless merchandising, you'd be mistaken . . . Graphics: 10/10 Simply, this is one of the best-looking games for the Playstation 2, perhaps the best. An amazing amount of detail is included, and the animation is almost always smooth (though you can get a bit of slowdown or minor texturing/effects issues, especially when a bunch of enemies die or appear at once in the heat of combat). One note is that the engine for the video sequences is usually not the super-deluxe system we're used to from FFX. It appears to be an advanced version of the gameplay engine, if not the gameplay engine itself. So don't expect much cinematic-quality rendering except in a few noteworthy sections. Still, the game looks so good overall, and its marvelously cinematic. The environments are, in general, very well done. There's little details, lighting effects, appropriate designs, etc. that makes everything live. The locations have personality and you get a sense of ''being there'' Gameplay: 8/10 Gameplay is essentially arcade-like. When you're walking aroud, think Maximo or Jak and Daxter. When you're flying between worlds, it's old-style arcade shooter. Lets get this out of the way - it's not perfect. 1) The camera occasionally gets confusing, and can occasionally whip around and confuse you. You can ''lock on'' to targets, but sometimes this makes it worse. 2) You'll have to get used to real-time controls in combat, and it's not exactly easy. You have to juggle four buttons, camera angles, locking on, shortcuts, and menus. 3) The travel between worlds in the Gummi Ship is pointless, kind of stupid, and a waste of time. 4) Except for your main character, the other characters have AI, acting on preset options. These AI's are not bad, but they sometimes make poor decisions, especially early in the game - usually over-using recovery items or special abilities. OK, beyond these things? The gameplay is great, and to be honest, as good as it could have been in such a game. However, it is not as easy as it may seem. It is not for everyone, and it requires definite arcader skills to go along with the RPGer skills. What you do, essentially, is explore areas, and after completing certain tasks, more areas open up, which you reach via your ''Gummi Ship,'' in rather uninspired arcade sequences. However, the Gummi ships are the most boring part of the game - the rest is far more interesting. Different worlds present different inhabitants, puzzles, and challenges. You walk around in a platform-arcade style setting, finding and manipulating objects, talking with people, and fighting. There's no real transition between moving and combat, so a seemingly peaceful experience can turn ugly - adding to the ''twitch'' factor and heightening the adsorption and realism of the game. Combat is done via AIs for your companions and by buttons, shortcuts, and cascading menus for yourself. It sounds complicated, and sometimes is. However, one actually can adapt very easily. It's not perfect by any means, but it is perhaps the best implementation that could be achieved in such a complex game, and one eventually develops instincts, shortcuts, and personal combos to make things more effective. The AIs . . . well they can be tweaked so they are OK, and as your party gains experience, and the non-player characters have more options, they seem to work better. Mostly, the AI is a Recovery-Item hog. Combat wins you experience, and, enjoyably, all characters you can play advance. So you can rotate characters in and out of the party as you see fit, and no one gets behind on the experience scale. New skills are learned, and can be equipped or unequipped, and finding good skill combinations is one of the fun parts of the game. Each world is, except for a few, a Disney world. You'll meet very familiar characters, most of whom are done quite well and feel in the spirit of their individual worlds. There is usually a lack of ''background'' characters, leading some worlds to feel a bit underpopulated, but overall they're interesting and fun, though a few have unobvious puzzles that take some exploration and guesswork. Sound: 10/10 There's great sound and music, good voice acting, and all sorts of little touches that bring gameplay to life. The sound enhances the gameplay as opposed to dominating it or fading into the background. The mysterious ''bubbling'' created by Heartless materializing, or Goofy thanking you for using a Cure spell on him all blend together to make the experience, again, one that comes to life. Story: 9/10 There is a story here. In fact, one that twists and turns a few times rather delightfully. In addition, each world has its own ''substory'' that ties into the larger one. Character motivations are usually clearly explained, though don't think you know everything until the credits roll. Most characters have their own motivations and agendas, and they intersect nicely. It's a tale of friendship and loyalty, destiny and finding yourself, and bittersweet understanding. It is at times incredibly corny, but it knows its a living cartoon, so the over-the-topness works. Is it perfect? No, nothing is, but it works very well. Replayability: 7/10 The real flaw with this game is that, in general, you've seen it all when you're done, or at least so much that you probably don't care. It's difficult to wade through the story sequences, the training sequences, etc. one more time. Overall: 10/10 Despite the fact I haven't given the game a 10 in all categories, I have to give it a 10 overall. Why? Because though it's not perfect in every category, Kingdom Hearts achieves the rare quality of synergy of elements - the elements work together so well that they produce something greater than the sum of its parts. I can point out flaws, but the greater whole makes the flaws seem rather small. An unqualified gaming success. Rent or Buy: I bought it right out of the gate, and its one of those that many will. If this sounds like your cup of tea, you'll buy it. The only reason to rent it if you're very, very unsure you'd like it, or if you fear the control system may be too complex.
