The long-awaited arrival of the next Arc in the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 has finally arrived! Kingdom Hearts 2 kicks off with a bang, retaining the elements from the first game while also introducing a new mechanic to the game that really makes combat more intense, as well as utilizing your allies properly during combat. With an even deeper story than the first game, you can expect an evolution from the original game.
The story, surprisingly, does not pick up with Sora this time, but rather with a new prologue, and a protagonist. It’s a slow start, but it takes you through a gentle, soft beginning, introducing you to Twilight Town and its inhabitants. This quickly changes, as things take a dark and incredibly serious turn, unlike the first game. This is seen throughout the game, despite Sora and the crew going to a new selection of Disney worlds such as The Caribbean along with the new and improved Hollow Bastion.
The gameplay is rich with combat and makes you mind not only your resources and MP but also requires you to mind who your party members are and how they are doing. The combat is relatively the same, with you battling heartless, and a new type of enemy known as Nobodies. These Nobodies, however, are not the same as the ones you faced in Chain Of Memories. They’ve brought new types, although leagues below what you faced before.
Some new features are added, such as Limits, Forms, and Summons. Summons sounds exactly like what it is, with you summoning a friend from a movie unrelated to the story, such as Chicken Little. Limits are an addition that utilizes the friend of the current world you’re in, or the main party to unleash powerful attacks at the expense of all of Soras MP, making it imperative that you know when or where to use the Limit in order not to get caught without MP on low health.
Forms are a similar thing, except they end up requiring the Drive Gauge to be at 3, as well as needing one or both of your party members in order to pull this off. In exchange, Sora’s outfit will change color, and he gets a massive boost, which can include getting rid of his key blade in exchange for the ability to fire magic blasts, pulling off many higher-tier spells, or gaining two key blades instead and gaining a massive boost in attack speed. Forms end up enhancing the gameplay further.
All in all, between the deep, more serious story and the intense gameplay, this melds into one amazing game, that is highly praised by many reviewers, yet isn’t talked about, which is a crying shame. though the way you earn key blades and forms is slow, the game makes up for it by keeping you entertained the entire time.
