 STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
 Classic
|
 Excellent
|
 Good
|
 Fair
|
 Tragic
|
|
| Packshot |  |
| Game Details | Released
06 October 2006 | | Format
PS2 | | Developer
Square Enix |
|
|
Kingdom Hearts II
 Review
Fusing the sublime skills of Square Enix, the renowned developer of Final Fantasy, with Disney’s evergreen world – including Pirates Of The Caribbean and Nightmare Before Christmas – Kingdom Hearts is a stroke of marketing genius. But while no one could fault the game’s intricate storytelling or stellar production values, this highly anticipated sequel fails to build on the solid foundation established by its predecessor.
While Square Enix has gone to great lengths to refine the combat and offer nifty new moves, the battles are so extraordinarily easy that you’ll never feel the need for a crippling special attack or offensive spell. Abundant health orbs also mean you’ll rarely be knocking on death’s door, and while you can evolve your hero into a badass killing machine, the monsters never get any smarter and there’s no sense of accomplishment in the game's cheap victories.
But for anyone with an unconditional love for the worlds of Disney and Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts II is still worth a look: the sprawling Disney-themed worlds are beautifully realised; every character boasts incredible depth, allowing you to become better acquainted with everyone from Captain Barbosa to Goofy; and the voice acting is amongst the best ever heard in a video game, with contributions from Christopher Lee, Haley Joel Osment and Geoffrey Rush.
Reviewer: David McComb
Get this review and thousands more on on your iPhone, download the Empire Movie Guide now!
Write Your Review
To submit your own review and rating please login or register.
Advertisement
Average user rating for Kingdom Hearts II
| | | Empire stop talking shite, Kingdom Hearts II is probably the best game on the ps2 ever, I know it offers nothing new, and your really just hitting X all the time, but by God the story is great backed up by superb characters, I mean once you complete it, you feel you have to go back and replay it again. Because it has the best ending a video game could ever have, before I played and completed this, I had no emtions left, all that changed when I played this.
Also it vastly improves on the first ... Read More
| | | dgribble About me | | 21:42, 10 May 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | | | Much better than empire give credit for, don't listen to the 3* rating, it's far superior to the original Kingdom Hearts and most of all is so much fun. Great game. ... Read More
| | | samm0r About me | | 15:00, 25 June 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | I lost faith in Disney until Kingdom Hearts came out! | | | In all honesty when I was younger Disney films where pretty good to watch until you become a teenager and think Disney is just gay and you would be never seen dead watching them. You would seem somewhat embarrassed by watching with your parents and your younger brother, Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, most of the time I would just walk out of the room and go upstairs and play maybe Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy etc why my family watch a Disney Film.
But then it all changed when I ... Read More
| | | MGSSOL About me | | 14:41, 03 February 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Kingdom Hearts II | | this game was the biggest let down on earth.its a joke that sephiroth is so easy.every level is tiny in comparison with the first and the whole gay vibe between sora and riku was distracting ... Read More
| | | dr_finklestein About me | | 19:52, 02 February 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Kingdom Hearts II | | | L: sarahtall
im still playing the game but im stuck on how 2 kill barboosar soz about the spelling any ideas
sp;
Just keep attacking him when he's vulnerable and use your forms. ... Read More
| | | batcountry84 About me | | 19:58, 20 January 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Kingdom Hearts II | | | im still playing the game but im stuck on how 2 kill barboosar soz about the spelling any ideas ... Read More
| | | sarahtall About me | | 19:30, 18 January 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Only 3 stars?? | | I completed it yesterday.
Due to it being cutscene after bloody cutscene, I didn't feel like I really did anything to warrant completing it all I'd give it 3/5 ... Read More
| | | ndy_vrg About me | | 06:21, 28 October 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Only 3 stars?? | | | Everything that made the first one so good is back, plus a more complex story and a camera that has been revamped so you don't lose your character in mid-fight. Okay so battles turn into hammering the X button but its way more engaging and involving that dragon quest 8 which is just dull where nothing happens - and Empire gave that 5. P-lease. Get this instead. ... Read More
| | | ben29_99 About me | | 15:17, 20 October 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | |
|
|
|
