Before diving to the heart (pun intended) of my review, I think it's worth mentioning that Kingdom Hearts III is not a sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, but it's the conclusion of the entire series, including the spin-offs.
Fortunately for newcomers like me, Kingdom Hearts III does re-cap parts of the story from the previous Kingdom Hearts games. However, being the conclusion of the entire series, paired with some of the worst writing I've ever seen in a videogame, very frequent and long cutscenes, unresolved plot points, ending that raises more questions than answers, and nearly non-existent pacing, Kingdom Hearts III fails at delivering a properly structured story so hard, it's not even funny.
With that being said though, the gameplay is actually good; it's extremely easy, but it's fun. It's impressive how many different mechanics and abilities are there, even if all of them lack depth and get repetitive quickly.
The visuals are stunning and the music is great though.
Also, the Disney worlds represented in Kingdom Hearts III are arguably the highlight of the game... in terms of world design at least, because otherwise they're pointless filler and half of them are basically poor re-tellings of the movies they're based in.
Now, it's not necessarily a big deal but I don't understand why they didn't include any Final Fantasy characters in this game; it doesn't make sense, considering the previous games included Final Fantasy characters.
Pros:
+ Enjoyable gameplay
+ Gorgeous visuals
+ Beautiful music
+ Disney world design
Cons:
- Awful narrative
- Long cutscenes
- Terrible pacing
- Too easy
Narrative: 1/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Content: 7/10
Characters: 3/10
Music: 8/10
Art Style: 10/10
Final Rating: 4/10
- Weak -
Kingdom Hearts III is a decent Action RPG for the most part but it also utterly fails at providing a coherent videogame experience in every way and it showcases everything I dislike in a JRPG.
Do I recommend it?:
Newcomers don't bother with it, otherwise read a summary of the series or play Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far before buying Kingdom Hearts III at low price.
Probably must-play for fans.
Fortunately for newcomers like me, Kingdom Hearts III does re-cap parts of the story from the previous Kingdom Hearts games. However, being the conclusion of the entire series, paired with some of the worst writing I've ever seen in a videogame, very frequent and long cutscenes, unresolved plot points, ending that raises more questions than answers, and nearly non-existent pacing, Kingdom Hearts III fails at delivering a properly structured story so hard, it's not even funny.
With that being said though, the gameplay is actually good; it's extremely easy, but it's fun. It's impressive how many different mechanics and abilities are there, even if all of them lack depth and get repetitive quickly.
The visuals are stunning and the music is great though.
Also, the Disney worlds represented in Kingdom Hearts III are arguably the highlight of the game... in terms of world design at least, because otherwise they're pointless filler and half of them are basically poor re-tellings of the movies they're based in.
Now, it's not necessarily a big deal but I don't understand why they didn't include any Final Fantasy characters in this game; it doesn't make sense, considering the previous games included Final Fantasy characters.
Pros:
+ Enjoyable gameplay
+ Gorgeous visuals
+ Beautiful music
+ Disney world design
Cons:
- Awful narrative
- Long cutscenes
- Terrible pacing
- Too easy
Narrative: 1/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Content: 7/10
Characters: 3/10
Music: 8/10
Art Style: 10/10
Final Rating: 4/10
- Weak -
Kingdom Hearts III is a decent Action RPG for the most part but it also utterly fails at providing a coherent videogame experience in every way and it showcases everything I dislike in a JRPG.
Do I recommend it?:
Newcomers don't bother with it, otherwise read a summary of the series or play Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far before buying Kingdom Hearts III at low price.
Probably must-play for fans.