So recently I found myself playing a game I would have never imagined ever playing; Kingdom Hearts. The game, in a nutshell, is about this boy named Sora, who lives on an island with his friends Kairi and Riku, and they all do cheesy friend activities together, like build a boat, and share fruit, and race on an island, and whatever. So basically along the plot, you plan to leave your island until your island gets wrecked by the enemies, known as the "Heartless". So, in all of the mayhem, you learn that you are destined to destroy the Heartless, being titled "the keybearer" and you are put up to the challenge to find your friends and destroy the hearless simultaneously. Did I mention there is a truckload of Disney characters? 'Cuz yeah, there are. Up to when I actually did play it, I looked at it with much disgust. Come on, what 18-year old gamer who plays games like Halo and Gears of War would find himself playing an RPG like that? Simple as that, folks. It's an RPG, and it struck my "RPG curiousity", if you will. I was at Target and found the game on sale for 19 dollars, so I figured "Hell, I wont be spending THAT much, just in case I am dissapointed with it, besides, how bad can it be? It's made by Square Enix".
So I picked up the little sucker. Kingdom Hearts 2. Why buy KH2 first, you ask? I watched my Ex-Girlfriends little brothers beat the whole game (not all at once, that's just rediculous) and so I knew enough about the story to just go out and buy the second one. So I went back home and popped the game into my little PS2 slim. At first I was a little hesitant, after all, I had just succumbed to the "wonderful world of Disney" and had the sudden realization that I would have to listen to the raspy, whiny, squabbly voice of Donald Duck and the dim-witted, slow and.... goofy voice of..... Goofy. So yes, I had to brace myself for those factors, and eventually got used to hearing it (this was 10 gameplay hours later).
Dear god, I found myself entwined in the story of Kingdom Hearts. The fighting sequences and the combo abilities were enough alone to convince me to play this game. How could this be? I spent all this time saying the game was childs play, and here I was, playing Kingdom effing Hearts. What's the next emotion felt? I felt like a hypocrite. But I no longer cared, this game was epic. The storyline pulls anyone who play it in, and the charecters are all individual. The worlds are lush and well detailed, and easy to explore. There was side-quests to do, and some were to get better weapons. If you are a true RPG gamer, you love to look for newer and stronger weapons. Plus, I got tired of that lame Mickey Mouse keyblade that I got in the first place. It looks like something I made out of legos at the age of 4. The music fits the situation, and although some of the goals were... questionable, to say the least (Make sure the mayhem meter doesn't rise in black and white disneyland! WHAT THE HELL IS A MAYHEM METER?!?!?) it was altogether one of the funnest RPG experiences not just because of the fact that I love RPG's, but also because it is it's own game. You free roam, and while you do select commands, like a traditional RPG, but you also free-roam and fight your own way, similar to games like Zelda.
-Reginald McGigas
