Review | Kingdom Hearts 3

The wait is finally over. Almost 13 unlucky years after Kingdom Hearts 2 was released we can taste the 3rd entry (which is actually 13th if we count all spin-offs). It is developed and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One under lead of Tetsuya Nomura; also lead on previous titles. Once more Yoko Shimomura will take care of music with extra help of  Takeharu Ishimoto (FF: Crisis Core) and Tsuyoshi Sekito (Chrono Trigger).

Light and Darkness - Mortal Enemies.

For all of you which maybe don't know what this game represents, the best description would be: An RPG treat mashup of Disney and Square Enix heroes where main character solves obstacles with Keyblade – a sword in a shape of a key which will unlock hearts and bring light to every darkness.

Third „main“ sequel of the franchise follows the story after Dream Drop Distance and tells a story about Sora and his lovely faithful companions. Sora was main actor in last main entry, as well as in the first. Beginning of the game will tell you a story about recent events and Kingdom Hearts history; sort of like a catch up. Nostalgia is strong within this one, truly it is nice to remind ourselves of the good old days that made us wait this long. Although, the story and universe is so complex that even that will not be even nearly enough to follow what is happening.

The fearless trio and philosopher's fire.

Sora lost of his power in last battle against Xehanort, when he tried to take control over his body. And so we begin, young, eager and hopeful in new adventure to find strength for rescuing all lost hearts and those consumed with darkness.

Our goal consists of helping variety of Disney heroes throughout their stories wielding our Keyblade in the process. First we are off to Olympus where good old Hercules awaits. We need his wisdom and advice how to recover our soul and body. The game is adventure riddled with world of famous Disney animated movies like Tangled, Frozen, Toy Story, and this time also Pirates of the Caribbean.

I always prefered Riku over Sora. You will have an honor to experience who is better fighter.

I don’t want to reveal all the magic of the game and its locations, but named titles are the most beautiful you will see. Before moving on, let's go back to the story a bit. When I mentioned it is complex, that is putting it mildly to be honest. It's understandably difficult combining everything in one clear direction and keep going that way. So, that is where game fails to some point. Different time-lines, many characters and their affect on the story is the core but at the same time the biggest problem. Everyone is here, and I mean everyone. Often all of them have something to say which is usually very brief and it will just confuse you. We have Mickey, Riku, Aqua, Terra, personas that Sora hosts (one which is Roxas), replicas, organization XIII...In one moment there is 30 different stories told through different timelines summarized quite briefly; hence the confusion. 

If you thought that Inception is complicated, try guessing the story here.

The game tries to give you all but it doesn't always deliver. If they wanted to go that way then they should have given us 30 additional hours and explain all as it was meant to be, not just pilling everything up in in one place. In shot, story if conflict of light and darkness, fight against Xehanort which will do anything to reproduce yet another Keyblade War event and open Kingdom Hearts – all hearts of all worlds which give unlimited power. Your journey is to gather all Keyblade wielders to confront Xehanort.

What is better than walk through the woods on the sunny day...

What is new here you ask? Starting from sweet ass graphics over free roaming across space. Sounds interesting. As a matter of fact it is. When you overcome intro and get familiar with game mechanics the real adventure starts. You are the proud owner of rubber space ship (yey!) in which you can swim through the space in an open world style across few galaxies. Now it's more Space Invaders style, more free and opened then it was in previous games.

Do you remember back then when captain Picard was cruising through universe in the rubber boat? Me neither.

Space is full of treasures, enemies, constellations to take pictures of and big domes containing variety of items and upgrades. A plus I would say, and yet at the same time nothing spectacular. Driving close or into enemies will initiate a stage fight in 2D style, just like Space Invaders. The ship can fully be customized using collected pieces or you can easily develop a new one using blueprints. Fun mini-game which can steal your time.

Lucky for us the ship is made out of rubber so we are safe.

When time comes to finally visit new world open you eyes for sightseeing and prepare screenshot button. Most of the worlds are simply stunning. Although I know all animated cartoon movies, last one was a surprise, I guess I'm old school. Linearity is present big time, every world takes you forward and tells a story, but don't worry because it's done properly here and that is not a minus; Certainly weird having all those open world games nowadays.

It's so cool to jog around, chase the prey, and kick some darkness emissaries.

Twilight Town is here again. It was expected. Good thing is that it's only here in the beginning and the game doesn't recycle locations. Each one is filled with treasure boxes containing items or accessories and this time there is a Photo Mode which is self-explanatory. Good old Moogle will you ask you to take pictures or certain parts of every world and properly reward you for these tasks. One thing is really weird – you cannot show mini-map on full screen mode. I really hope they will allow that with some patch because this is just not acceptable. Often levels are long and memorizing everything feels a bit too much. New thing is running up the walls so you will be a real Prince of Hearts.

Most of the time on snow level you will spent enjoing the view. Sora is the real winter queen.

