$20 Game of the week: Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)

In 2001, the last thing anyone would imagine is Final Fantasy characters running around with Disney characters. Then Square’s Kingdom Hearts came, and it’s action RPG gameplay, deep plot, and high production values made it an instant classic amongst gamers. When the game concluded however, there were many questions that had been left unanswered, and even more were left over from the Game Boy Advance spin-off, “Chain of Memories”. Of course like any good series, this merely left players anticipating this eagerly awaited sequel even more.

Kingdom Hearts 2 starts out by casting players as Roxias, a young boy who lives in a place called Twilight Town. Throughout various flashbacks players will discover his connection to series protagonist Sora. Soon you’ll assume control of Sora, and you’ll once again travel around to various worlds based on Disney movies. You’ll visit areas based on Tron, Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more as you once again try to make the world safe from the Heartless.

The core gameplay hasn’t changed much, aside from adding in new combat mechanics such as ‘drive’, which combine Sora with one of his allies to allow him access to some new attacks. Also there are timed-reaction commands, similar to “God of War” which allow players to preform devastating attacks by pressing the button at the correct time. The camera angles are a bit easier to manage this time around, and of course there are a lot of hidden features to discover. Kingdom Hearts 2 is pretty much an extension of the original, but if you enjoyed the original, then there is no doubt you’ll enjoy this.