Game of the Month: July

Sorry about the late update, folks, but it couldn't be helped. First I was ill, then I didn't feel like it, and then I was too busy reading some of those delightful webcomics. I'm sure you understand.

But enough of that! To business!

My somewhat belated Game of the Month for July is:








Kingdom Hearts



You got chocolate in my peanut butter!

You got peanut butter on my chocolate!

If that little exchange brings back memories, congrats, you're probably a lot older than I am. For the unenlightened, the above statements originated in an advertising campaign by Hershey to promote one of their more popular products, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The commercials usually involved two people, both absorbed in the consumption of their respective foodstuffs, colliding, causing their snack-matter to merge in some very unlikely fashion. After exchanging the appropriate accusations regarding the fusion of their treats, they'd test the new product, be pleasantly surprised, and become fast friends.

All of this may seem an odd way of introducing an RPG developed by Squaresoft for the PS2, but, you see, Kingdom Hearts is very much the Reese's of the gaming world. All that is required is a quick change of the words in that old add, and you pretty much have it.

You got Disney in my Final Fantasy!

You got Final Fantasy in my Disney!

It's about as unlikely a combination as they come- that it even exists is cause for wonder. That it works is just short of miraculous.

You (an islander named Sora who possesses a mystical weapon called the "Keyblade") and your partners Goofy and Donald make your way through many Disney-themed worlds in search of the missing king of Disney castle and two of Sora's friends, who disappeared when his island was sucked into a black hole. There's no shortage of worlds to explore, with such memorable places as Agrabah (Aladdin) Monstro (Pinocchio) and even the Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh) to explore. And while the game focuses more on the Disney side of things, there are many notable Square-made personalities present as well. Squall Leonhart makes an appearance, as well as Cid and Aeris, and Cloud. Given the vast difference in subject matter between the two worlds, it's pretty darn cool to see, say, Yuffie Kisaragi living happily in the same town as the Fairy Godmother.

Unlike most Square RPGs, Kingdom Hearts' battles are in real time. While this increases the intensity greatly (particularly during the game's excellent boss battles), it has a rather unpleasant side-effect- the camera is one of the worst I've ever seen in it's genre. It's sluggish, it refuses to stay behind Sora during battle, and it won't even come close to a wall, leaving you ignorant as to what is in front of your protagonist. Add in the lame but mandatory space-shooter sections (think Star Fox 64 without any of the stuff that made it awesome), and you have a good deal to complain about.

Still, I wouldn't have made Kingdom Hearts my GotM if I didn't think it was deserving, and it's successes outweigh it's failures by a good margin. The graphics, music, and voice acting are all superb, as is, once you get past the initial frustration, the battle system. It may not quite be up to the standards set by, say, Okami or The Legend of Zelda, but at the very least it's a great Adventure RPG and a testament to what could be if developers were more openminded about the capabilities of their intellectual property.

In short, it's "Two great tastes that taste great together".

-Smashing Brother