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Great game and Killer graphics.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Any gamer with an open mind will simply enjoy Kingdom Hearts. Disney or Square fans will absolutely fall in love with it! The game oozes quality everywhere. Awesome artwork and animation abounds. If only they could change the music though. If they would put on some decent music like Nirvana or something. The sound effects are flawless and most of the voiceovers are extremely authentic. It was a real treat to hear beloved Final Fantasy characters speak for the first time.

The battles were never repetitive for me. Unlike most players I didn't have a problem with the controls at all...once I got a turbo-fire controller, that is. The camera was the only thing that needed improvement, I thought. Like most Squaresoft games there was a significant amount of tedious item gathering, but it wasn't as frustrating as in Final Fantasies 7-12. This is only a problem for those gamers who are perfectionists and have to utilize EVERY SINGLE THING in the game...like me.

My personal favorite moment in Kingdom Hearts was finding Sephiroth for the first time and hearing his One Winged Angel theme music, the songs sounds cool I admit. It was too cool for words. Kingdom Hearts is another Squaresoft masterpiece. It's also something for Disney to be happy about. Based on Disney movies, make look pretty stupid to other people, but to true gamers.......a masterpiece. This is a definite must play game, you won't regret.

One of those games that is enjoyable for the whole family.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I haven't played such a light hearted game with such originality for a while. Kingdom Hearts is just one of those games that catch you off guard and make you believe that there are still games out there that can make every age happy. Truthfully, after I bought this game I never relieze how tired I was of the increasing intense and dark implications that have been showing up in the newer games lately on the Playstation 2.

However, my whole family loved this one. It was fun, looked good and was challenging. The story was a bit confusing, but I didn't care and nether did the kids. They loved the disney characters (which I never really understood, I'm not a big fan of disney and we only took a trip to disney world once) and I got to recognize some of the final fantasy characters (Yes, I've played Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 10, who hasn't?).

I highly recommend this game to any parents. Expecially those parents who like to play as much as their kids.

The Most Fun I Have Ever Had While Playing a Video Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: September 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Kingdom Hearts is by far my favorite game of all time. Keeping this in mind while I write the review, I while do my best not to be overly biased, and will try to point out as many of the game's pros and cons as I can.
Story:
In my opinion, Kingdom Hearts has a great plot. One moment, the mood can be light and funny, as Donald Duck or Goofy provide comic relief. The next moment, it can become dark and ominous as more is revealed about the "heartless". The game is able to succesfully create different moods at the appropriate times, which is a major plus for the overal plot. The main characters are, for the most part, realistic and likable, and greatly develope over the span of the game. Sora is much more "human" than past Squaresoft protagonists (::cough, cough:: Tidus), and is actually likable. Riku, who forms a complicated relationship with Sora, is one of the most interesting characters to come along in recent history, while Kairi breaks the "weak-female protagonist" curse that has claimed many female leads. There is even an attempt to give as much character as possible to Donald Duck and Goofy, who were only two dimensional characters to begin with. Though the attempt to "humanize" Donald and Goofy doesn't always work, you can see that some serious effort was put into their characters. As for the villains: They are predictable (considering we have seen them all in their respective Disney films), but end up being as "fun to hate" as villains can get. The game also does a good job of mixing Disney and FF characters into the game environments, without given off an akward feel. Overal, the game can make you laugh, cry, and gasp in shock. I feel the plot deserves a grade of: 9/10
Graphics:
Kingdom Hearts provides gorgeous and three dimensional graphics that look like a Disney film come to life. The characters all look amazing, and have the same stride and body language as their movie counterparts. Donald, Goofy, and all of the villains look especially striking, and are all very detailed. Past FF characters that pop-up during the course of the game look better than ever, though at times, slightly different (Squal has different hair, while Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka all look younger). Most of the original characters look great, especially Riku and Kairi, while Sora looks rather stereotypical. The monsters that you fight in the game (Heartless) look amazing as well, and fit right into the Disney theme of the game. The world/backround graphics look very "cartoony", which fits the game nicely. Though at times, the environments can get a little undetailed as a result of the cartoon look of the game. The CG cut scenes are very rare, but look wonderful all the same. Overal, the graphics fit the mood of the game, and the characters look gorgeous and detailed. I feel the graphics deserve a grade of: 9/10
Sound:
Kingdom Hearts has relatively good music, and excellent voice-overs. Each new "world" features its set of new music, providing some variaty to the music you hear throughout the game. Occasionaly, you will hear a familier Disney tune, which always proves to be a pleasant surprise during gameplay. The original music is decent, and catchy, but fails to ever greatly impress the gamer. The voice-acting, on the other hand, is the best I have ever heard in a video game. Unlike FFX, the voices match the mouth-movement, a fault that often made serious scenes in FFX seem dumb. The acting itself, is brilliant, and gamers will hear many familier voices throughout the game, such as Haley Joel Osment (Sora), David Gallagher (Riku), Billy Zane (Ansem), David Boreanaz (Squal), and Mandy Moore (Aerith). Some notable actors also return to revive their past Disney roles, such as James Woods (Hades) and Gilbert Gottfried (Iaago). Overal, the music does its job, and the voice acting is wonderful. I feel the music deserves a grade of: 7.5/10 and the voice-acting deserves a grade of: 10/10