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by BladedCamel
	I like to think of myself as a pretty hard person to get a perfect score for. I also don't believe in writing a review until I've finished the game. I wasn't sure about this game at first,I mean come on Disney an Square making a game? Before buying the game I didn't know if I should be the one playing it or if it was meant for someone much younger. Within the first hours I couldn't stop playing it. I spent 3 hours in the first area when it could have been done in about 10 minuets. Unlike many RPG this one is truly fun and entertaining. GRAPHICS:10 You know when Square is in on it, the graphics have got to be the best. The 3 Dimensional environments in the game are breath taking. The lush textures an great array of colors make this an easy win. The stunning backgrounds and summoning animation were nothing short of awesome. The sprites are smooth an well rounded, their are not blocky at all! Its amazing how they got all the Disney characters into a 3 dimensional environment an they still look like they did in the cartoons! They just did a GREAT job on the graphic! SOUND/MUSIC/VOICE ACTING: 10 Sound Effects The sound is great! The spell effects and battle sounds are just right, not over done or constantly used. I in places like in the jungle the water sounds and bird chirping were perfect. You only hear the sound that your supposed to when your supposed to, unlike some other games were your hearing running water miles from the river or the annoying ''CLICK'' every time you take a step. When your in the cave areas you will see what I mean. The sound of your foot steps will start to echo off the walls right when you enter the cave, without driving you mad after 5 minuets. The Sound Effects are always crisp an clear and are truly well done. Music The music isn't like the Final Fantasy series. There doesn't seem to be a whole orchestra doing the music. The music fits where it should an doesn't try to steal the spot light from the game it self. Nor is it very childish or too much like Disney's movie sound tracks. The music isn't on a epic scale,but does its job simply and nicely. Voice Acting The voice acting is VERY well done. Square and Disney got some of the best to do the voices. People such as Haley Joel Osment, Mandy Moore, Cristy Carlson Romano And Lance Bass do some of the Square Soft characters. I am unsure if the Disney characters are done by the original Voice actors or not, but if they aren't I'm unable to tell the difference. This is something a lot of game have REALLY messed up in the past, but kingdom Heart did a outstanding job! GAMEPLAY: 9 (Control and Battle System) The controls are fairly simple, right analog stick moves the character, the ''X'' button attack, ''O'' jumps and the other buttons do a variety of other things including magic, menu, Rotating the camera,locking on a target and commanding your other party members in battle. The only problems I encountered with the control was the camera movement and the steering of the gummi ship. This was not very often, but in some places were you need to make a hard jump or your trying to find the big bad guy hitting you with magic, I found myself Fighting the camera to look were I wanted to. In some cases the camera would move 90 degrees in the middle of a critical jump! The other problem was control on the gummi ship(the equivalent of a ''air ship'' in other Square Soft games). It was way to sensitive and it made the ships weapons very hard to aim at first. But all and all the controls are pretty good and didn't cause to many problem. The battle system is simple enough. Hitting ''X'' button once will hit the targeted enemy and hitting the ''X'' button 3 or 4 times in a row will land a combo. They have a targeting system were all you have to do is hit the ''R1'' button to lock on to the monster the targeting circle is currently on, but you don't even have to use it! You will automatically face the closest enemy,but the lock on feature does come in handy for boss battles and picking up objects. You also have