'Kingdom Hearts' (2002) - Flick Through Review
The last little while has been eventful, to say the least. Journaling has turned into an exhaustive attempt to document my life in uncomfortable detail. Some short stories have molded into huge reality bending narratives that I know will never be completed. Starting a new job. Finding a new vibe. I’ve played some games, read some books and watched some films. So, to whizz through, I thought I would put together some smaller reviews of stuff that I thought was worth talking about. They should come out weekly for the next little while, but please remember to leave a comment letting me know what you think. And if you like this format for the ChoggBlog then let me know, either here or on Twitter.
The first thing I’m going to talk about is the first Kingdom Hearts game.
When Kingdom Hearts came out, I was too young to play it. I knew it existed, but as I grew up it always seemed very inapproachable. But a few months ago when I saw Kingdom Hearts: The Story so Far reduced for the PS4 I caved and decided I would give the series a go. I went in fully intending to complete the entire list of games… next week's review will be about the game that destroyed those dreams.
Anyway, for those who don’t know, Kingdom Hearts is a crossover game where Disney meets Final Fantasy. Your first instinct might be that that sounds insane, and you are a hundred percent correct in that gut feeling. But, for the most part, in Kingdom Hearts (2002) the story stays almost coherent and the gameplay stays snappy and fun. It works with combat somewhere between hack and slash and real-time strategy where protagonist Sora cycles through moves while slicing with his keyblade. The music is impressive, the boss fights (especially toward the end) are incredible. But the game is not without its issues. The writing is the first thing that comes to mind - dialogue is very blunt and on the nose and when your sidekicks are Donald Duck and Goofy it quickly makes the whole experience stop feeling magical and fun and start feeling embarrassing and like more of a guilty pleasure. And although the Disney characters showing up is nostalgic and cool, helping them in their stories can often feel like repeating story beats from the movies but with lower stakes - the Wonderland level especially stands out in this way.
The first time I was in the world called ‘Traverse Town’, I immediately became lost and ran in circles around the town for 20 minutes before I caved and used a walkthrough to find out which specific alleyway I had to walk into to trigger a cutscene where Sora meets his Disney sidekicks. And it's in moments of frustration like this, and like running around the Monstro or Atlantis levels, that the magic of being given pixie dust by Peter Pan and flying around Big Ben melts away. Play it for the cool Chernabog boss fight, and the Agrahbah level - repress all memories of aimless wandering and the Tarzan slides. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t already checked out with the negatives I’ve said. Next week - the next game in the Kingdom Hearts Saga!