The
first Kingdom Hearts game on the newest gen of handhelds certainly blows
all the games on its predecessor away – and surpassed my expectations – but in
my view didn’t match up to the brilliant Birth By Sleep in any aspect, and
suffered from some major problems.
These
are my thoughts after my first playthrough, in which I unlocked the secret
ending but otherwise did not explore very thoroughly, so there may be bits and
pieces to add after I play again in critical mode. Since the secret movie was
so easy to unlock, though, I doubt there’s anything too significant.
So
where does this game leave us, post-BBS? Nomura stated that it was to be
considered, much like BBS, as important plot-wise as a numbered title
and not a side-game like Coded – and indeed, it’s likely that the plot
of KH3 will make no sense without playing this one…though that can be
said of Chain of Memories too, leaving only Coded and 358/2
Days as lesser side-games. Either way, I’m pleased that the title was
actually meaningful, as seeing the younger character models and bizarre scenes
of raining Soras in the sneak peaks I found myself doubting it would be –
though my initial hopes upon starting the game that it would be about bringing
Ventus, Aqua and Terra back ended up dashed. Perhaps we’ll see that in Birth
By Sleep 2.
Nomura
apparently looked at his sprawling mess of a plot for this series and thought ‘You
know what this incredibly convoluted and confusing scenario needs? Time travel.’
KH3D is not for the uninitiated. Be prepared to concentrate on who
Xemnas, old Xehanort, Young Xehanort (also known as ‘Terranort’ because he
inhabits Terra’s body), Ansem and Ansem the Wise are, all of them except the
last looking pretty damn similar, save the bald old coot. Be prepared to count
off all the different aspects of Sora found in his heart: his anomalous nobody
Roxas, the replica/false nobody/memory vessel Xion, and the disembodied asylum
seeker Ventus. And now try to wrap your head around the trap Master Xehanort
devised to get thirteen different aspects of himself from different times
together in different (mostly possessed) forms in order to represent thirteen
darknesses in opposition to seven lights, including an attempt to use Sora’s
body. It’s a very, very tangled mess. And it’ll get worse once there’s
an attempt to extricate Terra from the wrong side and when the two surprise-twist
keyblade wielders who come to the fore at the very end of the game decide who fills
the one remaining space (though the secret ending twist wasn’t…really a twist,
but rather a strange omission up to that point).
But
that’s only the game’s place in the wider series. It has a plot of its own,
which is largely kept simple: Sora and Riku are accomplished keyblade wielders,
but not yet masters. Thus Master Yen Sid (who for whatever reason is retired
from using a keyblade and won’t be fighting) sends the two boys on a mission to
restore previously destroyed worlds that have been left in a state of sleep. For
some reason, they have to be sent back in time to do this (because otherwise
they cannot learn any new skills, perhaps?), which leads to them inhabiting
their younger forms – which I find a shame, because their KH2 designs are much
more appealing and are after all included in the game, looking much better. They
set about freeing the worlds and seeing the pasts of some familiar faces, fighting
‘Dream Eaters’ along the way, but of course Xehanort is on hand to intervene.
It’s
an often bewildering plot, but it just about hangs together, and at least
finally leads to the right place and supplies answers to most questions even if
they’re far-fetched – though just how Lea and the rest somehow went back to
being somebodies again is anyone’s guess. It facilitates a mostly
straightforward game, and with the exception of the very dull Tron world,
it’s fun to play through the story.
But
there are a few big problems, chief of which is the gameplay. BBS really got
things right, though shoot lock made things a little too easy. But each
character was used alone and had moves that flowed into an increasingly deep
play style. DDD’s seems…slapped together. Annoyingly, you have to use dream
eater companions, which both confuse you in the thick of action (as they look
like the enemies) and end up dying and needing to be revived by the player,
which against harder bosses often means you end up having to prioritise getting
a stupid snail back to life and die yourself. I wish they could be turned off.
Then there’s ‘flowmotion’, which is incredibly useful at the start but soon
gets very annoying, as a simple dodge roll too close to the door can end up
with you being immobilised for a half-second, enough for tougher bosses to wipe
you out on proud mode. It also feels tacked-on, as it means you more or less
get the ability to fly from the start, so many carefully-designed stages with
springboards and obstacles just seem like they were put together before
flowmotion was introduced, because it makes them obsolete. Finally, there’s the
cute little special attacks done with the touch screen – I enjoyed these, but
there were only a handful of different ones, which soon got repetitive: it
would have been much better had they been complex and varied.
What
really stood out above all the rest, though, was the homoeroticism of the whole
thing. The KH2 ending more or less dropped all pretence that the Sora/Riku
relationship was anything but a love story, and here it’s the heart of the
whole piece: they’re split apart but their strong bond brings them back
together…and that’s before the innuendoes about Riku being inside Sora and the
bizarre image of him collecting Sora bodies as he skydives are discussed. What’s
remarkable is that the female presence in the game is almost non-existent. None
of the characters significant to the overall plot of this game are female. The
important female characters – Kairi, Naminé, Aqua – get next to no screentime,
and a hint that one will be controllable in KH3 doesn’t cut it. In fact, the
female character who gets the most to do is probably Olivia Wilde’s character
in the Tron world…and it’s weird seeing Thirteen from House interacting
with Sora!
Believe
me, I don’t mind that this epic saga is basically a love story between adolescent
boys. They’re a cute couple. But let’s see more of Aqua soon, eh? I really want
some interaction between Sora and the BBS characters.
