The game that bridged Final Fantasy with Disney movies celebrates it's 10th anniversary with the release of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Will this be the spiritual Kingdom Hearts 3 or will it be a spin-off in the wrong direction?
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| Micky Photo Bomb |
The Story: Set up previous by the events of Birth By Sleep & De:coded, Sora & Riku are summoned by Yen-Sid to participate in the Mark of Mastery exam. Despite Sora feeling that he should be able to skip the exam using his battles against Ansem the Seeker of Darkness and the Organization XIII leader Xemnas, the two go into the dream worlds where they are given the task to awaken the worlds that fell into the darkness and remain sleeping. The main story line keeps you very interested if you've been following the games. If you haven't been, you may be very confused as enemies you once felled seem to be returning. Even a special fan favorite returns back in his original form to surprise players at a moment notice.
Unfortunately the Disney characters are less charming then they were in previous games. Even the Tron Legacy level left a little bit to be desired. It's not the characters, it's the way Sora and Riku just don't seem to belong in these worlds like Sora did in KH2. The secret endings are, sadly, predicable. A few of the events in the actual ending were more surprising then the original. 4/5
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| Can't see where I am with your hair cut blinding me! |
The Look: Best looking game of the series hands down. The worlds are colorful and lush and the characters are an improvement from the KH2. Everything from game-play, heroes, enemies, and cut-scenes are some of the best on the 3DS currently. This is also the first 3DS game I've enjoyed in almost full 3D sense Mario 3D Land. An absolute 5/5.
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| Still waiting for Tron 3.. |
The Sound: New and old songs sound great coming from the speakers of the 3DS. Even though most of the songs are either remixed or rehashed from older games, the charming music of Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, and Tsuyoshi Sekito carries on in your heart for most of the game. Voice acting is top-notch with returning actors for the entire main cast. Even Aqua's voice actor sounds better then she did in BBS. 5/5
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| Mysterious Cloaked Chatacer Number 6 |
The Feel: I'm always a little concerned with Kingdom Hearts being on portables as the PS2 controller seemed to be the best way to control Sora, but Square did great at implementing every button they could. Even the circle pad pro could be used if you have one, making the camera easier to control. The new "Flow-motion" system feels like you're breaking the game's boundaries by leaping higher then normal and kicking off walls. Flow-motion isn't just a way to get around but also lets you pull off some great damage on enemies. It's a little bit like the "HIT TRIANGLE NOW!" command from KH2 but with a little more depth. You can feel the difference in a game that was made ground up exclusively for a system. The difficulty seems a little amped up from the previous games. Another new feature is the fighting and befriending of Dream Eaters. The Dream Eaters not only help you in battle, but also help you grow as a character with each one representing a different skill tree for Sora & Riku to gain new powers. 5/5
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| "I wonder if Sora ever had to deal with this." |
The Filling: The main story can be completed in about 20 hours depending on the difficulty. I played on Proud Mode myself, so I had to take some time and grind a few levels in before moving onto the storyline. The Gotta Catch 'Em All Dream Eater system can keep you busy for some time as well as a handful of minigames featuring Sora and Riku's new companions. There is also a Trophey System that rewards players who meet a certain criteria with ingame Throphies. If this isn't enough for you, try to take on the optional boss or the Critical difficulty mode you unlock once you complete the game. The game is still short, even for a spinoff game. 4.5/5
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| Game should of been called "Riku's Sleepy Fun Time World" |
Overview:
I dumped about 30 hours into the game before I completed everything with the exception of collecting all the treasures and Dream Eaters. This wasn't enough for me though: I still felt the game could of been a little longer.. but perhaps that is because I was expecting a full KH game, and not a game created to set up Kingdom Hearts 3. Perhaps this will be our last spin-off until we see Sora team up with his friends to battle the upcoming darkness threatening the worlds. Hopefully KH3 will come out within the next couple years, perhaps intime for it's 15th anniversary. 4.7/5.0
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