Gameplay:
Kingdom Hearts features incredibley fun gameplay, that will keep the gamer occupied for hours at a time. The best way to decribe the gameplay overal would be: Zelda 64+The Legend of Mana+Final Fantasy VII. The game environments are all 3-D, and the player uses the left analog control to navagate them. There is a real sense of exploration to each new world, which I greatly enjoyed. On the lower left side of the screen is the player's options. The options allow you to attack, talk, use items, and cast magic spells at the appropriate times in the game. The player also has a set amount of HP and MP that increases as the player gains levels. The game is like in RPG in the sense that you buy items at shops, talk to villagers, gain levels, cast magic and summon spells, equip weapons and armor, and progress along a detailed plot. The battles themselves, on the other hand, can be very different from traditional RPG battles. You fight the enemies right in the game environments (no more morphing into a battle), and you can escape from them simply by running away. You fight the enemies like you would in most adventure games: Lock onto the enemy, get close to it, and hit it with your weapon. You can attack as much or as little as you want, for there or no AT bars, and no "taking turns" inbetween attacks. You defend by moving away from the attack of the enemy, and can also cast magic or summon spells from a certain distance away. The only character you have control of in the battle is Sora, while the other characters act on their own, using the weapons and spells that you assigned to them. When an enemy is defeated, they burst into a bunch of little "balls". Each ball may count as a small amount of HP, MP, money, or items, and are collected by walking into them. There are many mini-games during gameplay to keep the player occupied as well, including a "Starfox-ish" piloting game, and tree swinging.
There is only one "major" fault in gameplay, though I personally feel that it does very little to take away from the game as a whole. It is the games infamous camera angles, that often move into poorly positioned places. The player can alter the angles by pressing the L and R buttons, but the automatic angles still remain annoying at times. Overal, the gameplay is fun and addicting, and will leave you wanting more. I feel the gamplay deserves a grade of: 9/10
Final Grade (not an average): 9/10
Kingdom Hearts is a fun game that no one should miss out on. I highly recomend buying it (it is a rather long game to rent, running at about 35-60 hours, depending on the player), and hope my review inspired someone to go out and try this amazing game.

Squaresoft + Disney = Good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Kingdom Hearts is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the freshest ideas to hit the console gaming market in a very long time. Merging the expansive wolrds of Disney animated movies and Squaresoft's 'Final Fantasy' series, as well as a handful of original elements, Kingdom Hearts is a huge game, with a scope as vast as I've ever seen in a single game. The characters, for the most part, are well-rendered, and the battle system is fluid and dynamic. The Heartless, the game's collective antagonist, (aside from the Disney villains) are a diverse lot, ranging from tiny, dog-sized creatures to huge jellyfish. Sora, the game's confident, pre-pubescent hero, is a well-rounded guy.

