| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Nintendo 3DS | 8.10 |
| Overall | 8.10 |
|
I love Kingdom Hearts, let me just get that out there. I have no clue what the story is about but it lets me go into Disney movies and most importantly it has that Square quality throughout. I never played any of the handheld versions before because most were side stories and many played nothing like the console games. Well 3D is about as close to KH3 we have ever gotten. It follows the events of KH2, it stars Sora (and Rikku), you go through Disney movies and has the same core gameplay; so I was sold. Right off the bat I was like "why did I buy this?". The first few hours of this game are horrible. I predict most players will quit before the game ever gets good. The reason for this is because Square decided to introduce all game mechanics right at the start, one right after the other. So as soon as you begin and kind of figure out the controls you are given a new mechanic to mess with, followed by another and another. Soon you are learning how to do flowmotion attacks, how to drop down to a level, how to drop between characters, how the dream eater system works, how you feed them, how you can play mini games with them, how you set up your attacks how you can learn skills with the dream eaters how there are special levels in each world, how the touch screen attacks work, how the link system work, how link attacks work... get the idea, its too much stuff. Your head is so full of crap you can't enjoy the game at all. But you do have a 35+ hour game ahead of you so eventually it all works well. Still its a horrible decision to throw all the elements at the player right at the start. Since this is a portable game Square decided to come up with some way to break up the action, at least that is what I believe they tried. So this game has one of the strangest game mechanics ever; you have a timer and when that timer ends you switch to the other character no matter what you are doing. Fighting a boss and have one hit to go, timer up, too bad you are now someone else. This is called dropping and you can initiate it whenever you want and have some items to prolong it but if you enter a fight without the item equipped (which you never will have it equipped as it would take away an attack move) you won't be able to access it. At first this mechanic felt like a cheap way of making you play the same areas twice. Both Sora and Rikku are in different versions of the same world, they dont actually meet and each have their own versions of the story. Problem is you would traverse the same levels, it felt like an excuse to play each world twice. The last levels in the game change this up by having Sora and Rikku have totally different areas to explore, which made dropping a positive experience rather than a negative one. The entire game simply gets better as it goes on. All those new gameplay systems find their rightful place and each serve a well defined purpose . The most important gameplay element are the dream eaters which work sort of like pokemon. Rather than have Donald and Goofy with you, these creatures take up the partner slots. You create these dream eaters by combining ingredients you find in the game world. They just don't serve as your combat partners, they are the only way to learn new abilities. When your character levels up all you gain is more HP, attack or magic power, and more action move slots. To actually learn new magic, get buffs and more you have to have the dream eaters in your party. Each have their own chart (think FF12) which you use the link EXP (seperate from your EXP, as I said this game is very complicated) you earn with them to unlock moves. Major abilities like magic spells you keep even if you switch dream eaters but buffs are only applied when the dream eater is in your party. It becomes pretty damn addicting to find new ingredients to make bigger dream eaters that may have a new move you want. They dont take that long to level up so you are gaining new moves constantly. In classic Square fashion there are all sorts of secret paths in a dream eaters skill chart leading to super skills. It might be a bit time consuming, and the menus are rather clunky but I enjoyed that hunt for the next great skill. Most of the time in KH3D you will be in combat, so much combat it feels like it might as well be DMC. The new moves do keep the combat flowing in a way that is more engaging than past games. At its core its basically the same system, just faster and with new touch screen attacks that randomly show up. That said I was playing on hard and found very little challenge. This lead to most battles feeling like busy work rather than anything fun. Later moments in the game do have some more challenging enemies and situations, during these moments the combat truly shines. All your choices with your skill loadouts (you can only have a certain amount of moves on you at a time) and which dream eater's buffs you are using come into play during the tough battles and boss fights. There are also special levels found in each level which have some difficult challenges to complete, loved these. Overall combat is better in this KH than in any other KH to date. Where this game doesn't match its console counterparts is in their level designs. The console KH games have much larger Disney worlds to explore and those worlds are far better integrated into the gameplay. In this game each world feels rather simple. Most of the time they are large mostly empty rooms with some platforms overhead. There are a few standouts like the Tron level which was simply a geek dream come true, you even get to ride the Tron cycle. When stuff like that happens the game is at its best, you really feel part of the movie. Sadly that feeling only happens once and a while. The Disney movie selection isn't the best either, like Hunchback... really, no one wants that. On the whole boss battles are really well done, more cause they actually force you to use tactics than any kind of boss pattern or design. It is impossible for me to go through all the gameplay elements this game has so let me just say like any major Square RPG this game is stacked with stuff to do. One big one is the drop into a world segment where you fall down a tube and you fly around like say Kid Icarus. You dont shoot but you have to avoid obstacles and sometimes battle bosses. The other big one is this card battle mini game which I loved. The touch screen is used for all sorts of mini games and actions, most are very simple but it worked well in my opinion. The best compliment I can give the game is that it feels like a full gigantic Square RPG. Even though I played the whole game I still don't know what happened in the story. It's as complicated as ever and still makes no sense. I think this game reveals the big bad guy so that is something. The 3D effect is used well in certain gameplay moments but most of the time it can be forgotten. Graphically the game looks great, as good as any KH game I have ever played. The music, like in most all Square games, is exceptional. If you can get by the horrible first three hours you may find a nice meaty action RPG to sink your teeth in you. Yes it can be repetitive, yes its combat isn't the greatest, and the story is idiotic. Those elements can easily turn off certain gamers but I feel this game has so much going on and it has enough great moments at regular intervals to be a great game. It is the Square-ness of it all that made me still enjoy it despite the flaws. There is something magical about the way Square weaves loads of gameplay systems together with mini games and deviously hidden secrets. It is not as refined as Square used to be but the essence is still there. |
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Posted by Dvader Wed, 15 May 2013 04:08:28
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travo (4m)
I. HATE. THIS.
Good review vader, though the words <> the score IMO.
Whoa your review puts me off the game in a big way. Sounds too messy. I've noticed with square games they through all this stuff at you not very well explained and I struggle through missing elements. Then give up partway through.