This game is essentially another "spin-off" in the Kingdom Hearts series that started about a decade ago with the original "Kingdom Hearts" for Playstation 2. I was introduced to the series through Kingdom Hearts II and was surprised how a game with Disney characters wasn't a steaming pile of crap, and how a combat system made by Square Enix could be so easy to pick up and play, yet increasingly and comfortably complex. I later bought "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" for the Gameboy Advance, and have since been a Kingdom Hearts fan. Why does it matter that I am a Kingdom Hearts fan? Because I'm here to tell you that Kingdom Hearts 3D, along with every other Kingdom Hearts game originating on a handheld system, is only truly a spin-off if you see it as one. If you don't care about the storyline in these games at all, then yes, all of those games are spin-offs. If you actually follow the story of the series, then Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days, Chain of Memories, and Dream Drop Distance are all valid installments in the series, because they all patch up unanswered questions in the plot. Before I actually start the review of "Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance" I just want to point out one thing: There are multiple reasons that I left out "Kingdom Hearts: Coded"… and moving on.
VISUALS/SOUNDTRACK: 2/2
For those who aren't familiar with Kingdom Hearts, the series is a licensed crossover between Disney and Square Enix (creators of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Deus Ex, Chrono Trigger, etc), so essentially you have new characters roaming the worlds of classic Disney tales, with the occasional Final Fantasy character (for example, every Kingdom Hearts game has Moogles). The reason I point this out is because Square Enix is usually praised for their great musical scores and top notch cutscenes. For the most part, Kingdom Hearts is no exception. The introductory cinematic that plays before you hit the first menu of the game is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on a handheld. That's bad journalism, but it just looks that good, and I'm not a real journalist. There is a world in this game based on the Disney musical "Fantasia", and its music will change depending on what area you are in and what is going on. Sometimes a harp will play an arpeggio when you hit an enemy. Not every stage is like that, but I thought that was an unexpected and interesting mechanic. Personally, some of the battle themes can get on my nerves sometimes, but they are too few and far between to knit-pick on, considering everything else in this aspect of the game is great.
GAMEPLAY: 1.5/2
This is where things might start to get a bit one-sided… and you thought that started in the opening paragraph. Nope. Bad journalism surges through the veins of this review. I feel they screwed with a combat mechanic that they didn't need to screw with. The Kindgom Hearts series is an Action-RPG series, and it has always had the same basic interface with different skins. On the right somewhere is your character's health and MP, along with your partners' health and MP (granted you have partners, which most of the time you should). On the left of the screen is your list of commands and what button they are assigned to. This is the beauty of the Kingdom Hearts games on PS2, is that you have enough buttons to pull something like this off and make it subconscious and comfortable. The Nintendo handheld systems are more restricted in this regard, but I guess that's not Square Enix's fault. Most of Kingdom Hearts 3D's combat system fits fairly well on the 3DS's layout, and with the "Reality Shift" techniques and the ability to click on your partners to perform their united special attack with you, the game takes down the obstacles of the 3DS and turns it into a good thing. This doesn't change the fact that I found the lock-on system to be finicky and hard to use. You can change this… sort of. There are Type A and Type B controls, but they only correspond to the lock-on system and the camera control, and neither of which seem to fix any problem you may have to locking on to enemies. But here's where this one-sided-ness comes in: the command list. The command list you hand-pick from the menu yourself before you go into any battle. You can use the D-pad to go to a set shortcut command and shift through your commands. The reason I feel this might be biased is because I played Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the original DS. That's even less to work with than a 3DS yet that game pulled off the command list very well, or at the very least like other games in the series. The way 358/2 Days did it was more natural to use. You would sift through commands with one button and then press another button to execute them (again, like most other games in the series, or at least the console ones). This sounds like it would be too compact for a handheld, but the shoulder button opened up not one, but four shortcut commands that you could set yourself (… again, like most other games in the series). After getting past the fact that you don't have a Sony controller in your hand, 358/2 Days essentially felt like a console Kingdom Hearts game without a joystick. 3DS implements the "joystick" (and a second joystick if you buy one), but it also scraps the rest of what they already had. None of my friends wanted to play 358/2 Days when it was coming out because they were afraid the DS's controls couldn't handle it, and it proved them all wrong. So I'm not saying the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts 3D is bad, but I truly think "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"… at least when it comes to the command list and lock-on system. There's my book on gameplay. Next category please….
