Gamers logo

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMix Review

Reviewed by Matthew Breslin

By Matt BreslinPublished 7 years ago 11 min read
Like

This is a clash of Disney, Final Fantasy, and RPG all rolled up into one nice little package. If any one of those raises an eyebrow, then this may very well be a game for you. I'm a little late on doing a review for this due to the game being released originally back in 2002, but it has been what my world has revolved around lately and it has been my main focus to platinum all of the Kingdom Hearts games on my PS4, in preparation for the (eventual) release of Kingdom Hearts 3.

The Kingdom Hearts series strikes me as one of the best franchises in existence, being a hardcore Zelda fan has made me twitch with a slight shift in favouritism by considering trading in my replica Master Sword for a Keyblade and pretending to lock doors with it; of which both are iconic weapons of the video game world.

The Story...

The game begins pleasantly enough with our main protagonist, Sora, a young boy relaxing on the beach on the world known as Destiny Islands. Here we are introduced to a selection of characters, two of which are pivotal to the main story, these characters are another young boy named Riku, and a young girl called Kairi. We see characters from the Final Fantasy games like Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, but they are minor in the game and you only see them really on the island for the beginning stage of the journey. The three main kids are discussing about how they will leave their cosy island to find other worlds and go on an adventure, so naturally they attempt to build a raft to see other worlds...

Of course, a day later, their world casually implodes due to the door to the island's heart was opened and consumed by the Heartless (the common enemy in the game); everything they have known is gone for the foreseeable future, hurrah! In the danger that occurs, Sora awakens the ability to summon and wield the Keyblade, the weapon used to destroy the Heartless and lock the worlds keyholes from being consumed and ending up like Destiny Islands. When the world is destroyed Sora awakens on the world where citizens of consumed worlds travel to called Traverse Town.

More Final Fantasy characters show up, including Squall, Yuffie, Aeris, and Cid who give Sora a run down to what the Keyblade is; that it is used to lock the darkness and save the worlds, sound fun? Well you're going to need a crack team to help you do this, who else is better than Donald Duck and Goofy? These two were ordered by King Mickey to find a young boy with a key so that the darkness can be locked away!

The story is simple to start with but it begins to get complicated, especially when you step towards the many other games in the franchise. The first in the series is a story on stopping the main antagonist known as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, he is a Heartless that has been able to retain his mind and proceed with his plans to open the door to Kingdom Hearts to gain almighty power and shroud the universe in darkness. His story goes out of control in the rest of the games and delves even more into understanding his motives and where he comes from.

Besides trying to stop the threat of Ansem there are many other confrontations that try and stand in your way, these threats stand as the main villains from each of the Disney films. This will include some favourites like, Maleficent, Captain Hook, Oogie Boogie, Ursula, and Jafar.

Meet the Team...

Sora (Middle) with his companions Donald (Left) and Goofy (Right)

These are our heroes and they set off to close the keyholes of each worlds heart and find the King. Donald is King Mickey's Royal Wizard and assistant; he concentrates on using magic spells to either attack or provide support to Sora and Goofy. Goofy is the Captain of the King's Royal Knights and uses a shield to perform physical based attacks.

We do have other characters that help Sora and Co. on his adventure, they may not go to other worlds with the team, but provide support from Traverse Town; this includes Merlin the Wizard from Sword in the Stone who allows you to practice magic in his loft, allows you access to the Winnie the Pooh book and The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella who releases summon gem powers. As said before, the Final Fantasy crew also help out Sora with information and help you to get to other worlds from time to time.

Throughout the worlds you have the chance to change one of your party to a member of said world that you come across, for example, visiting Deep Jungle allows you to have Tarzan in your party. They all have their own unique skills and abilities, but bear in mind it isn't a necessity to make these changes.

The Worlds...

With it being a Disney-inspired game, you visit worlds in a Gummi ship, of which Donald and Goofy travelled in from Disney Castle; laugh at the name if you want, but I enjoyed these sections where you have to travel between worlds and destroy enemies. You can also customise your ship to be bigger and badder. If you don't like this, then once you have progressed a little further into the game and ventured to a world just once you can magic your way there fast-travel style.

Above is your map of the worlds you can explore, if you can't make out which ones are which I shall list below:

  • Traverse Town
  • Olympus Coliseum (Hercules)
  • Wonderland (Alice and Wonderland)
  • Deep Jungle (Tarzan)
  • Agrabah (Aladdin)
  • Monstro (Pinocchio)
  • Atlantica (Little Mermaid)
  • Halloween Town (Nightmare Before Christmas)
  • Neverland (Peter Pan)
  • Hollow Bastion
  • End of the World

If I had to say which of my favourite worlds were, then I'd say Halloween Town due to the Nightmare Before Christmas theme, just singing "This is Halloween, this is Halloween" whilst exploring the world is something I'd not expect to be doing in a game. I suppose Atlantica, but it's a water level and we usually always have a strong opinion on the good ol' water levels but the orchestral sounds of the "Under the Sea" helps smooth it along.

