Photo contributed

Photo contributed

When you think of Squaresoft, you thing about great, graphically unmatched role-playing games. When you think of Disney, you think of great and classic cartoon movies, among the things they do. But, what do these two companies have in common? The answer to that is Kingdom Hearts.

The stage for Kingdom Hearts is set in the various worlds from Disney. So, we have Wonder Land, Olympus Coliseum, Deep Jungle (from Tarzan), Agrabah, Monstro (the whale from Pinocchio), Atlantica, Halloween Town, Neverland, and last but not least is the Hundred Acre Woods. The game also features your favorite Disney heroes and villains, and the king of this realm is, you guessed it, Mickey Mouse.

The game play is excellent. It doesn’t play like a traditional RPG, but leans more to the action RPG side, similar to Square’s Brave Fencer Musashi and Threads of Fate.

The game also features a lock on system, like the one in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The quest, however and thankfully, follows a more Final Fantasy based style.

Graphically Kingdom Hearts is amazing. They are done in a way that only Square can do. The FMV sequences are absolutely gorgeous. The game, just like true Square tradition, begins with an FMV scene.

There are only two problems that I see with the game. The first stands out almost immediately. That is the camera kind of goes wild. At some points you can’t even tell what the heck is going on around you.

The other problem is your partner characters, Donald Duck and Goofy. They have a nasty tendency to get in your way, especially when you are trying to jump on to something, or across gaps.

Another cool feature of this game are the mini games. There are several. One is where you have to find the 99 Dalmatian puppies that are scattered throught the world. Another is tournaments held at the Olympus Coliseum, which is very fun and a little challenging.

Quite possibly the best, and my favorite, part of the game is the inclusion of characters of past Final Fantasy’s. From FF7 we have Cloud, Aerith, Cid Highwind, Yuffie and Sephiroth. From FF8 we have Squall, called Leon in the game, and Selphie. From FFX we have Tidus and Wakka.

Each of the characters is voiced, which is cool because only the characters from FFX had voices in their own games.

Kingdom Hearts receives a final score of 10/10.

Although there are some camera problems, the game play and story shine through enough to overshadow this problem. Traditional RPG as well as action RPG fans will enjoy this title.