Sora96's Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Review

[Sora96 17,256]

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is the follow up to Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (which I gave an 8.0). This HD collection, also for the PlayStation 3 includes Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix fully remastered in high definition with Kingdom Hearts Re:coded HD Cinematic Story Videos.

 

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is a significant upgrade over Kingdom Hearts II with over 20 new boss battles, tons of new mini-games, many new cutscenes, and improved graphics along with new items and even a Theater Mode where you can re-watch nearly every cutscene. There’s a lot to do for the first time even if you did everything in the original version of Kingdom Hearts II.

 

This HD remaster is also pretty great. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix looks and sounds very good however there are a few minor issues with long loading times and even drive forms taking a lot longer than they should to transform into.

 

There’s also four difficulty modes, but unfortunately you cannot change it once you've started a new game. This could prove annoying if you feel a part of the game is too challenging or even too easy.

 

The game also has a very nice secret ending, but you have to work hard for it. On Standard mode you'll need to complete the Journal 100% which is very hard and time consuming, you can unlock it on Proud mode by just sealing all the Keyholes but you can’t change difficulty modes during the game so you'll need to plan carefully to avoid replaying the game just to watch a secret ending.

 

Sadly Theater mode does not include every cutscene. It is missing quite a few including one with the Gullwings.

 

There’s also no option to turn off subtitles or use the original Japanese voices. Those looking to play Kingdom Hearts II in one of the other languages the game was originally dubbed in are out of luck and are forced to use the English voices.

 

There’s also no digital version, so anyone looking to add it to their digital collection is out of luck.

 

It also feels like this game revolves around drive forms far too much for side quests.

 

Luckily, the cutscenes added in the Final Mix version have all been dubbed in English.

 

The new boss battles will prove a challenge even for experienced fans.

 

However, the infamous Gummiship missions also return with PSN trophies. Once again this'll prevent some people from platinuming Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which is a shame.

 

Kingdom Hearts II was a great game on PlayStation 2, the improvements and additions made in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix made it even better and Osaka team has done a great job at remastering it in high definition and the orchestrated music also makes this experience even better. This title alone is enough to sell the HD collection but there’s even more.

 

Next is Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, funnily enough this game was originally being developed for the PlayStation 2 but because they decided to remake Chain of Memories for PS2 they decided to move this title to the PlayStation Portable. Now it’s on PlayStation 3. And in the most part it’s had a pretty great transition from handheld to console.

 

The game in the most part looks quite good on PS3, however the dull backgrounds now stand out on the big screen and the menus and text look a bit dated but this is understandable.

 

Some unforgiving flaws are some long loading times like when using D-Link and a couple of times I noticed a drop in fps (frames-per-second). Thankfully these were rare.

 

This was my first time playing Birth by Sleep but of course I already knew all about this game quite well and had looked forward to playing this game for the first time.

 

I also of course played in the order the director recommended, Terra, Ventus, Aqua.

 

Birth by Sleep Final Mix introduced a few new cutscenes, four new boss battles (five if comparing to the original Japanese release) and new story titled “Secret Episode” it wasn't as much as Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix but it had more added than Kingdom Hearts Final Mix when comparing to the original English releases.

 

Terra’s style also suited mine quite well. With Terra I used a variety of powerful attacks and usually would keep attacking, Master Eraqus and Terra-Xehanort forced me to play a lot more conservatively and strike with my most powerful attack whenever I could. I surprisingly had little issue defeating Monstro, one of Birth by Sleep Final Mix’s four new bosses (five if comparing to the original Japanese release) I defeated him in only four rounds. All in all, Terra was quite fun to use and with him I went about completing a lot of the Mirage Arena missions.

 

With Ventus however I felt while quick, small and weak. And after just finishing Terra I felt down starting Ventus, I just didn't like the pace of things. Really, I'm just not a big fan of playing multiple stories in a row in one game when they overlap rather than continue on. I enjoyed visiting new areas like Maleficent's castle but I really just wanted to continue with the story rather than see what Ventus was doing at the start of the game. Don’t get me wrong though, Ventus’ story needed to be told but I prefer what Osaka team did with Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] with how you played as both Sora & Riku in the one mode.

 

Aqua’s story on the other hand was better, she starts out quite weak which is really odd considering she’s a Keyblade Master but in the end she becomes even more powerful than Terra and it was really fun using her in battle. Aqua’s story brings the game full circle and is much better than Ventus and even Terra’s stories. Always love fighting Maleficent, Hades and Braig by the way.

