Sets the stage for Kingdom Hearts 3.
Story - 9.0
Master Yen Sid and King Mickey are putting Sora and Riku through a test to become Keyblade masters. They are placed into dreams Inception-style that send them to troubled worlds, both old and new, and must awake sleeping keyholes. Note, because they are in dream worlds, none of the worlds' inhabitants recognize Sora or Riku. Their test comes to a halt when Master Xehanort and The Organization invade their dreams for their own evil purposes. 3/4 of the game centers on Sora a Riku on their dream tests in sleeping worlds, which ultimately mean nothing to the overall story. Only at the tail end does the story move along and set up Kingdom Hearts 3. If you are a KH fan and have played most of the series, your burning questions will be answered and everything will begin to make perfect sense. This story is a very complicated one, and SE does a great job reminding you what happened in short reads of each game called Chronicles. By the end of this game, you will be very excited to play Kingdom Hearts 3.
Gameplay - 7.0
Gameplay in Dream Drop Distance is very easy to pick up, it is nowhere near as ambitious and flashy as Birth By Sleep. You will mostly be swinging around your Keyblade again and again at unrelenting waves of enemies called Dream Eaters, set up to give you a challenge. These enemies aren't nearly as varied and interesting as the Heartless or Nobodies, but do come in all shapes and sizes. You play as Sora and Riku, but the two are in parallel dreams, unable to help each other. Without each other and Donald and Goofy, you are given your own Dream Eaters which give you some aid in fighting. Just like the enemies, your allies aren't interesting either. Instead of separating Sora and Riku's adventures, you can switch back and forth at any time by "dropping". Both sides are equal in difficulty, and wow can this game be hard. Some boss battles took me hours to defeat over various attempts. You will not be fighting Dinsey villains or giant Heartless with strategy, you will be slashing your Keyblade and cating spells at giant Dream Eaters that make for dry boss battles. There isn't as much variety in this as in other titles and it can become very boring to play, doing the same thing over and over again without much justice in presentation. The worlds do not have much depth and the camera angles can be awful at times. Overall, the gameplay is not interesting and can be quite hard (especially the boss fights). But for the 3DS, you can't really complain. It is a nice treat to play Kingdom Hearts in the palms of your hands on the go.
Technical - 8.5
Graphics are very good, perhaps even the best on the 3DS yet. The Tron level looks awesome, easily the best world out of the seven. I have to praise the sound in this game, the voiceovers are excellent as well as the sound effects. The 3D offers some cool uses, especially in the cutscenes. My only beef with Dream Drop Distance on a technical level is the camera, it feels awkward and often hard to control the camera by using shoulder buttons. It was a pretty big mistake by Nintendo not to include a second analog, especially when 3D is their selling point. Only Kingdom Hearts 2 uses a second analog, and it is without question, the best of the bunch to play. Overall, KH3D is a great 3DS game on a technical level.
Overall - 7.5
You could very well just watch the cutscenes on Youtube to get ready for Kingdom Hearts 3. If you want to buy a 3DS just for this game, you will not be happy with your investment. But if you have a 3DS and are a fan of Kingdom Hearts, this game shouldn't be missed. It isn't a wonderful game to play, but it does come with some on-the-go fun and the story will make everything make sense and set the stage up for Kingdom Hearts 3, hopefully on the PS3 in the next two years. Kingdom Hearts 3D is a solid game for the 3DS.
- Dylan