2 worlds however have mini open world approach. Unfortunately it is quite poor. On Caribbean’s you will cruise with ship and explore different islands while in San Fransokyo you will try to be Spider-Man and you will not like it. The whole open world idea is just not fun enough. It lacks details, depth and ideas. Heroes of every world will be your allies through the fight, which is cool because it will open more special attacks. I would like to name few locations which I liked the most: Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen (Arendelle), Toy Story (The Toybox), Tangled (Kingdom of Corona).

Captain Jack Swallows, I mean, Captain Jack Shallows. He still has stinky breath.

Except beauty and style, some mini games are also here. Each world offers some, like boarding or just beating flans. Whether you want to play is up to you. Biggest one is cooking. In Twilight Town there is a restaurant where you can use all collected ingredients to cook a meal. Spectacular meal will require a bit of skill and timing. It is a fun activity. Come by at my place, I have 5 star restaurant, best in galaxy.

If you are a sucker for retro, game has even that kind of mini-games. Whatever suits you more.

Let's cook together. Fighting makes us hungry.

When eating a meal you will gain bonuses for fight. Let’s jump to that.

Certainly the best aspect of the game are fights. Formula of success is transferred here and works perfectly. For a bit. At the same time mindlesly mashing one button can be a bit boring, there is not much that can change the tactics or let you choose different approach. Previous titles had somewhat better design when it comes to approach. Novelty are the Attraction Flow attacks introduced for the first time. Those are special sequences that can be activated in certain opportunity when attacking enemies – a short animations and then longer period Disney attraction attacks like Pirate Ship, Mad Tea Cups, Splash run or something out of 6 in general. Goal is to use that period to mash buttons and take as much damage as you can and end with a big finish.

Doesn't look fair when you are a huge ship and they aren't.

So, you will transform into giant ship mashing button for a minute or shooting from cannon like in FPS. Looks nice. In the beginning. And that is it. They are fun as a starter but later on you will avoid them because they just consume time and there is nothing more than that. You can always turn off animations that usually play when transforming so it will shorten the wait; kudos for that.

Swing around and transform you weapon to a real combo machinery.

Mostly emphasis is on transformations which is greatly done with weapons. Each weapon have its own set of attacks which you can transform to another form after successful combo and finish with a strong special attack. It's a real massacre when you get the grasp of it. I really liked that part.

What I didn't like was the difficulty of the game itself. Try Proud mode, everything bellow that is walk in the park. By the end of the game I think I spent only 2-3 heal items and here and there some healing magic. But there are some difficulty spikes on some bosses which can kill you in matter of seconds. They need to balance that part a bit. 

Turn off the animations in between transformations and fights will be even smoother.

They did a fine job in effects and magic’s area. I'm a big fan of Thundaga which will be your most useful magic in entire game. When you combo magic you can also transform it into its stronger version. Only sad part is that only Fire, Blizzard, Water, Thunder, Aero and Cure are here. Having more would be so much fun.

Aren't we an ugly piece of meat.

Most of enemies we've already seen. Additionally, every world have specific new types. All mentioned looks great and gives certain glamour to the game. Bosses are especially nice, they are huge each using different tactic. There is just something in that final blow when it goes to slow motion, levels go up...It gives certain satisfaction points.

Prepare for all kinds of challenges. The best are those dark and gloomy ones.

Sora is a little tank for different progress tree. Levelling up you will learn all new skills which you can equip that will give all kinds of bonuses: extend number of combo attacks, double jump (oh how i love this one), make magic stronger...Strategy elements are there although they go down the drain considering how easy the game is. Maybe the problem is that I expect Dark Souls difficulty in every game. Along with all that you can synthesise new armours and accessories which can expand your skill slots or simply defence and elemental resistance.

Unfortunately, the game offers mediocre difficulty along some spikes. Proud mode required for all the seniors our there.

RPG elements are done properly even though there is not so much that will change approach, but in game fluent as this one all that is not important so much.

If you want to be a master of the universe you will have to craft. For sure it will help you beat some optional bosses or make your life easy in the end. At the same time that can be avoided considering difficulty. Biggest benefit will be for Goofy and Donald as they have much more things that can be crafted than Sora – for him there is only 1 weapon. Guess which one it is.

So much colors - they covered the whole palette.

It is very disappointing that not a single Final Fantasy character is in the game. Sephiroth and Cloud were always part of story or side content and here – zero. Side content here is very weak. There is almost nothing that extends the story or that side of the game except secret ending, which is more like „you will pay for DLC because there is not much in the game itself“. One world is optional and hidden, but it is very un-important to even be there.

Septhiroth is not here. Cloud as well. Final Fantasy completely forgotten. Maybe even better considering latest FF entry had those selfy boys.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is long and very awaited game. Worst case scenario it's rock solid because it will give you so much fun – 30h for story and 20-30h more to complete all there is. Everything is so fluent, sweet and fun making it game's biggest plus. They did invest effort which is probably weakened by time pressure and it resulted with less content and confusing story-telling. Then again, maybe we are a tough crowd. Anyhow, I would still highly recommend playing this. Don't watch cartoons, play them!