Kingdom Hearts was a game made by Disney as well as Square. The fact that it is Disney based with various themed worlds and characters that are well-known from their films is rather off-putting for some, but I find it to make the game much more fun. Whilst the game might seem like a run of the mill platformer it is the complete opposite, it is a fully fledged Role-Playing Game that has various aspects from Adventure and Platform games integrated into it, making it a very enjoyable experience.

Story:
A lot of though has been placed into the story line and it clearly shows. It gradually changes through out the game whereas you set out to do one thing and then this that and the other, which is very similar to Final Fantasy. It has a very deep and involving plot. The inclusion of Disney characters adds comedy to it, in particular Donald Duck and Goofy. It starts with Sora - the main character - and his two friends Kairi and Riku wanting to set off away from Destiny Island and search of Kairi's home. They set about doing this by building a raft. Though in the usual Final Fantasy fashion, not all goes according to plan when a huge storm hits the island the night before they set off, which sucks the three of them into various worlds, stranded and alone. Sora's adventure starts here. You don't have to worry in this game if you are unsure of the storyline because the game keeps a journal of the storyline (which is written by Jiminy Cricket) which you can access whenever you are outside of battle to brush up on it, as well as on characters, enemies, Dalmatian puppies, trinity marks and more.

Characters:
There are a lot of them. According to the game's CD case there are over 100 Disney characters, which of course is not including the Final Fantasy characters or the original ones made specifically for the game. Nearly all the characters add something in plot or drama. Obviously though some aren't as involved as others. The characters clearly differ from upbeat and positive Aeris/Aerith (Who we may recognise from Final Fantasy Seven) to Donald Duck who is more funny than anything else. Some characters will help you in battle though they are limited to their worlds, these characters are: Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Jack, Peter Pan and Ariel. These characters can be placed in your team in place of either Donald or Goofy if you feel the need to. Each of the characters have their own abilities giving variety. The voice acting is well done and certain characters become you favourites, mine for example is Hades for how funny he is.

Graphics:
The graphics in this game are very smooth and clear. The non-Disney characters look realistic and the Disney ones look exactly as you would imagine them if they were to be lifted straight from the films. The spells look pretty good and so do the summons. The spells may not look as good as their Final Fantasy counterparts' do (Fireaga is an example of this) but they still look pretty darn good. The FMV's at the start and the end rival those of Final Fantasy Ten is look ability.

Music:
Now being from the creators of Final Fantasy and Disney having very well produced music of it's own you expect something special don't you? And thankfully Kingdom Hearts does not disappoint. Each world has its own unique music and when the some enemies appear on screen the music very cleverly has a change from the normal piece to a faster one meaning each world has its own battle music. The flaw to this which I personally find a bit annoying sometimes is that the music takes pause between changing the battle music and the normal world music with a bit of silence, I doubt however it would annoy anyone else. The song a lot of people associate with Kingdom Hearts is Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru which in itself is a fine song. And listening to it orchestrated in various games making it sound Disney-esque is really good.

Gameplay:
I'm splitting gameply into two halves since the normal game play and battle are significantly different and take place on the same screen.

Battle System:
This is the when the genre of Kingdom Hearts is often disputed, whilst he has a similar menu system to Final Fantasy (where you choose your magic/attacks/items) though you do this with the directional button and move with the analogue and press the cross button to execute the command which is confusing at first because when I have a choice between moving with the directional buttons or with the analogue (I.e. Dynasty Warriors or Final Fantasy Ten) I tend to go for the buttons. You can still run about and slash, though again like Final Fantasy you have to use magic for certain battles where physical attacks are no good.

General Gameplay:
When you are walking around the towns is a gain where the genre is often disputed because it seems very much like a platform game with well timed jumps often saving the day. The gameplay is simple enough because whereas you had to be quicker with the battle to choose options with the directional buttons, outside of battle you are not limited to time due to fear of being attacked. The camera can be annoying in places though it can be fixed by just taking a step or two in one direction and moving it around again. You gain certain group abilities through-out the game that you can use in and out of battle and they are explained clearly enough in game.

Sidequests:
The game is not short on things to do. As well as just playing the game you can search for the lost Dalmatian puppies in order to gain extra magic and items. You can seek out all the Trinity Marks for extra rewards. Parts of certain worlds are optional though it is highly recommended that you complete each world to its fullest. The majority of the Coliseum (Based on Hercules) world is optional though it leads to extra items, magic, challenge and fun to the game with various competitions to enter.

Story Deeply involving and articulate.	9.0
Characters Lots of characters and all wonderfully shown.	9.0
Graphics Wonderfully done.	9.0
Music Wonderfully done music and a treat for your ears.	9.5
Battle System A bit confusing at first, but simple enough once you get used to it.	8.5
General Gameplay Simple and clean though let down by the camera at points.	8.5
Sidequests Very fun sidequests to do and ones that won't be over in seconds, pure class.	9.5
Overall A very good game to play and if you can ignore some of the cutesy characters and enjoy the game for what it is then you shan't be disappointed with it. High recommended and a must for fans of action games, Final Fantasy and people who own Playstation 2's!	9.0

- Heath