This game is a lightning in a bottle moment. You really will probably never see a game this good in the franchise again. The soundtrack is fucking fantastic, one of the best. The worlds are great even the lion king one and atlantica. The lion king one is one of the games several ways to spice up gameplay and atlantica is optional and a easy but fun rhythm game. The gummi ship segments are fun arcade shooter moments, also with great music. Gameplay is tight, flashy and critical mode provides a fair but challenging experience overall. Great boss fights, with few, if any, bad ones. The ability to do a level 1 playthrough and no damage bosses displays how good the combat is and is something you don't see that often in action rpgs. The story is dumb but always entertaining. Don't take it that serious and you'll learn to enjoy it. You're supposed to laugh at mickey in a black cloak. Its crazy how most action rpgs can't reach the height this game did in 2007 (besides souls-likes and yakuza if we count that series).

Getting back to form after Chain of Memories' unique gameplay system, Kingdom Hearts 2 is a fantastic sequel, building on almost all aspects of the original and being a phenomenal action game in its own right.

Having assumed that the player is familiar with the plot of both the PS2 original Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts 2 begins with a prologue that involves a new character. Though an atmospheric and fairly emotional opening at first, the prologue takes its time and can be a pace-breaker on repeat playthroughs. The remainder of the plot is fairly usual Kingdom Hearts. Its Final Fantasy mixed with Disney that takes its bizarre concept seriously. Though a bit of a double edged sword, the premise being played straight still makes for a sufficiently enjoyable story. It has good comedic appeal, good attempts at emotional moments and despite common criticism, is perfectly coherent and straightforward to follow. Though not a masterpiece of writing by any means, the story does its job well. Tense moments are tense and the Disney branding is used well.

The real meat and bones to Kingdom Hearts 2 is the combat, which is some of the finest in any action game. Sora controls like a dream. Tight, responsive and with a good weight makes for a fantastic feel, only enhanced by the vast array of versatile and viable tools and abilities Sora gets access to. Despite a seemingly overwhelming amount of options, almost all of them have good utility and are fun to use. The free-flowing combo system and general design creates incredible synergy and a massive potential for player freedom and ingenuinety. Unlike the original's deliberateness and low to the ground approach, Kingdom Hearts 2 Sora has a degree of flashiness trademark to character action, but instead of being a case of style over substance, Kingdom Hearts 2 translates this to gameplay very well, with a versatile toolkit that is delightful to use. Enhancing this is the game's excellent enemy design. Enemy variety is high and they encourage utilizing all the tools available, in particular boss fights and the 14 excellent super bosses the Final Mix version introduced. Exemplifying this is the addition of reaction commands, allowing the player to use Triangle to perform context-sensitive, enemy specific manevuers. This adds even more depth to an already excellent combat system, rewarding knowledgeable and skilled players with powerful maneuvers provided they are familiar with enemy patterns. Kingdom Hearts 2 does an excellent job of getting the player to engage and get better at the game, and it only gets more fun when they do.

The level designs of the game have often been criticised. While I agree with the observation that levels are far more simplified and straightforward than the first game, I don't agree that this is a problem. While the interactivity and fully fledged worlds of the original are a positive, Kingdom Hearts 2 is aiming for a different goal with regards to level design. By sacrificing the interconnectedness and depth of Kingdom Hearts 1's levels, Kingdom Hearts 2 is able to streamline levels and create a better pace for the moment to moment action game it clearly wants to be. On the macro level, worlds are simplistic and linear, but on the micro level they have a great amount of variety in combat arenas, and are only as big as is necessary to fit the combat encounters the game is focused on, killing downtime.

I find the PS2 version's soundtrack to be better overall than the HD remaster's, however the HD remaster's looks overhaul is greatly appreciated, running at a constant 60fps and having a crisp look that ages well.

Overall, Kingdom Hearts 2 is a joy to play, and despite taking some liberties, is a brilliant sequel to the initial entry.

In my opinion, currently the best of the series. It felt like an amazing next step after the original and CoM. A flashier, faster paced combat that is a fantastic balance between hack-and-slash and magic, climatic boss battles, the introduction of the Nobodies and Organization XIII and how they fit into the equation and one of the greatest video game OSTs to date. Final Mix makes the vanilla version beyond obsolete. With the addition of extra items, keyblades, areas and phenomenal post-game boss battles that both show the striking depth of the combat system and builds further on expanding on future events makes me forgive its flaws (e.g. slow beginning that hurts multiple playthroughs, cringeworthy moments that haven’t aged well and Sora becoming too much of an optimist) relatively negligible in comparison.

I started this game with a hater's killing intent, Final Fantasy simply does not mean anything to me, and I've tended to a garden of dislike for Disney movies from a young age that has blossomed into a forest of disdain as they evolved from saccharine and condescending children's films to emotional therapy for stunted millennials dragging their disinterested kids to watch their dad cry at a cartoon personification of an emotion wiggling it's eyebrows. I had often heard that a 'critical mode level 1' play through was a legendary action game on par with the greats, and had the full bad faith intention of saying this game sucked actually. Unfortunately my faculties are too objective and like the Casu Martz, just because something is conceptually and aesthetically revolting, doesn't mean it's not worth 100 dollars a pound.