Game Review - Kingdom Hearts HD Final Mix

Name: Kingdom Hearts/Final Mix/Final Mix HD (1.5 Remix)

Console: PS2/3/4 (PS4 Reviewed although all are owned)

Kingdom Hearts is a franchise near and dear to me but that doesn't mean I can't talk s**t about it.

I am a huge fan of this series although I do know it's flaws.

With that being said let's dive into this!

In terms of story I'd probably say that Kingdom Hearts' first offender is it's late story A entrance. Yes I said story A. This is what I will be referring to the overall story that spans throughout the games. The disney stuff I will be referring to as story B.

Story A doesn't come into things until the 7-10 hour mark depending on which order you're doing things.

Let's dive into this shall we?

Sora is a young boy who plays with his friends on a place named Destiny Islands. Together Sora, Riku and Kiari decide to build a raft and run away from home because lol. Just kidding! They want to see new worlds and explore places unknown. Of course things go to crap and the trio, along with some Final Fantasy cameos, are flung into darkness as their world is encased in the stuff.

Sora wakes up in Traverse Town, bumps into some more Final Fantasy cameos, Squall, Yuffi, Cid and Aerith, until he eventually meets Donald and Goofy. Two agents of King Mickey who has given them a simple task, find the Key.

Sora, of course, has the key known as the Keyblade, a large blunt object that can wipe out massive monsters in a single hit.

The three depart to Disney worlds all over the place in order to search for both the King and Sora's friends... hi-jinks ensues.

We'll continue this topic in a bit but next: GAMEPLAY!

This is a glorified hack and slash with some light RPG elements here and there. Don't get me wrong I love the gameplay in this series.

The menu system is ripped from Final Fantasy and took a while to get used to in my original playthrough back when this came out however I am seasoned with the D-Pad/Analog/X Button mashing combos.

I am also familiar with the use of shortcuts which became my go to the more I played this. I spammed the crap out of cure.

This is the essentials for this game and for the rest of the series for that matter.

Now I'm going to go through my journey of this game. World by world! LET'S BREAK THIS DOWN!!

Destiny Islands

Tutorial and fetch quests... eh? Had to be done and thankfully it's not too long.

Traverse Town (1)

Repetitive as all hell! Nice to see some Final Fantasy cameos actually involved in the plot but the constant back and forth here is annoying.

Wonderland

...I know I haven't said anything positive just yet but this is the low point in game... one cryptic, screwy puzzle that I know first timers to the franchise have left because of.

Olympus Colosseum (All of it)

Can't be bothered talking about this anymore then I have too. It's cool don't get me wrong. It's essentially an arena mode which I adored, even if Sephiroth is here. He gives me nightmares okay...

Deep Jungle

An improvement over Wonderland but I still have the same issue with this as I did with Traverse Town. Too much back and forth. EEH OOH OH OH AH!

Traverse Town (2)

WINNY DA POOOOOOOO! Sorry. We get to meet Merlin who gives us the A Hundred Acre Wood book. We can see the merry, adorable gang in here as long as we collect the pages. Besides this we can now customise the gummy ship... no thanks. The menu sucks.

Agrabah

Okay now we're getting somewhere. Enemy placement and types are cool. Whilst the final boss is a pushover I like the style of it.

Monstro

The story kicks of here and whilst I like it Pinocchio's story feels a bit wasted here. It's essentially an excuse to have our first encounter with dick Riku.

Halloween Town

THAT'S BETTER! Sorry I love this world. Cool character and enemy designs, boss is not only creative but fun throughout whilst still posing a challenge.

Along with this both the main story and the world's story collide and mix beautifully!

Neverland

Welp all of that got thrown away. I like the ability to fly and the send off is nice but this really is more like a cameo than a story of worth. We don't even get to see Neverland. That along with this being the shortest world, I think that this could've been executed better.

Hollow Bastion

BOOM! Exploding with the gothic/orchestral tones of Final Fantasy whilst still retaining the feeling of a cartoony Disney film.

Beast is an awesome companion as well. Yes he spends as much time here as Peter Pan does in Neverland but his impact and relevance is so much greater.

The bosses in this place are not short of epic as well!

Goddamn beautiful.

Traverse Town (3 and Final)

As an epilogue of sorts this is sweet. The right kind of sombre tone but yet a feeling of acceptance as Sora, Donald and Goofy take their last plunge into the unknown.

Traverse Town... I take by my comments about you. This was nice.

Hollow Bastion (Final)

A nice send off for not just the Final Fantasy characters but the Disney princesses as well. Yeah they go all "Legion" on us at the end but seeing Beast reunite with Belle was nice.

End Of The World

Okay this is a glorified boss gauntlet... but these are some of the best bosses in this game. Not just using big health bars as a means to feel difficult. They are actually challenging as well. RIP Ansem. Whilst your expository bulls*** was... well exactly that, you were the right kind of villain for this game... even if you came too late.

The story is hit and miss in my opinion. I love the epic flurry of it but it's hard to believe that Tetsuya Nomura had a solid beginning, middle and end planned here. It's a franchise starter and it's really evident. Hell we don't even know why the villain, Ansem, does what he does when the credits roll. In fact we're not properly introduced to him until the final THREE hours of the game.

When I mentioned story A coming into this around the seven hour mark it feels longer but that might be just because I've played this so many times.

Sora is hit and miss for me as well. Like any origin story the first time we meet them is always the most interesting. There's a moment in Hollow Bastion, where he sacrifices himself, that feels important to his character however that's the only moment like this. He's still a child wandering around a theme park. This is an appeal for me but I have to witness this for over 20 hours.

Nostalgia still has me though and it won't let go anytime soon. So yeah, I'm letting my nostalgia plug this one!

8/10 - Muscle memory and some bad first choices don't stop this childhood roller-coaster from picking up a lot of steam!