Kingdom Hearts II : PS2 Review

So it goes that there are many Kingdom Hearts sequels after the semi-old original Kingdom Hearts 2, and it's been six years since it has been out also. That doesn't mean the game needs not any mentioning though. It is however, a game that every gamer has heard of, if not played. The story in kingdom hearts is almost about the same as the original in that Sora, the wielder of the key blade has to go through different stages in order to keep the heartless out of the various Disney kingdoms throughout the game. The difference is, is that there is another group of adversaries known as the nobodies that are able to control the heartless that wreak havoc throughout many of the Disney movies I used to watch as a kid. Organization XIII are planning to somehow fill the world with darkness and it's up to Sora to put the other worldly foes back in their place. The story, however is not all there with the plot and there are twists and plot turns along the way.
The visuals in the game are very bright and colorful, and in most of the Disney worlds, you will notice them to be cartoony. Maybe except for Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron. The other worlds however, are very vibrant with of course a third-person three dimensional cartoonish view. Roxas will also take place of Sora within the beginning part of the game as more of a introductory character to get you used to the game if you have never played Kingdom Hearts before.
When it comes to kingdom hearts, the game play is where it is at. Choosing words like crazy while fighting your foes in real time active combat. Of course once you get Sora, Donald and Goofy will also tag along as the usual crowd. Of course all the time, except when you are first entering through spaceship fighting stages; there will be the command menu situated at the bottom left corner of the screen. As you go through the game, there will be more options that fill the command menu. Of course, the X button will always be your main selector of what you will do followed by resetting to the Attack button within the moment of time. And also reaction commands appear during specific parts in battle, or an event that happens within the blink of an eye above attack. The triangle button uses these reaction commands. Such points maybe will say Reversal, Save, Limit or special moves done to bosses that you would have to use in that point in time.
You will also like before in Kingdom Hearts I, gain the ability to use magic, summons,items, party and drives.The key point is that you will have to select the cursor to do all your moves except jumping and counterattacking while you battle your enemies. Of course O is jump and square is to block depending if you have the support command or not. Drives are now a new edition to the Kingdom Hearts series in that they allow you to change specific classes such as Valor, Wisdom, Master and Final Forms. The new edition with this is the drive gauge. While you fight enemies you can collect green, blue and orange orbs. The green is health, the blue orbs are for magic and orange fill up your max drive limit.But you have to be at your max drive to select and activate it, regardless of how many drives are opened. Once you select drive, you pick a form. Valor is mainly used to double your attack power and deal as many hits in as you can while powered up. Wisdom is more of a magical form which your attack command is changed to shoot, and will deal as many hits with your shots; as also with the higher potency of magical attacks. Master mode is a mix of both and the final mode is possibly even better.
In coordination to all that you go though having the ability not to attack while rapidly selecting the command that you need in that time is daunting. Enemies will always fight you whether you have what you need to do selected and this makes for a challenging experience. Battles are fast paced and you gain more magic, drives and summons as you go along the journey. Going through space levels in your ship are a blast; although the game play is different for those in that there are no commands issued and that all it is required to do is to mash the shoot button to shoot things. As your moving through the ship you will notice gaining parts for it while killing wave after wave of monsters that just seem to be endless.
The journey to killing the heartless and the nobodies is a long one, but I'm sure you'll make it through. Especially if you've been used to the menus such as the final fantasy games.