So what does all this rambling from an old coot like myself have to do with Kingdom Hearts? Well, I'd like to be the first to say that Kingdom Hearts is a trendbreaker. No longer is Disney limited to a world filled with happy-go-lucky frolics; no, there is definite evil afoot in this game, and dark imagery to back it up. This is not a kid's game (Squaresoft isn't really known for such forays) -- it's a game for those willing to fight for intertwining universal justice!

In Kingdom Hearts, you take on the role of Sora, a young fellow whose interest in exploration ends up delivering more than he bargained for. After having his friends vanish and his island destroyed by a mysterious group of shadowfolk called the Heartless, Sora is whisked away to another world, where he meets up with none other than Donald Duck and Goofy...uh... um... (Nobody knows quite what Goofy is), who are searching for their lost king. Sporting a nifty oversized Keyblade, Sora joins up with the cartoon duo as they begin scouring other worlds to find the answers they seek. Yes, the plot has a hint of Final Fantasy odour floating about.

These "other worlds" are mostly taken from various Disney films, including Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and even The Nightmare Before Christmas (which I didn't think was a Disney title...but I guess it is!). All of them are very colourful in nature and are fairly detailed. The general look of the game is cartoonish but in a mature light, and the environments seem to support this. Related to this, of course, is the set of character models, all of which animate rather fluidly. While your main characters look decent enough, they are not always as detailed as in most other games of the action-RPG genre (or of any genre with graphics like this). I suppose this is to support the cartoon aspect and also for technical reasons (to keep the framerate up), but snazzier enemies would have been nifty to look at.

As for music and sound, it was generally well-produced. They managed to get most of the original voice actors back from their respective Disney films (or reasonable facsimiles) to revive their characters from their animated graves. Plus there are all new characters, voiced by popular Hollywood figures (including Haley Joel Osmont and the always suave Billy Zane). The voice acting represents the nature of every character, and thus I must give a kudos to the team behind this. On the other hand, I often found the music of this game to be somewhat dispensible. While it does reflect the style of each world, I often drowned out the music being played in my head. I'm not saying that the soundtrack of this game is poor; instead, I'm just saying it wasn't exactly the liveliest of sets. However, notable mention should go to the theme song of this game, "Simple And Clean" by Utada Hikaru -- that song alone made me interested in the game. I remember when I first popped the disc in my PS2, just to make sure it would work (one can never always trust used games, you know...) and I watched the opening sequence. Blown away, I was! Yay! Still...the rest of the soundtrack just doesn't live up to this one J-Pop track. It's to be expected, I guess.

Yet the actual gameplay is where the heart of every game lies. It's very much a hack-and-slash-style game, where you use your Keyblade as your primary weapon, and you basically beat the living hell out of your foes. Of course, Donald and Goofy (or a substitute in certain areas) will help you out...somewhat. And of course, the more foes you kill, the more experience you get, and the stronger you get. It also helps to equip Keychains and some nifty accessories to help strengthen yourself a little more. (In fact, you can also synthesize some possibly useful items with the help of some Moogles! Sweet!) The battle system itself is firm, and the addition of weak points on certain enemies adds to the strategy posed within the game. Hit detection is also swift; the game will certainly know if you effectively hit your target or not! The so-called "collection" of spells in this game is practically non-existent, for you are handed new spells as the game advances, so there's not much to say about this, except that it can be a hassle to use them. Even the game's "hotkey" system can be somewhat bothersome in the heat of battle. Also, the camera can occasionally be irksome, particularly when there is a lot of action on screen and certain things (large enemies, walls, etc.) block your view. Nothing's perfect, but I did take a bit of unnecessary injury because of this.