One of the game's shining features is the voice acting. Many of the voice actors themselves are the original Disney parts, or the 'official' Disney actors. From Donald Duck and Goofy to Malificent and Oogie Boogie, voices are well-done. The plot, centering around the Heartless, is followable for children, but involved enough for adults. The whole game fits that description, too - breaking away from the current trend of more and more games pushing the "MATURE" content as much as they can. This is a game that truly anyone can play, regardless of age, without content issues.

Why the 4/5? In the middle of the game, while venturing from world to world in search of Mickey Mouse, the battles, quests, and cut-scenes can get rather repetative. But, for the patient gamers, this one's a hit.

This is the best game since Final Fantasy X!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: October 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game will make you laugh, cry, and really into the story. The graphics, the music and the voiceovers are great and couldn't have made it better. Of course there are some problems with the camera, but it won't hurt you that much. It's still good. There are some dark tones in the game that are different from Disney movies and related to Final Fantasy games, but this game has the best ending ever that will make you want to know more about the world of Kingdom Hearts. So what are you waiting for. Buy the game and play it for yourself. You think this is kid's stuff? Wait 'till you go though the game and to the ending. You'll be surprise. 'Cause one thing's for sure, RPGgames don't get better than this.

Awesome!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is totally great! It isn't lackluster like most of the other Disney games. The characters are beautifully rendered. The storyline is great. The bosses are challenging. I love seeing all of the Disney characters and all of the different worlds. This is a must for any Disney fan. Warning: this game is addictive!

Don't Judge a Book by its cover

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: September 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

At first glance Kingdom Hearts seems like a game that only a child would enjoy. But at second glance the game is an RPG masterpiece! With a great storyline, great music, top notch voice acting and a Unique way to battle and move around, the game easily scores a five.

You control a young Boy named Sora (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) and he travels through the different realms of the Disney Kingdom trying to stop the heartless in an attempt to restore piece to the land and save the world. While not as good as previous RPGs, this gives RPGers a little something different to enjoy.

Battling is a little different. To sum it all up, its very similar to Secret of Mana and Legend of Mana. Thus meaning you can't control your two sub characters but you control the main one. For each enemy you defeat you get MP orbs and HP orbs to restore health (like candy in Legend of Mana). This is also interesting because when running around in towns you can choose to pick up something or other events.

The characters present a more animated look. I know that by some of the people they'll say its a kids game becasue of the disney characters (shame on you gamers for not even trying it first). The voice acting for these characters is top notch with Haley Joel Osment doing the voice of Sora. Characters from the Final Fantasy series are here too. From Aeris and Cloud, to Squall and Yuffie, to the legendary Sephiroth. The only problem is that Lance Bass is the voice of Sephiroth and while to some it doesn't seem like much, to those who've played FF7 they know that Lance Bass doesn't have the Sephiroth voice.

The graphics are amazing and they look very realistic. The music is great, and gameplay is too. But if you've seen the disney moves a lot then you'll note that you might know the outcome of some events being that its like playing through the disney movie itself.

This game also takes a new step in the RPG world. When you select a new game you can choose to select Expert mode or Normal mode. Not to mention that you can also answer the first series of question to decide how fast your characters level up! So you could put it on expert and level up slowly for a hard experience.

Don't judge this so much on the characters, if your like me this game is good Nostalga for a Disney Lover like myself. The gameplay is unique and the game has several mini-games and side quest. It has a ton of secrets as well. The only other problem with this game is the annoying camera angles.

OVERALL the game desrves a five.
On the good side
+Great Graphics
+Stunning music
+Great gameplay
+For the Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy lovers
+Difficulty settings in an RPG finally!
+A HUGE cast of characters
+Top Notch voice acting.

