Infuriating, yet a good game.

User Rating: 7.3 | Kingdom Hearts PS2
I sort of did this the opposate way around. I played Kingdom Hearts 2 before I played the first game. I enjoyed the second so much that I had to go through and play the first.

Right off the bat I have to say that this is a game with some terrific presentation and production values. Seeing your old disney favorites broght through so well will really move you. Considering these games elements are so different it is amazing how well Square managed to mesh them together.

The voice acting is excellent and the story is actually quite compelling and interesting. Square is known for making some terrific storylines and this is no exception. You really feel you want to journey along with Goofy Donald and Sora.

My only complaint is the gameplay. At times it is just infuriating. The camera is kinda buggy and makes it difficult to platform properly at times. In fact some of your team members will get in your way when you are trying to make a leap. In sections you cannot even fight off the enemies since when you attack you move forward and are quite liable to fall right off the platform you are standing on. Thus making you climb the whole section all over again. The other problem I had was that alot of the time you have no idea what you are supposed to do or where to go. It tells you you must find somone or go somewhere but will not give you any clue on where it is. You can spend frustrating hours just wandering around the worlds just looking for something or someone. Also many of the puzzels require you to find something, this wouldnt be to bad if they told you what you were looking for or a general area. If you happen to not look at the right pot you will not get past a certian section. In many cases there are a tonne of pots and misc articles lying all around so it is easy to miss. Unless you check each one out individually. It can be absolutly infuriating.

That being said the combat is pretty good. You earn powerups and abilites that you can assign to your character. Kingdom hearts 2 was better but that is to be expected with a sequel. The one thing I did not mind was the gummi ship levels. You only have to go through them once and they are rediculusly easy. In fact I did not die once and never upgraded my ship for the entire game. It is completely supurfluous but not as annoying as many people would have you belive.

If you are looking for a good game to play look no further just be aware of some of its shortcomings. If you can get beyond them this is truly a great game.