ABILITIES you can use and most of them you just have to equip and the ability will use it self. Like for example: the ability ''+1 Air combo''. You simply equip the ability an instead of doing you normal 3 hit combo you can now do 4 hit combo! These cost a certain amount of AP(ABILITY POINTS) to equip, so you have to pick an choose the ones you want equip. Some of the abilities you do actually have to pick an use them in combat. Most of these do devastating combos though! Magic is easy to use but somewhat limited. You can program 3 spells to ''SHORT-CUT'' buttons. Those 3 are easily cast anytime you want,but the other spells your going have to choose the spell command and scroll down to find the one you want. In a heated battle this can be a problem, but for the most part the 3 short-cut keys are all you'll need. Combat can very greatly depending on the choice you make at the beginning of the game. You have to choose your fighting style. There's a sword if you want to be the warrior type, There's a wand if you want to play the wizard type and finally there's a shield if you want to play a more defensive style. I played the Warrior style. So I'm not very versed on the other two style. The battle system is very easy to use an fun play, so anyone can do it! STORYLINE:10 This is the main part of the game I was worried about when I bought the game. I mean Disney was in on it. I didn't want to be playing a RPG aimed at 8 year olds. To my great surprise and relief it was for normal and younger RPG fans alike. The story begins on a small tropical island with the main character Sora, a young boy living a peaceful and fun life with his friends Riku and Kairi. Sora's friends look a lot like Square's other characters from other games(wink wink). He and his friends are building a raft to journey to another ''world''. Kids are so funny some times. You start out by finding things for the raft and food for the trip. You can also challenge your other friends to sparing a match or some races. You are of course rewarded for winning some of these. You get dropped into the ''meat grinder'' as to say when you wake up an the sky is totally blackened and there are all these funny looking little black balls with arms an short stubby legs....not to mention teeth! These, you find out later, are called heartless. All throughout your adventures your trying to rid every world of the heartless. Soon you receive the ''KEYBLADE''. You'll have to fight off some of the heartless before you realize you've been separated from your best friends, Riku and kairi. Through out your adventure your final goal is to find your friends. Soon you will get your first look at Donald Duck and Goofy in a hilarious FMV! I swear I couldn't stop laughing for 5 minutes! Soon your off to stop the heartless on a Great epic adventure with 2 of Disney's most beloved characters. ENDING: NOT A SPOILER! I don't tend to like the endings on most Square's games, because there really isn't a ending in most of time. Theres a few pictures and a cut-scene showing the heroes escape the final dungeon and that's pretty much it, save for the final still picture that makes you wonder what happened! If you feel the same way I do, then you will not be disappointed with the ending to Kingdom Hearts. I assure you theres a ACTUAL ending and IMO its pretty good for Square, but still makes you want more. The story line is well thought out an executed nicely. The game gave me a good 65 hours of very addictive play time. I did many of the side side quests and extras too. I know someone else that beat the game in 40 hours though, so I guess it depends on wether you rush through it or not. Square and Disney have truly created something special here when many feared the worst. Kingdom Hearts is a FUN filled and STUNNING game with a GREAT story line and sense of humor. Its easy to play battle system make fighting fun without being repetitious. The game is aimed at RPG players 10 an up, but I'm pretty sure a younger sibling won't mind watching someone else play. Kingdom Hearts is a definite MUST HAVE for all RPG fans alike!
