Kingdom Hearts

Okay that's it! Disney and Squaresoft have up and done it this time. How could they put me through such torment of a month of non-stop game play, combining the best of role-playing games with the magic of Disney?

Luckily, the music isn't so much torment. The introduction, sung by extremely popular Japan superstar Hikaru Utada, is an English version of her Japanese hit song "Hikari" (though it iterally translates into "light", here it means "hope"). The song recurs naturally in a beautifully orchestrated version. "Hikari" may very well get you to be a fan of Utada's also. The rest of the music is pretty good, all adhering to the original soundtracks of the different levels/worlds.

As you fall into darkness, you encounter your first level tutorials, also making your first decisions that may help or plague you during your long adventure.

From previous mishaps with choices in Squaresoft games, I cheated a bit and did research on which were the best. So don't forget a set of memory cards, especially if you are as paranoid as me about getting axed after an hour of playtime. I did find that there is a continue function the game has, but I don't really know the consequences of using them, and how random the point of return.

The set up is simple enough. You're on an island with friends. You look up to the eldest of the bunch, Riku, and you have strong feelings for a girl, Kairi. Along with them are characters from the Final Fantasy games, Wakka, Squall, Selphi, Cid, and others. You start learning more of your movements and basic battle functions on this island. As the story begins, you see cut scenes from a Disney castle, and the evolving story of King Mickey's disappearance, spinning into the sinister plots of the baddies.

This game is no different really from the basic FF theme of game play. It lives to the promise of yet another new battle technique/system, and it's fast-paced to say the least. Unlike the regular FF games past, its real-time and "gohlee" keeps you on your toes during most of the battles. (Don't forget to keep checking your meters.)

Fortunately you get used to it, and can make the necessary adjustments after the first 2 or 3 hours of playing. Learning a lesson from FF-7 on up, spend as much time as possible powering/leveling up, even when your one blow can kill your enemies. It's time consuming as ever, and in many cases lagging in that sense, but rightfully so. This is after all a RPG type game that should take forever in Squaresoft's eyes.

So the question is, does Disney bring anything new to the game?

The answer is obviously, yes. One cannot stress enough how this game takes you into that alternate reality, and keeps the game fun and interesting. In fact, it will probably lead to your downfall in this game. It keeps you so interested in what's going to happen next, that by the time you are introduced to the Disney aspects and different worlds, you want hop on into the next adventure and continue. You then will tend to forget to level up thus eventually get stuck trying for four hours to defeat Captain Hook, because you just wanted to get to the next adventure as quickly as you possibly can.

There's an irony there somewhere.

Every world allows you to utilize the help of that particular world's hero. Mind you, Sora is the hero, and you don't often play any of the other characters at all like Tarzan, Donald, Goofy or the likes. They are set on autopilot during a battle, so beware what you have them set to do. It's still fun chasing Cheshire Cat, or fighting the Sinbad-ish Heartless in the streets of Agrabah, getting swallowed by Monstro, or even rescuing the 101 Dalmatians that are scattered around. It seems like 1,000 sub-games, and little adventures you would be able to play, and even without the cheat book, you still have fun with most of them.

The Skinny: As robust as this game is, load time is very painless, and for all the Final Fantasy gamers out there, this is no exception to any other FF game that's been put on the market.

It's basically the same old strategy used before, "Go get the walkthrough magazine if you want to see everything! And if you want to get through this as painlessly as possible"

For everyone else who's got a month or two to spare… this may get ugly, so throw down the joystick and get your Espresso machine ready. You're gonna need all the caffeine you can get.

Mish'al Samman