Kingdom Hearts II

THE GOOD:
Fast paced fighting gave you the feel of being control throughout the whole game. The addition of the new Drive Gauge system which let you transform.

A really good thing to happen was the improved Gummi Ship System, I wasn't fond of the previous one but on Kingdom Hearts II you would probably be liking this version much more.

Once you beat the final boss there is still so much to do and it could keep you playing for possibly 60 hours or more to fully complete the game.

THE BAD:
The Olympus Coliseum on Kingdom Hearts II didn't get you any experience like in Kingdom Hearts and the matches weren't as fun either.

Some of the worlds were smaller, probably to allow for more worlds.

Not as many summons as in the previous installment but as an upside they turned out to be a bit more useful.

SUMMARY:
The story is set about a year after Kingdom Hearts. This time Sora, Donald, and Goofy are trying to find King Mickey and defeat the new Organization XIII who control nobodies the other half of the heartless.

The games starts out with a new character... Roxas he is later discovered to be Sora's nobody. But as time goes one you will gain control once again of the Sora. The plot is one of the simplest I have seen yet it makes an interesting story and isn't boring at all.

I expected to some better graphics only because Square Enix made it but they weren't bad at all. They are up to the standards of the other current games though. The only time the graphics are similar to that of the Final Fantasy games is the first cutscene and the final cutscene.

The battle style on Kingdom Hearts II is very interesting. As you level you get points known as AP points you can use these to add certain combos or actions to your character to try and make him perfect. The commands are simple to perform and are easy to learn.

The new Drive Gauge system allows Sora to transform into a stronger form using the help of one or even both of your supporting characters. Now I won't give you any details on how they are so as not to spoil it but I will tell you that there are four of them and the fourth form is the strongest. When I first saw this addition I was amazed (and I still am) each gave you special attributes which made each one of them unique.



Gummi ships saw a big improvement in this installment because it gave you a more interactive feel during one of the battles you would have with other ships. I'm glad it was improved because the previous version was not good at all in my opinion and the gummi ship building was actually easy to follow.



The coliseum matches were fun but I wasn't happy that experience couldn't be gained by completing the matches. Sure you got more tournaments than in Kingdom Hearts but they were not as fun in my opinion, either way I was still happy that these were still included.



This game will keep you playing for a long time. I just made it to about 38 hours and I would say that I'm about 75% complete. At one point you can choose to go to the final point of the game, and if you are like me you would go straight for the final battle. Once I beat it though I found I wasn't near completing the game as I still needed to complete the mini-games, all of the coliseum matches and fully level all of drive forms, so you will be really busy with the game.

All in all this is a must for fans of Final Fantasy, Disney or even just Kingdom Hearts. You will be occupied for various hours and you will come back to often.