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by Dan Elektro
	''And now, for the latest episode of ''When Disney characters attack!'' Five days ago, as I strolled down into my local Wal-Mart, there were two words running through my head. Kingdom Hearts. The first mention I heard of the game, at work, was hearing Squaresoft and Disney were combining to create an RPG. My first thoughts on the game were pretty bad- I really thought they would make a crappy game like they always do for hit Disney movies. From experience with Disney, I knew that they should only made movies, not games. The movies are good, but the games turn out being horrible and dont sell much. Take, for example, A Bugs Life for the N64. I doubt 75% of the people reading this have never even heard of the game. Several other Disney games horribly failed in sales, in turn making Disney the worst video game company to most people. I thought about some of my friends, who had played through the game amazed with it. ''Hurry.'' I said to myself. Filled with haste, I rushed in through the automatic doors, and asked the clerk about the availability of the game. She told me to follow her to the back of the store. There stood a long line of about ten people. All of them looked extremely anxious and they continued to wait with slight anger and boredom. I took my place in line, with a hand on my hip, and waited. The same clerk told a young boy, accompanied by his mother, to follow her through a door against the back wall. A minute or so later, the boy submerged with a brand spanking new copy of Kingdom Hearts. Every now and then, people walked in and out with their new games. More and more people piled up behind me, eagerly discussing what they had heard about the game. ''Must buy Kingdom Hearts'' Finally, about ten minutes after arriving, the lady told me to come with her. Turns out I was very lucky, there was only four copies left! As I walked out with a grin on my face, and a new video game in my hand, I thought about the many that would leave empty- handed. I checked out the game at the counter and left before a rant occurred, and before the unhappy people started a strike. Full with excitement, I rushed home. I walked in, took out the disc, and popped it into the PS2. Yet I did not know my virtual reality and the great pleasure of Kingdom Hearts was soon to come The storyline of Kingdom Hearts was done very nicely. Although it takes a pretty big imagination to believe and understand it, it was still done nicely with obvious effort on the situation of what happens. The game of Kingdom Hearts is about a young teenager, by the name of Sora. Sora is the protagonist of the game, and is the one you manually control at all times of the game. Sora lives in a cozy little village, with his two best friends Kairi and Riku. Destiny Islands is the name of their small little place, of what they know as home. One day, something awful happens as a horrible storm hits the town, separating the three into totally different worlds. Sora wakes up and wanders around where he landed, which happens to be Traverse Town. ''The storyline is action packed with tons of twists along the way.'' At the same time, in a Disney- like world, havoc has been wrecked as the people of Disney Castle find out King Mickey has disappeared, just vanished, out of the blue. The Disney Castle has sent out the two bravest knights, Goofy and Donald to go out and find King Mickey, and bring him back safe to Disney Castle. Along the way, Goofy and Donald run into Sora and they tell each other of their quests. Soon, they then know what has happened to both of them- and now they know some new villains they must defeat- The Heartless. The Heartless are the villains of this game, and their goal is to steal the hearts from humans and the creatures from the Disney games. It seems that they are successful after the past two attacks. Anyway, after Sora and his two new friends have met, they start their journey onwards to stop The Heartless. Along the way, the three run along several obstacles and twists and turns in the storyline. Overall, the storyline of Kingdom Hearts is very good. Although some dont like the Disney approach and how Sora can talk and meet up with the imaginary Disney characters, its still immense- has some twists in it and is done vividly and is rich with details of what they must do together to each reach their life goal- Sora must get back to his own world and Donald and Goofy must get King Mickey back to the Castle. The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts is nicely done. The game provides nearly 40 hours of total gameplay, meaning a month or two of fun with your PlayStation 2. Throughout Kingdom Hearts, you fight various enemies and bosses, usually demons called The Heartless. They are black colored little creatures that enjoy to fight you throughout the game. In battle with your enemies, you have a bar at the bottom of the screen titling a few commands. Pressing X on Attack will swing your weapon at the nearest opponent. Mash X to repetitively swing and attack with fury. Select Magic and press the assigned button to cast a spell on the foe. Can be Fire, Lightning, Ice, and more. Very interesting selection on the spells, I must say. The magic gets stronger as you progress through the game. You can also use items at the screen, such as potions to cure HP and ethers to cure MP. Press R1 near an opponent to lock on with a target feature, which makes aiming much easier. I