The Bad
-Lance Bass is the voice of Sephiroth
-Annoying Camera angles
-Seems short for an RPG compared to today
-Too many people are gonna overlook this game because of the Disney Characters

Disney + Square = Winning Formula

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: September 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's strange really. When Kingdom Hearts was first announced, I really wasn't sure what to think. I watched Disney movies and shows when I was young, but I didn't see this game as having much appeal to older gamers. I decided to pick it up anyways if only because Square was the developer and Square's efforts to push beyond the Final Fantasy series have surprised me in the past.

I'm about 15 hours into Kingdom Hearts and already I can say that it is an excellent, if a little misguided game. The Disney characters for their part are a great part of the game and I found myself laughing at every new surprise in all of the various Disney themed worlds. I just can't put into words the joy of being able to wander around Wonderland with Donald and Goofy at my side--what a concept!

Kingdom Hearts makes heavy use of voice acting which is technically excellent and a huge boost over the somewhat mediocre performances of Final Fantasy X. The rest of the audio is excellent as well with well written songs that sound like a combination between American and Japanese styles which fits the game perfectly.

The graphics, while extremely stylized, are not up to the level of FF X in polygon counts and tend to look a bit boxy at times. This doesn't really detract from the game; it's just not the technological tour de force that FFX was. Still, the sheer variety of art is absolutely stunning as almost every major Disney character and world is recreated here.

The biggest disappointment of Kingdom Hearts for me is the gameplay. Don't get me wrong it's not terrible, but it is frustrating to think of how good it COULD have been. The battles are all conducted in a kind of Zelda meets Final Fantasy style with real time battles. The camera is the worst aspect of this as it constantly gets in the way, especially when you are near walls or surrounded by enemies. Also the menu system in battle is an absolute mess; there should have been some kind of hotkey or combo system implemented. Actually, if the Square developers had shifted the gameplay to be a sort of ... of Devil May Cry with level building they would have created something that fit the game perfectly. As it is, combat in Kingdom Hearts is more than a little frustrating.

Despite these flaws, I still recommend that everyone check Kingdom Hearts out be you young or old. This is the kind of game that can appeal to everyone and I think that adults will find it even more enjoyable then kids since they can re-experience the Disney characters from their youth. Plus the production values of this game are so high that you'll be astonished by how polished the visual design is. Give it a rental first if you want, but I think it was well worth the fifty bucks to get to see so many Disney characters in one game. Oh and the Square cameos aren't bad either!

A new experience for everybody

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you think that Kingdom Hearts is stupid just because it has Disney characters in it, you are seriously mistaken my friend. THIS GAME RULES! The fighting system is pretty new for a square game, it takes RPG elements and combines them with a Zelda 64 style battle system. And I'm lovin it.
One of the coolest things about this game is that you get to see returning Final Fantasy characters such as Squall, Cloud, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Yuffie, Aeris, Cid, moogles and non other than Sephiroth (who is exclusive to the American version!).
The characters have had cool costume changes for the game and have been fitted with great voice actors. Yes even Sephiroth's voice is awesome (Lance Bass plays him, and did a good job).
If you are into RPG games, buy this. If you are into adventure games, buy this. No matter what, you will have fun. It takes a good chunk out of your time too. (About 25+ hours if you get every secret and stuff) And your gonna wanna take yo.ur time to get every secret. Because if you do, after the credits you are treated to a teaser trailer for Kingdom Hearts 2.

Dont wait. Get this today.

It's not just Disney its squaresoft too!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: September 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Many people will think that if it has Disney characters in it, it is for little kids. But little do they know it has final fantasy characters in it. If you have played Final Fantasy games as much as I have you would know that thoes games are awesome!
The game has a very much the same battle sequences as Final fantasy games. You run into the monster and attack it and after the battle you get items and experience. With experience you gain levels the higher the level you get the stronger you get.
The worlds you go to are like some of the movies that Disney has come up with like Never Land, and the jungel.
I think this is going to be a very good game for all ages.

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