Square USA held their Kingdom Hearts demo day event at the Sony Metreon Complex in San Francisco this week. Since each person was given a few minutes only of playtime, what yours truly was able to play and experience in the time given resulted in gaming bliss.
Graphics: Gorgeous, superlative, easy-on-the-eyes, and magical indeed. Square has captured the essence of Disney's characters with smoothing animations and vibrant colors. Sora himself looks great, as do Goofy and Donald Duck. Framerate was at a solid 30 fps, even with all the battles and special effects going on. Indoor areas are full of detail right out of cartoon, but some parts of the outdoor areas seemed empty and at times bland (perhaps from the specific levels we were allowed to play). Everything else (CG, fonts, etc) is trademark Square all the way... very nice!
Music: With Utada Hikaru's main title song blaring all throughout the store, along with announcements from the DJ, fact that the TV test stations' volume was kinda turned down, and peeps talking all over the place, it was hard to hear the game's in-game music. From what I heard though, the music consists of your "happy go-lucking" RPG music typical from Square.....think music along the lines of Threads of Fate and Brave Fencer Musashiden. But I've already listened to the game's cd soundtrack before and it's a wonderful mix.
Gameplay: This is where Kingdom Hearts shines and where the fun is. You control Sora with Goofy and Donald Duck providing backup and assistance.......akin to Seiken Densetsu, in real time action flavor. Sora can fight (wielding that Magical Key), use items, conjur magic, and summon Aeons on the fly. Use attack combos and such to knock those baddies for a loop. Easy to learn and grasp, the controls are fine, and so is the camera system. The camera is positioned behind Sora so you can see all the action, and it becomes dynamic at times. Maybe once in a while the camera may get wonky on you, but its not bad from what I've experienced, and not as bad as some preview and reviews make it out to be(or maybe I'm just a more experienced game player than them).
The production values, voice talent and amazing front ends are all here. Kingdom Hearts may look and seem kiddie from a viewpoint, but its really hardcore stuff. Anyone from all ages will certainly enjoy the beauty of Kingdom Hearts....yes, that applies to all you adults. Its great that Square is doing something different from the norm of their Final Fantasy games, and Kingdom Hearts comes off as extremely refreshing. Judging by the people's reactions to the game, everyone had a definite ball too. No doubt Kingdom Hearts will be a new series Square will be continuing and in closing, Kingdom Hearts may very well take the RPG crown for 2002.
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