REPLAY VALUE: 2/2
This is why I'm not a Square Enix fan: they're too good. You get so much for your buck out of their game (for the most part) and then they say "You done? Good. Here's 60 more hours of gameplay trying to find everything". It is torture, but you love it. They also put in a trophy list for you. I don't know if the trophies do anything yet because I've only gotten four so far, but they're incentive to keep going for sure. At the same time it is a handheld, mostly single-player, Action-RPG… with Disney characters… so the eye is to the beholder… or something. In other words I feel you can only squeeze so much replay value out of a game that you will play mostly in a dark corner by yourself. I can't break the score down for that though, because it manages to do that through the other aspects of the game. Why has your friend been locking himself away every weekend in a basement since 2004 saying that he has to save Mickey Mouse? Kingdom Hearts. Every game in the series has an undeniable charm, and even with so much brain-numbing knowledge to deal with and a semi-broken combat system, this game has that same charm in spades. That charm, and the constant incentive to make those numbers in your party's stats grow, adds to the replay value, even if there was absolutely nothing to do on the side… and there's plenty to do on the side. So does Kingdom Hearts 3D have gameplay value? Yeah.
STORYLINE: 2/2
The storyline is one of the main reasons I come back to these games. The storyline of Kingdom Hearts is unique. There aren't many other franchises out there that piece together or even have the potential to piece together such an elaborate plot. Elaborate is the best word I can think of to describe it too, because the whole thing is like Jenga; in fact I've described it to someone once as "it's like the bible"… in content, not in what it actually says and … you know what, I'm going to slowly walk over that landmine and not look back. This actually touches back to my rant in the opening paragraph, because every game in the series (even Coded) connects in at the very least (Coded) one significant way to Kingdom Hearts 3D, even if it isn't initially realized as an important factor in the plot until later (Coded). The story has become so immerse and full of twists in fact, that the game's menu has a new "Chronicle" section. When a significant event in a cutscene refers to another game in the series, you will unlock that game's chronicle and the page you unlocked will give you an as-brief-as-possible summary of that game. In English, you can play this game and still not be completely confused even if you haven't played Kingdom Hearts I, II, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, or especially not Coded. Seriously, once you hit the part of the game where it references Coded, you'll see why I keep bashing it. I'm not bashing Coded, or Re:Coded, but I am bashing it's insignificance as a part of the series and as a game. Next category please…
FLOW: 1/2
This is the part of the review I call Flow, because I don't know what else to call it. Essentially I look past the bells and whistles in a game to see how those bells and whistles connect in a game and add a sort of comfort or magic or whatever to the player's overall experience with the game. This is because you can buy a slimmer version of a previously existing game system, but if its disc reader is going to crap out on you anyways, then you just feel stupid. Name that console reference kids! Most of the Kingdom Hearts formula hasn't changed, and some of it I think worked out a lot better in some ways than I expected, but in other ways that same feature makes things a bit unresponsive. Here I am mainly referring to the Flowmotion system. The Flowmotion system will allow your character to do all kinds of crazy actions by bouncing off of walls, poles, enemies, and other various things strewn throughout the game. It was implemented fairly well, except for one notable world; The Grid. In this world (based on 2010 film "Tron:Legacy" and loosely referencing other Tron endeavors) there are lines on the floor that your character will ride on. Once you step over these lines, your character will enter Flowmotion… even when you don't necessarily want it to. Also, Flowmotion off of walls is limitless, so you can skip certain puzzles (how few there may be) in the game by simply hurtling to an area in which you would've had to otherwise trigger in a different event. The only other thing I found off was the Nintendogs rip-off mode in which you pet your new partner characters, the Dream Eaters. This system actually worked better than I had expected from trailers, but it is tedious to continuously give attention to members of your party in such a creepily intimate way. Also, and it almost seems random but maybe there's something I'm missing, in your time-consuming ritual of petting your Dream Eaters, sometimes they get agitated with your affection, thus wasting your time. Depending on the species of Dream Eater, the "cute" animations they make in response to your "touch" sometimes last far too long, and you see them fairly often, otherwise missing out on the powers that can be obtained through proper Dream Eater care. Essentially with the Dream Eaters, they have based a major factor of this complicated Action-RPG on a childish gimmick. The ability link system where you acquire different abilities via experiences with your Dream Eaters is actually pretty deep, but only slightly makes up for the little adorable annoyances that comes with the affection system of your Dream Eaters.
OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10
The game is a fun and magical experience, which right now is fairly rare on the 3DS's seemingly barren line-up of games. I have not played too many 3DS games so far, but I am willing to bet that this is one of the deepest games out for its system right now that isn't a remake of an old Nintendo 64 gem. Plus it is supposed to be the bridge between Kingdom Hearts II and the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III. But at this rate, Kingdom Hearts III will probably come out by the time my mid-life crisis starts or I retire. Either way convenient, but as such I wouldn't factor that into this game. I recommend anyone with a 3DS to give this game a shot. It could lead you into the rest of the series, and you can then become a shriveled up nerd playing with Donald Duck in his mom's basement like me.