All the worlds are fun I'd say, some more than others of which most usually have their own quirks to them, such as you can fly in Neverland, swim in Atlantica, swing from vines in the Deep Jungle and take a ride on the magic carpet in Agrabah.

The Gameplay...

It's your casual formula, you have health and a magic meter, you attack with your Keyblade and cast your magic. Sounds simple yes? Well it is I suppose, to begin with it can seem a bit too simple, lock on to your enemy if you want or just flail around. When you level up you'll obtain some new abilities in the way of combo extensions, finishers, or even moves by pressing triangle. These result in some great visuals and massive damage. You'll end up with an extensive list of moves you can choose so long as you have the right amount of ability points and think you'll end up using it.

In addition to attacking and magic casting, you also have your standard items list which you can go through and use healing items or you can use the summon command which you'll find many of throughout your journey. Summons consist of characters from other worlds that aren't in the game due to the darkness destroying their originating world, but their will is strong enough to thrive in a gem stone; to name some of them you have Simba from The Lion King, Mushu from Mulan and Dumbo... from Dumbo. These can be activated as mentioned above by the Fairy Godmother.

With the amount of selections you can make with attacks, spells, items, and summons, getting through to something specific can be a nightmare when facing an enemy in real time combat, thankfully you have a quick select menu which you can place up to three actions into, I personally just had Curaga (heal spell), Stopga (Stops enemies) and Thundaga (Thunder spell... yeah all spells in the Final Fantasy world use the element and adding "ara" or "aga" at the end of said element).

Moving around is like most 3D action games where you use the analogue sticks to move around and alter the camera, use the D pad to go through the menu and press X to select, and you can jump around using the circle button. It goes through a basic tutorial at the beginning explaining some of the features you can do.

Later in the game you'll get access to special abilities that allow you to jump higher and glide faster, making hard to reach places that much easier.

Your companions do actually make a good job of helping you out unlike some other games AI can have, you can set Donald for example to concentrate on mainly using defensive spells or Goofy to use offensive attacks, it all depends on your play style and how you want to progress.

A lot of the enemies may require you to do something different, such as the "The Large Bodies" enemy which require you get behind them to attack their weak spot or the White Truffles which play a game of charades with you to defeat them.

Kingdom Hearts has a great sound track and begins you off with a great theme by Utada Hikaru called "Simple and Clean." This was a theme that was stuck in my head for days. We also had the selection menu theme which has a series of pleasant "dings," hard to describe but it's very soothing and memorable.

Click this link for a listen - by Yoko Shimomura.

Alongside with these unique pieces you also have music from other Disney films, as stated previously you have worlds that take popular themes from their original films, such as the Nightmare Before Christmas instrumental theme. When you enter battles in each world the music alters as well for an upbeat rhythm, I shall include an example below for Halloween town and Atlantica.

My Verdict...

So my overall opinion of this game, I love it. I first played this years ago on the PlayStation 2 after my own mother was given it by her boyfriend at the time, she didn't play it, I did.

I never played future installments until recently when the PS4 released the ReMix version of the game which also includes Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and cinematics from 358/2 Days and Coded. So overall you get hours of game-play and great entertainment.

The game has stunning visuals, great action, your favourite characters from the Disney and Final Fantasy franchises all along side a gripping story which develops with the future games.

Good Points

  • All your favourite Disney/Final Fantasy characters of which most have the original voices from the films. James Woods as Hades!
  • Interesting and deep story that shows the power of friendship and what strength of heart can achieve.
  • Loads to do, customise your Gummi Ship, take part in the Colosseum, synthesising items to acquire powerful gear and take on powerful secret bosses... Sephiroth.
  • A familiar RPG element with leveling up system to really get a feel of power and strength when you progress.
  • The worlds are great places to explore, they aren't massive but it's great seeing familiar locations in a video game.

Bad Points

  • Some bosses can feel a bit bland and have simple mechanics of either smash them to bits, avoid, smash to bits, avoid etc.
  • There's always a delay when you land from jumping that can leave you vulnerable, minor but I noticed it.
  • Monstro and Atlantica levels, wasn't a fan but it may be due to the involvement of water, especially in Atlantica because you actually swim around, it's a good change of pace I suppose, but still.
  • It could just be me and it isn't particularly a bad point because I love reading into games and their story, but it can be hard to follow what's going on when you uncover more of what the story ends up being.

I hope you enjoyed!

This is my first review that I've done publicly and there are likely to be grammar mistakes, but I hope that you enjoyed reading through this and I hope to do more to get experience in talking about something I love and perhaps convince you to try some of the games I talk about!

product review
Like

About the Creator

Matt Breslin

Hey there, and thank you for visiting my profile and looking at my content. I'm an avid gamer and thought to myself this'll be a great place to talk about games I've enjoyed whilst also sharing other stories too. I hope you enjoy!

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.