like this concept, its very basic, and you get used to mashing X near opponents in this wonderful Action /RPG. ''Kingdom Hearts wouldnt be Kingdom Hearts without the summons.'' Of course, Kingdom Hearts wouldnt be a simple RPG without the summons. The summons are based solely from the Disney horizon. One summon is The Genie, from Aladdin, who returns in Kingdom Hearts with Robin Williams as the same voice actor, respectively. Summon Mushu, from Mulan, to impact some heavy damage with the small red dragons Flare attack. Get Simba to help you out, the good old lion from the Lion King series. Bambi is in this game with some handy skills, and even Tinker Bell returns from the old Disney movie Peter Pan. Lastly, Dumbo, the notable elephant, happens to be in this game as a fierce summon. Another fun thing to do throughout the game is create a Gummi ship. Customize it however you want at Chip and Dales garage and use your Gummi ship for transportation. To customize it, use Gummi blocks that you find randomly assorted around the world. These Gummi blocks can even make the ship stronger and better. Some other things you find assorted around are the Trinity Marks of different colors. By using these Trinity Marks, you can access special items and other rare objects. The currency Kingdom Hearts offers hundreds of characters with great personalities. Theres Sora, whos fourteen years old and is the main character of the bunch. Theres Riku, Soras friend, whos fifteen, and likes to boast about his strength. Sometimes Riku finds himself highly overconfident. Theres Kairi, who lives with Sora and Riku, and is the girl of the group. All three (Riku, Sora, Kairi) are great friends, and have been for years. Donald assists Sora in battle and proves to be a great friend to the end of the game, and even Goofy tries hard to gain Soras trust and become friends until the very end. Although, there are more characters ''Ninja chickz roxxz0rz my b0xxz0rz!'' Tidus and Wakka from Final Fantasy X return in Kingdom Hearts. Both have a much younger look, kind of strange. Tidus is fierce, and wants to fight you to become stronger and stronger. Wakka too loves to fight using his blitzball as a weapon. Selphie, from Final Fantasy VIII comes back in the ''younger'' look also, which is very strange. She seems just like a kid in this- with a jumping rope and all! Cid, taking his form from Final Fantasy VII comes to Kingdom Hearts as a weapon shop owner. Moogle, from similar Final Fantasy games, comes back as an assistant in the weapon shop. Even Cloud returns to Kingdom Hearts, with an outfit that makes you wonder if hes evil with the cool looking sword and the dark, mysterious cape. Squall Leonhart, from Final Fantasy VIII, will come back to Kingdom Hearts as Leon, accompanied by Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII. Both bring back a brand new voice actor but same great personalities from the Final Fantasy games. Even Aeris returns in Kingdom Hearts, with a voice actor that meets her with near perfectness. Lastly, but no where near being least, is Sephiroth, with a digitally enhanced face and body. The cape he is wearing matches him perfectly, and Sephiroth is as mysterious as ever in Kingdom Hearts. ''Kingdom Hearts is full of various enchanted worlds, with many characters to spare!'' Across the game of Kingdom Hearts lay a bunch of worlds for Sora and his friends to explore. Theres Traverse Town, where Sora met up with Donald and Goofy. Many Final Fantasy characters live here, such as Cid or Moogle. Theres Disney Castle, of course, where Donald and Goofy came from. Minnie Mouse and Pluto wait from the Castle for the three to return with King Mickey! Theres the Olympus Coliseum, home to Hercules and the evil Hades. Hades looks mysterious and it seems he knows something about Cloud. Is this what makes Cloud mysterious? Another world is Wonderland. Alice lives here with White Rabbit, but so do evil Queen of Hearts and her strange feline. What makes her cat seem so strange? Of course, theres the Deep Jungle, home to Tarzan, Jane, and the evil hunter Clayton. There are also gorillas to spare and fight for Tarzans side. But why does Clayton want to take down the gorilla race? The extremely moody and dark world of Halloween Town hovers with a black and white atmosphere. Jack Skellingtons back, and same with many other strange characters from the movie Halloween Town. Ariel, from The Little Mermaid, is also back in Kingdom Hearts in the water world of Alantica. With her comes her dopey crab friend, and an evil villain, Ursula. Seems she wants to take over Atlantica why? The giant whale Monstro has seemed to swallow a village whole. Inside lay Geppetto, an old man who likes to create things. He even made the legendary Pinocchio, who cant tell a lie. Or does he? In the movie of Peter Pan, Hook and Peter Pant himself lived throughout the world of Never Land. Never Land is back, and so is the evil Hook. But he looks more evil than ever! Strange Even Winnie the Pooh is in Kingdom Hearts. With him comes Piglet, Tigger, and other Pooh characters. But the Hundred Acre Woods is not even associated with evil or are they? And lastly, is the desert world on Agrabah. Aladdins hometown includes an evil force named Jafar. It seems he has slight control by using the Heartless to rule the world of Agrabah. With all these characters and worlds, you would surprised to hear someone say Kingdom Hearts has bad gameplay. After touring through many worlds, you