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Rating: « Thinking of you, wherever you are.
We pray that this suffering may end
and hope that our hearts will unite.
Now, I will fulfill this wish.
And who knows: starting to travel again isn’t all that difficult...
Or maybe my journey has already begun.
There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky.
One sky, one destiny. »
It was 2003 when Squaresoft signed off on a small yet great revolution in the RPG videogame field with the release of "Kingdom Hearts". At first glance, an anonymous title, which however holds a large number of surprises. At the time, the news of a video game created in collaboration with Disney made many people frown, convinced that they were facing a product with a very low target audience, as if the gaming company wanted to engage even younger age groups in the world of RPGs.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In my opinion, the integration of the two worlds, that of Final Fantasy and the Disney universe, is the main strength of the title, whose characterization is tinged with the fairytale-like and surreal, without falling into the banal or childish (except in some rare and negligible points).
The plot, which would be impossible to fully recount in this review, sees Sora, the protagonist, wandering through various worlds (namely the locations of the most famous Disney films) in order to thwart the wicked plans of Maleficent, the witch from "Sleeping Beauty", who intends to use the hearts of the seven princesses (Snow White, Alice, Cinderella, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, and Kairi, a childhood friend of Sora) to open the lock of Kingdom Hearts, a non-place where the hearts of all mankind are kept, which would then be transformed into a huge army of Heartless, shadow creatures devoid of any emotion. Helping Sora in his titanic task are Goofy and Donald, who are also on a journey to save their kidnapped King.
Beyond the intricate plot, what immediately strikes is the incredible interactivity of the places, but above all the vast amount of characters with which to interact and confront: in addition to the various FF characters, such as Squall and Cloud, Sephiroth, we find dozens and dozens of Disney protagonists. We will have to defeat enemies of the caliber of Hades, Oogie Boogie, Jafar, Clayton, the whale from Pinocchio, Captain Hook, Ursula, Maleficent, and the gigantic demon from "Fantasia", thus dealing with a whole series of secondary characters that characterize the various cartoons. This results in a remarkable series of secondary missions and special mini-games, a breath of fresh air in the gameplay and a great strength for playability and the gaming experience in general. Not to be overlooked is also the atmosphere, in which the characters of our childhood appear in a different light, losing a bit of that carefree cartoon feel to take on a more adult edge.
To craft a different approach to RPGs, there's also the revamped gameplay system: "Kingdom Hearts" is essentially an "action-rpg", a video game creature that perfectly integrates the action of platformers and beat'em ups with combat strategy and the management of character abilities through the menus typical of role-playing games. The presence of strategic elements should not make one think of static and thoughtful battles: the latter are as frenetic as few others, moves are calculated in real-time and not turn-based, so much so that playing feels like a version of Soul Calibur infected by Final Fantasy.
In short, Kingdom Hearts is one of those titles that wins you over game by game, replacing, helped by a particular plot and setting, a true gaming experience, merging action and reflection into a mix that rarely bores the player.
Prepare the keyblade, because now the Disney villains are truly bad...
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