Kingdom Hearts 2 Preview

PS2 Preview | Square and Disney fanboys rejoice yet again.

Two companies that no one thought would ever be united to create a title based on franchises that sell by the truckloads have combined once again to defeat the powers of Heartless, but with a new enemy as well. Although the first Kingdom Hearts did contain some very huge hiccups, it provided at least a fun romp through some very beautiful worlds and with familiar mascots to boot, fans were pleased. After the suspicious movie titled "Deep Dive" that was unlockable in only the Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts, gamers danced in glee to discover a sequel was underway containing the boy that opens the door of light.

Spare me Donald Duck

Details so far have been sparse and will more than likely pop up more when E3 comes around, but this is as much as we know. Kingdom Hearts II will take place 1 year after the storyline of the first title, with director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura pointing out that unlike the Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts will follow the plot of Sora and his adventures.

Those who were familiar with the game mechanics and battle system will be glad to hear that it will presumably remain untouched besides a few enchancements, such as the summoning system to make it easier for the user, as well as a completely make-over job of the Gummi ship. And for those that thought the original was somewhat too easy during gameplay but bosses terribly difficult, you can now choose a difficulty setting at the start of the game.

Characters have also received a major boost adding more numbers to the already high class mascot list, perhaps this time someone from Final Fantasy VI or beyond will show their beautiful faces? Besides the normal news, the development team has basically come back to throw another punch.

Hooded men, mysterious men, and is that Mickey?

Something that raised a few eyebrows at last year's Tokyo Game Show was the new video playing alongside Hikaru Utada's theme song for Kingdom Hearts. These mysterious hooded men seemed to be following Sora whilst on his travels. Who could they be? Nomura again let loose that one hooded man was an important character in the original. Then there was the man in red, who seemed to be aligned with these dark men with hoods and dialogue that spoke something to do with "Ansem", which I'm sure those who played Kingdom Hearts would be fully aware. Along with this, there was also a snippet of Mickey in a ninja suit kicking some major arse in front of Sora. Playable Mickey the Mouse? Nomura never stated. Mysterious indeed.

The sequel to the very popular action RPG is on it's way hopefully later this year, if not very early next year and it does seem that it appears a lot darker this time around. PALGN will have more as it comes to hand.

Overall:
Let's hope they fix that cursed camera.

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