can even do more things. Collect all the Trinity Marks for a surprise, and train and maximize your stats. Customize your Gummi Ship perfectly, go on a side quest and defeat the hidden boss. Go out and collect all the items, and become better at the game so you can become strong enough to defeat whatever gets in your way. The gameplay is a very strong part of Kingdom Hearts, and I believe that nothing is stopping Kingdom Hearts from going big in sales because of the length of it. In total, it is about 40 - 50 hours, completing sidequests and all. Training more often will increase the total time by an hour or so. Although Squaresoft has had longer games, (Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII) Kingdom Hearts still shines in other concepts of the game. ''The graphics make Kingdom Hearts unstoppable, virtually knocking all other opponents out of the competition.'' Graphically, Kingdom Hearts may be Squaresofts best work yet. Although with the imaginary Disney characters, somehow they make them bright with colors and sharp to each pixel of their bodies. Sora is shown with extremely crisp graphics, and so are all other characters. The cinematic scenes are amazing. I know for a fact I had my mouth gaping wide open as I watched the scene when Sephiroth appeared, clad with his dark cape and evil smile. The backgrounds are done nicely, with flashing bright colors to match the atmosphere. In Halloween Town, the fog and how eerie the background made the city look was just great. In Agrabah, the sand and desert matched with accurate colors and when the wind blew sand flied too. Although I cant go as in-depth graphically, what I can say about it is that its great. Most of the scenes are good and they dont forget even a simple pixel in, say, a building. The 3D role of Kingdom Hearts is done great, not choppy or blocky like in Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VIII. The graphics, unfortunately, are not the greatest thing about the game when it comes to the sheer gameplay or the core audio of Kingdom Hearts. The sound/ audio in Kingdom Hearts is BY FAR my favorite area in the entire game. The soundtrack is amazing- with A LOT of songs to boot. The songs never get repeating or annoying- as the sound frequently changes. The big thing about the audio is the voice acting in the game. This is probably what makes the sound of Kingdom Hearts my favorite. The celebrity is unstoppable- topping the charts with Haley Joel Osment as Sora. He does a surprisingly nice job- not the immature voice you heard in The Sixth Sense or AI. Lance Bass, who sings for the band NSync, will play the voice of Sephiroth. Amazingly, Lance Bass does not go ''High Pitch'' in Kingdom Hearts, but actually does a nice, broad voice of a sensationally evil character. Another broad speaker is the voice actor of Squall, (Leon) who is respectively David Boreanaz, of the television series Angel. Mandy Moore, a young, female music artist, will play Aeris (Aerith). Christy Romano, from various Disney movies and shows, such as Even Stevens David Gallagher, Hayden Panettiere, and other stars will help with voice acting in this wonderful game. ''Utada Hikaru finally introduced to America!'' But the voice actors arent the only thing. Utada Hikaru, whos the ''Britney Spears of Japan'' sings the intro to Kingdom Hearts. (Hikaru) The song is very recent, and is very popular in Japan. So is Utada Hikaru. After hearing the song once or twice, I immediately ran to my computer to download it off of KaZaA. I find myself listening to it a lot (Even right now, as we speak!) The other songs in the game, although (in my opinion) not as enjoyable, are still solid tracks brought to you by Squaresoft. Traditionally, Squaresofts Final Fantasy games have had good music in it, but nothing like this. Im surprised what Square did and how! ''Ive been having these weird thoughts lately Like, is any of this for real, or not?'' A Closing Statement. Kingdom Hearts is an extremely enjoyable game from the start. I picked it up for fifty dollars, and after playing through it, found it was superb. Certainly the best RPG released on the PS2 as of now Otherwise Kingdom Hearts was just flat out fun. I remember finding myself jumping off my chair and prancing around as I nearly dodged one of Sephiroths attacks, then attacking back and dodging in the process of that. A fun sidequest was the Dalmatian journey, it was action packed and had a nice amount of length to it. I liked customizing my Gummi Ship, and training and training for about an hour or two just to defeat Sephiroth. I remember mashing down on X as I approached a demon of the Heartless, or hacking down on any other simple enemy. Virtually, to me, Kingdom Hearts could not have been made any better. Although Im not saying its greatly perfect and flawlessly, I just think Squaresoft couldnt have completed the task of making it any better. The sound and audio is amazing, graphic- wise the game accels madly, and the gameplay is awesome too. The game, at times, can be madly addicting, and driving you to the point of stealing your social life. What Ive learned from this game, Kingdom Hearts, is that Disney isnt prone to making unsuccessful and horrible games. Kingdom Hearts has proved the people who hate Dinsey wrong, and very wrong. Other than Disney not making a bad game, It seems Disney/ Squaresoft DO have a winner on there hands and its not Final Fantasy XI!
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10