Kingdom Hearts 3-Review

Kingdom Hearts 3 is everything Kingdom Hearts Fans wanted from the final chapter in the dark seeker saga, unfortunately it doesn’t live up to the hype it created and teased for so many years. Though I start this review with a downer I don’t mean that Kingdom Hearts 3 is a bad game at all, in fact I think its a very good game, but much less than what it could have been. For example, each world is beautiful and represents each type of film or movie really well, treasures are placed in smart sections to fuel exploration and to use your various abilities in interesting ways. But because these areas are so big finding the treasures are more of a chore then a fun experience when your trying to find each and every one. I scaled the Frozen World’s mountain at least a dozen times trying to find each nook and cranny for treasure, when ultimately because everything looked the same it was hard to remember exactly where I had explored. I wish there was some kind of treasure notification that would go off to show when I was getting closer or farther away. Because of this, beyond the story beats, the worlds get really tedious to enjoy.

The Worlds on the positive end are gorgeous, the forest in Tangled’s world is beautiful, and the scale that the Toy Story world gives is very engrossing.

The one thing that Kingdom Hearts 2 did that I felt was one step back in the series was the linear quality of each area, while Kingdom Hearts 3’s worlds are more literally mini open worlds, whether its exploring the Pirates of The Caribbean’s sea Windwaker style, jumping off your boat to explore new islands, or scaling skyscrapers in San Fransokyo to see the neon lights above the city at night. Most of the worlds are fun to explore but others feel like they were placed in for either only a hub to buy items, do mini games at, or are less glorified versions of their former selves in past iterations. It seems in some areas Kingdom Hearts 3 does really well, there is also a step backwards. Another example of what has been done in the past with these hub worlds well was in Kingdom Hearts 2, where in places like Radiant Garden or Disney Castle. What these worlds lack in area or space, they make up with hidden secrets and worlds within the worlds. Disney Castle had the old School Mickey World, while Radiant Garden had two itself, Winnie the Pooh, and Tron. It seems Kingdom Hearts 3 has replaced these more interesting injections with lackluster food placements for a ratatouille mini game. So though the worlds are great, they really differ in how great they are. They range from blah to very good.

But what really keeps me coming back even after beating the game is the battle system, some may think of it as only a less then lovely smashed conglomeration of gameplay elements from all of the Kingdom Hearts Games, which it is, but I found it the most fun part of Kingdom Hearts 3. In fact I wanted to play the game again on a harder difficulty mode after I beat the game because I had got a handle on fighting. Like previous kingdom hearts games you have slots to attach items, upgrades, and weapons, but this time the key blades aren’t just key shaped metal bats, they have special abilities that are not just in your stats but are seen to fantastical effect. Each world’s keyblade has special attacks corresponding with their worlds. The Monster’s Inc world is more playful with your Keyblade turning into deadly yo-yos while Big Hero’s 6’s key blade, which was my favorite, uses Hiro’s Nano bots to cause huge damage. Sadly it looks like the drive forms that we were used to in Kingdom Hearts 2 are not here which is a bummer because though the key blade forms are cool, I really felt better floating with two key blades strapped to my back with black and white clothes.

Flow motion from Dream Drop Distance has been carried over and feels oh so good. It makes traversing some of these empty worlds exciting and fun, while also making it possible for Sora to fight and explore in ways he never had before. Cliffs are now just another floor to be ran on, and caves are ladders used to reach new and hidden areas. Though not every environment is made for flow motion in mind, there are enough to make it feel special. The shotlock command from birth by sleep is also applied here, and is yet another layer to an already delicious battle cake. In short battling heartless never gets boring or repetitive, and will keep me coming back to this game for years to come.

What might not keep me coming back is the story to Kingdom Hearts 3 which, do not get me wrong, is not bad, but again after the hype of all the previous games for this one, the game’s story kind of falls flat. Now saying that, I feel many resolutions have been met in regards to what fans were expecting and to me that is the sweetest piece of the story. I will avoid spoilers but I want to say, many good things happen in the last worlds you visit. There has been controversy about some parts of the story, like in the Frozen world’s story progression, which is evident once you play through it, but besides that unfortunate telling of Disney’s triumphant film the rest of the worlds are what you would expect from the story at this point. You’ll find popular characters being attacked by heartless which then make Sora and the gang jump into saving them. Usually Sora, Donald, and Goofy introduce themselves, and the characters from the world you visit do likewise. From here there is a quest to reach some part of the world or obstacle.

To say that this format of fatigue from the Kingdom Heart’s story is hard to swallow is an under statement, though if its your first time with Sora and friends you will probably be able to muster through it fine.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a triumph when it comes to combining battle systems from the whole Kingdom hearts series, tying up some loose ends in an already tangled story, and reciprocating Disney Movies into full explorable worlds with applicable gameplay that fits each one. But the short falls of hard to find treasure, off beat story points, and abandoning systems that were better in the past than what now exists in the current iteration keep it from greatness. Kingdom Hearts 3 does well in some points, but not in most. Fans will probably be sad but not disappointed. Everyone else will have an alright if not good time. Because of these reasons, the score I give the game is an 7.5 out of 10 for “Very Good”.