This review contains spoilers
What an absolute victory. Kingdom Hearts II not only lives up to the original, but completely blows it out of the water.
In my unserious review for the first game, I wrote "It's so stupid that it loops around to being cool somehow". And while I don't think I realized it, I had accidentally tapped into what I think is the real appeal of this series. There are even more fanfiction-y moments in KH2 compared to the first game. One example that stuck out to me was when Leon from Final Fantasy VIII showed Sora, Donald and Goofy a hidden computer, but then Stitch from Lilo and Stitch accidentally broke it and got everyone sucked into the world of Tron. That is not a sentence that should ever exist. But the fact that it does and still somehow manages to be included in a game where I can be fully invested is, in of itself, fantastic.
For every silly moment, there's a cool as hell moment waiting. Goofy's infamous fake-out death is obviously (intentionally) stupid, but it leads to an amazing sequence where you use all your abilities to decimate an entire army of enemies. People most often criticize Twilight Town and the introduction to the game, but it leads to, in my opinion, one of the greatest boss fights ever.
Roxas' story was what resonated with me the most. Someone born without memory and no idea who he is. His struggle to claim his own identity after learning he was essentially a clone. Fighting to prove his life meant something in the aforementioned boss fight, before sadly realizing that Sora needs to be his own person too, but finally accepting that he'll always exist within him.
All of this in a game where Mickey Mouse flips around like a Jedi and you can fight giant shadow demons with Donald Duck.
This series is an equal balance between the comedic and the wondrous. It blows my mind how it can carry multiple, seemingly contradictory ideas and still manages to pick itself up. That, to me, is Kingdom Hearts' greatest triumph.
In my unserious review for the first game, I wrote "It's so stupid that it loops around to being cool somehow". And while I don't think I realized it, I had accidentally tapped into what I think is the real appeal of this series. There are even more fanfiction-y moments in KH2 compared to the first game. One example that stuck out to me was when Leon from Final Fantasy VIII showed Sora, Donald and Goofy a hidden computer, but then Stitch from Lilo and Stitch accidentally broke it and got everyone sucked into the world of Tron. That is not a sentence that should ever exist. But the fact that it does and still somehow manages to be included in a game where I can be fully invested is, in of itself, fantastic.
For every silly moment, there's a cool as hell moment waiting. Goofy's infamous fake-out death is obviously (intentionally) stupid, but it leads to an amazing sequence where you use all your abilities to decimate an entire army of enemies. People most often criticize Twilight Town and the introduction to the game, but it leads to, in my opinion, one of the greatest boss fights ever.
Roxas' story was what resonated with me the most. Someone born without memory and no idea who he is. His struggle to claim his own identity after learning he was essentially a clone. Fighting to prove his life meant something in the aforementioned boss fight, before sadly realizing that Sora needs to be his own person too, but finally accepting that he'll always exist within him.
All of this in a game where Mickey Mouse flips around like a Jedi and you can fight giant shadow demons with Donald Duck.
This series is an equal balance between the comedic and the wondrous. It blows my mind how it can carry multiple, seemingly contradictory ideas and still manages to pick itself up. That, to me, is Kingdom Hearts' greatest triumph.