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Introduction Sora lives on the peaceful Destiny Islands. He has lived on the island all his life, together with his two best friends, Riku and Kairi. Hidden deep within the island is a door. A door to another world. The opening of the door connects the Destiny Islands to the many other worlds around them, allowing the emergence of the dark beings known as the Heartless, who quickly destroy the tranquil paradise. During the attack, Sora recieves a mystical weapon known as the Keyblade. In addition, Riku and Kairi are both missing when he awakens in a strange new town... The bizarre place, Traverse Town, is home to many familiar characters from Disney movies, as well as Donald Duck and Goofy, who have come to the town on King Mickey's order to seek out the wielder of the Keyblade and aid him in deefeating the Heartless. However, the Heartless find him first and Sora is forced to retreat back to the safety of Cid Highwind's store. Stepping outside, he finds himself ambushed by another character familiar to many - Squall Leonhart. Squall, together with his allies Yuffie Kisiragi and Aerith Gainsborough brief Sora on the Heartless and send him out, together with Donald and Goofy to track down King Mickey, as well as Riku and Kairi. Kingdom Hearts is the result of a bizarre crossover between Square and Disney, born of the fact that the two comapnies both have their Japanese headquarters in the same building. Set across a multitude of Disney worlds, the player controls Sora as he combats the Heartless and solves a variety of platforming puzzles in this thrilling action-RPG. Unlike traditional Squaresoft releases, Kingdom Hearts fits more into the vein set by Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As a result, it is less puzzle-oriented and has a far more interactive battle system than the ones Final Fantasy fans may be used to. Instead, the combat is carried out by using a variety of combo attacks with the keyblade, as well as using powerful magic. You are mainly supported in combat by Donald and Goofy, but you may also gain party members relative to each world. For example, in the Agrabah world you may have Aladdin fighting alongside you, or Jack Skellington in Halloween town. Unfortunately, the battle system does not lend itself well to Square's trademark sweeping camera angles, which sometimes get in the way of the action. However, the times it will inconvenience you are outweighed by the dramatic visual effects it helps create. In addition to the main story, there are several sidequests, such as searching for the 99 dalmatian puppies scattered throughout the world, location the various action spots known as "Trinity Marks" or building your own spaceship, known in the game as the Gummi Ship. The synthesis process is also featured, as seen in several previous Square games such as FF9 or Parasite Eve. Also, unlike most RPGs, the game offers a continue function which allows you to restart from a convenient point rather than from your last save. It also has two difficulty levels for a more challenging experience. However, let's hope that they see fit to add New Game+ to KH2! The game also features excellent voice acting, featuring many of the original Disney voices. However, some of the choices for the Final Fantasy characters are somewhat dubious. Would anyone really have imagined Sephiroth being voiced by a memeber of a boy band, or Squall having the voice of a Buffy character? Since its release, Kingdom Hearts has attracted an enormous international fanbase, drawing in both fans of Disney movies and of the Final Fantasy characters. It has also spawned a Japanese-only extended version, known as Final Mix, which adds in all the extras thrown in for the Western release, as well as lots of additional features (such as addition scenes with Cloud and Sephiroth!) There is also a line of action figures to go with the game, as well as a soundtrack CD, featuring the game's theme song "Simple and Clean" by Japanese artist Utada Hikaru. This game is rated E for Everyone and consists of 1 PS2 DVD.
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