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Ammish

KH3D Is there such a thing as a negative 3D review?

By Ammish, in Kingdom Hearts - General

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Ammish    18

Ammish
Posted

Well, aside from user reviews. Welp, there is.

 

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/905488-kingdom-hearts-3d-dream-drop-distance-review-oh-mickey

 

  Quote

 

 

There's not a long history of video game crossovers, but when they do happen they rarely go for the obvious. But the likes of Marvel Vs. Capcom and turning Mario & Sonic into a sports game has nothing on a crossover between Disney movies and Final Fantasy games.

 

The two universes seem to have little in common, but Kingdom Hearts has been a huge money-spinner for Square Enix - even though it hasn't seen a numbered sequel since 2006. Even though it seems to be leading into Kingdom Hearts III this is yet another side story, and a confusing one if you're not already familiar with the overarching plot.

 

Thankfully the basics are pretty simple: heroes Sora and Riku have to journey through a variety of worlds based on Disney movies (everything from Tron: Legacy to Fantasia and Pinocchio) fighting dream-eating monsters and Disney villains.

 

Although that's all you need to know in order to play the game that doesn’t stop an endless parade of cut scenes featuring mawkish dialogue about the darkness in people's hearts and the importance of being in touch with your inner self. It's enough to make the sickliest greeting card seem like death metal lyrics by comparison, and almost unbearable for anyone that doesn't share the same sentiments as he game's primarily tween audience.

 

And yet the absolute worst thing is Beat. In a first for the series there are no Final Fantasy characters in the game, just the odd Moogle. Instead the non-Disney characters are either unique to Kingdom Hearts or from cult DS hit The World Ends With You.

 

We're big fans of that game but seeing the cast brought to life, and voiced for the first time, began instantly ruining our memories of it. Beat and his '90s white rapper style speech is particularly unbearable. It's enough to make us hope there is no World Ends With You sequel, just a Beat face-punching game instead.

 

The story and characters are an acquired taste, to put it mildly, but given Kingdom Hearts' success clearly there are plenty of people who enjoy its overwrought melodrama. But then the series has always been more about the presentation and story than gameplay, and true to form this is one of the best looking 3DS games so far. The 3D effect is great and the production values have had no expense spared. But as a game it has some significant flaws.

 

Despite its role-playing pretensions Kingdom Hearts 3D is a fairly straightforward brawler at heart, and there's now a new system called 'Flowmotion' that lets you bounce off walls and objects to initiate more powerful attacks - as well as navigate scenery and grind on safety rails. It's a welcome enough idea, but it makes using the magic system almost redundant - since it's often easier and safer to loop around a lamppost to hit someone than fiddle about trying to select the right spell.

 

Although improved the game's camera is still twitchy and unhelpful, a problem that has been consistent throughout the franchise's entire 10 year lifespan. Likewise the environments remain empty and uninteractive, filled with background objects it looks like you should be able to jump on but usually can't.

 

Each of the Disney worlds has a different 'Really Shift' that lets you manipulate specific background objects (barrels in Traverse Town, the Grid in Tron world) but these are no compensation for such barren game worlds.

 

But Kingdom Hearts 3D's biggest mistakes are left for its most important new features. Although you do meet them as part of the story you no longer get the novelty of characters like Mickey Mouse and Goofy following after you and helping in battle. Instead you're meant to create friendly versions of the Dream Eater enemies - bland Pokémon style critters that never speak a word.

 

There are plenty to collect, and some nintendogs style AR games to play with them, but the designs are uninspired and most of the time they just look like someone has eaten one packet of Skittles too many and upchucked on a bunch of woodland creatures.

 

The other big new feature is also a stinker: every 20 minutes or so you're automatically swapped between Sora and Riku, no matter what you're doing - up to and including the exhaustingly long boss battles. There are story reasons for this (both characters are exploring alternative universe versions of the same worlds) but in gameplay terms it's never anything less than irritating and we can't begin to imagine why anyone thought it would be a good idea.

 

Combined with the litany of other missteps, which just compound the series' historical issues rather than attempting to address them, the balance of good and bad is tipped to the point where even Disney magic can't save it.

 

In Short: The problem with the latest Kingdom Hearts is not a lack of new ideas but that almost all of them are awful, and that's before you even consider the script…

 

Pros: Superb presentation and some of the best graphics and 3D effects on the 3DS. Plenty of content and mostly new worlds. Lots of role-playing customisation for the committed.

 

Cons: The combat is shallow and repetitive, with a still incompetent camera. The Dream Eaters and switching between characters are terrible ideas. Highly confusing story. Beat.

 

Score: 4/10

 

The Metro is a UK Newspaper and Website. The group of Journalist are from Game Central, one of them writing freelance for Eurogamer. The Metro is quite big and it's free to pick up a newspaper if you're on the bus.

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