While I feel this game is definitely held down by some flaws and shouldn't be taken very seriously, it was still a really good and very enjoyable game.

First off, I don't really care too much for some complicated, intertwined Kingdom Hearts canon spread across many bizarrely-titled releases. I don't care for some extensive lore that a lot of people seem to take quite seriously. But as a Disney meets Final Fantasy crossover where an anime boy ventures through different Disney realms to save the world, I really enjoyed it. I think the whole framework is a little too silly to really take deeply seriously (because any world where Sephiroth exists alongside Winnie the Pooh and Danny Devito as a grumpy satyr, and the storyline involves Micky Mouse sealing away a dark horde of anime creatures is going to have some dissonance if you try to make a cohesive serious narrative about it), but, for me at least, when you just look at it as anime boy teams up with Donald and Goofy to tour through worlds inspired by Disney movies to be an anime hero and save the universe it's charming and compelling enough.

But now that I've given my thoughts on the framework of the game, it's time to look at everything else. While the platforming can be a little awkward sometimes, and the camera can have some issues (and it was weird at first to use shoulder buttons instead of a second stick, though it became natural to me), the general gameplay is quite good. Battles feel great. They've got an all-out brawl sort of feel with all of the real-time enemies fighting you and your partners at the same time, with some generally great target locking, a good sense of proper mobility and a good mix of physical attacking and magic abilities. It's a running joke that Donald won't heal you, but at least for me, whenever I was in trouble and my partners were available, they were pretty effective at helping me out when I needed it. And while it took me a little while to get used to it, the UI in this game is solid. The menus work well and the Attack/Magic/Item/Misc. system works well.
While some of the Disney universes you visit might not feel like some of the more iconic ones given how limited the amount of them are, they do a generally great job at designing great levels around them all. It would've been nice to have a few more worlds to visit, but I don't really count that as a flaw. This game in its current state did take me around 40 hours to complete, so while at the time I kind of wished I could visit a few more worlds, I think it works fine for the game's length. I think I just wanted to see what else the game could have to offer potentially. The songs in the game weren't generally quite as great as some of my favorite soundtracks but they work fine. I do remember a lot of them, but it would be nice if some of them had a little more personality and character to them. The soundtrack is no Final Fantasy VII.

And one thing I really liked about the game is that it had a sizable "home-stretch." When the Hollow Bastion opened up, I was worried the game would be over too soon, that all the progress I'd made would lead to an ending that wrapped up too quickly. But I was wrong and that was very satisfying. With both the amount of enemies that you had to get through in between boss encounters and events, and the grinding that (at least for me) I was forced to do to prepare the proper experience for leveling up and Munny for items for bosses I struggled with, the "home-stretch" feels properly padded out in length. Plenty of bosses to get through and enemies in between.

Don't get me wrong, this game is quite good, and I do recommend it, but I did have a few more gripes with it compared to my personal favorites. I've already gone over a few, but there are a few others. The Winnie the Pooh levels weren't something I enjoyed much. The way they were set up didn't play well with me. While generally the animation is really quite good, especially for the time, there are some instances in cutscenes where some of the actions characters do look a little weird. It's definitely not theatrical Disney quality. This is especially true when they try to do cartoonish actions. Sometimes it feels a little constrained in how things can't move as freely as if they were drawn. And then there are examples like a scene where Donald gets flattened on a wall when a door opens. He looks like a flat version of his standing character model, where it would've been funnier if his arms and legs were out-stretched. And while I liked how padded out the "home-stretch" was and the final boss felt padded out well as well in terms of length, it felt like some of the bosses I faced on the way to get here were a little more challenging. Maybe it has to do with leveling, and maybe I just got better at the game. I don't know. But I'm pretty sure that difficulty-wise I had faced harder before, if not in terms of sheer length. Also I didn't care much for the Gummi Ship segments at all. I put barely any attention into my Gummi Ship's construction and I barely understood what any of it meant besides shoot the obstacles, collect the things, and don't die. I was really glad when I got the Warp Drive so I didn't have to bother.

But time for my overall verdict. It didn't sell me on taking its universe as seriously as hardcore fans have, but for what it is as a singular game I really enjoyed it and really recommend it. It's not as polished as some other games I've played, and it does better in some areas than others, but it's still overall a really good game that's really fun to play. I'd recommend it even to people who aren't the type to get really into its extensive universe I know nothing about. I have a few gripes with it, but none big enough to really hurt my opinion of the game overall. I'd personally say play it if you haven't, even if it mostly appeals to the demographic that already loves it.

Reviewed on Aug 09, 2020


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