 

Music is top notch in this game as expected, but the voice acting is far from perfect. In one such instance in Neverland, Aqua tells Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to run. The lack of emotion is evident, however maybe she’s just being sarcastic since the canon fire does very little damage.

 

Overall Birth by Sleep was a lot of fun. I feel this game is still a handheld game at heart, but an impressive one at that. I definitely feel like I’d have enjoyed this game even more if I had played it back in 2010 on PSP. It’s great to have finally finished every Kingdom Hearts title though.

 

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is of course presented as HD Cinematic Story Videos. I enjoyed this in the most part, but Re:coded was never anything special to begin with. I enjoyed it on Nintendo DS but it wasn't as good as past Kingdom Hearts titles. Honestly, a lot of this story seems to just be filler. Osaka team didn't make the mobile phone or DS version since they were mostly developed by one of Square Enix’s mobile divisions and h.a.n.d respectively but they've done a nice job remaking it simply as cutscenes. The new scenes were quite interesting.

 

I enjoyed this HD collection quite a bit, replaying Kingdom Hearts II with all the new content from the 2007 reissue and now of course in HD was quite a treat and finally playing Birth by Sleep after all these years was really great. Re:coded was pretty good as Cinematic Story Videos as well. It’s definitely a must buy for Kingdom Hearts fans, but the inevitable PlayStation 4 ports might make you hold off.

 

9/10

[Geotrix 862]

Good review! Sums up my thoughts on the collection aswell. I agree 100% about the weird loading times, especially the drive forms taking a long time. That did get pretty annoying at points.

[Soravids 1,056]

Good review! Sums up my thoughts on the collection aswell. I agree 100% about the weird loading times, especially the drive forms taking a long time. That did get pretty annoying at points.

I thought they were good, but okay.

[Nathan Hatton 274]

Fantastic review! In reference to loading times, specifically with drives and d-links, I've read (and agree) that it had something to do with the game being on bluray. Bluray discs have slower read speeds than DVD's, even though they can store much more information at a higher quality. 2.5 has hardly any install data, which could have greatly fixed those load times. Sora96, since you never played bbq on psp, you might not know that the original game had an option for you to install several hundred megabytes to your storage for improved gameplay.

 

This is actually one of the first reviews I've seen that wrote positively about the re: coded cutscenes. And I agree! They really are well done. Could the 3 hours of scenes be told in about 30 minutes? Yes, but they are well put together and honestly more fun to watch than playing the game was...

[Geotrix 862]

I thought they were good, but okay.

They took way too long, I thought load times in terms of triggering a cut scene was... serviceable not great. Drive forms took sometimes 4 odd seconds to load, that doesn't seem long but when you're in battle it can be an issue. It should be instantaneous or atleast shorter than it is. Apart from that it's a great collection.

[TB298 114]

Nice review! Keep up the good work!

[Sora96 17,256]

Sora96, since you never played bbq on psp, you might not know that the original game had an option for you to install several hundred megabytes to your storage for improved gameplay.

 

I actually did know that, I think it was a lot of data. Haha.

[Dio Brando 5,810]

They took way too long, I thought load times in terms of triggering a cut scene was... serviceable not great. Drive forms took sometimes 4 odd seconds to load, that doesn't seem long but when you're in battle it can be an issue. It should be instantaneous or atleast shorter than it is. Apart from that it's a great collection.

Pretty much especially since it was mostly instantaneous in the Ps2 version 

[KH4Real 749]

On proud you needed also to clear jiminy's journal I guess and critical only the data battles and ling will.

For standard also all the gummi ship missions.

[Soravids 1,056]

They took way too long, I thought load times in terms of triggering a cut scene was... serviceable not great. Drive forms took sometimes 4 odd seconds to load, that doesn't seem long but when you're in battle it can be an issue. It should be instantaneous or atleast shorter than it is. Apart from that it's a great collection.

I literally didn't even notice. It's not a problem in the least unless you are severely impatient, but that comes down to opinion. 

Edited December 25, 2014 by soravids

[Nathan Hatton 274]

I actually did know that, I think it was a lot of data. Haha.

Cool. I assumed you did haha but just in case, I wanted to mention it. I think you had multiple options: no install, 400 MB install or 800 MB install. I wish they had done a bigger install for 2.5, but nevertheless, it is a wonderful game.