Kingdom Hearts is the story of Sora, a 14-year-old boy whose world is shattered when a violent storm hits his island-paradise home, and he is separated from his two closest friends, Riku, a 5 year-old boy, and Kairi, a 14 year old girl. At the same time, there is turmoil in Disney castle. King Mickey is missing, and Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy set out to find him. On their travels they meet Sora on his own search for his lost friends. The three are told of ominous creatures known as the Heartless - beings without hearts derived from an unknown dimension and as it turns out, manipulated by Disney villains and the ones responsible for the devastating storm. Upon discovering the link between the Heartless, the storm and the disappearance of King Mickey, Sora, Donald and Goofy join forces and heip familiar Disney heroes to save their worlds from the Heartless.
We knew to expect something really special from this long-awaited Square and Disney Interactive collaboration--but having now actually played it has left us in awe. Kingdom Hearts astounds on so many levels, but none so much as the mind-boggling number of Disney characters found in the game--over 100. Plus, a few Square characters--new and old--add further interest.
You really have to see this to believe it. Watch Goofy fumble about, swing vine-to-vine with Tarzan, follow Winnie the Pooh throughout Pooh Corner, or call upon The Lion King`s Simba or Mushu from Mulan for tactical support during battles--anything's possible in the game. In fact, one of the craziest aspects of Kingdom Hearts is simply seeing these Disney characters interact with each other. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' evil Queen teaming up with Jafar from Aladdin? Yup! Again, anything's possible. And most any Disney fan will find it an absolute trip.
Equally cool is just how well-detailed everything looks in the game. Characters all move with the animated fluidity you'd expect from Disney, and the settings themselves just drip with Disney style. From the forests that play home to Tarzan to the desert backdrops of Aladdin, you'd swear sometimes that the beautifully rendered environments are real Disney animation cels. Even individual stairs on a staircase have been painstakingly textured, so as to fully give the illusion that you're no longer playing a video game--you're living out a Disney movie.
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D ). I just got a PS2 demo disc with a preview of it on the disc. It is looking incredable!
