KH13's exclusive Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] review

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is almost here! It's been a long journey since the announcement at E3 2010, but we are now very close to the North American release of the game on July 31. A countdown has been set up below, showing the time remaining until midnight in EST-- but for now, we'd like to treat you to our official review for Kingdom Hearts 3D. Keep reading a detailed, spoiler-free and hopefully unique and interesting view on everything Kingdom Hearts 3D.

KH13's Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] review

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] was first announced in North America at E3 2010. This is the first Kingdom Hearts title for the Nintendo 3DS, and the first time the main storyline has progressed beyond Kingdom Hearts II. For this reason, Kingdom Hearts 3D is highly anticipated among Kingdom Hearts fans, and as the true lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III, is given very high expectations-- and wow, does it exceed those expectations! Kingdom Hearts 3D is an amazing addition to the series, and in many ways, could be considered the best Kingdom Hearts title yet. Read on to see us review every aspect of the game.

Gameplay - 9.5/10

Flowmotion: Gameplay is where Kingdom Hearts 3D is truely notable. There are many new features in the game that add to the experience, but first, let's talk about the new battle system-- which, as you know, is named "Flowmotion". Flowmotion allows the player to interact with the environment and gain momentum from it, including all walls, rails and poles; leading to an extremely fast-paced and fun to use battle system. It's hard to imagine such a system working and feeling natural, but Kingdom Hearts 3D has definitely pulled it off. The worlds of the game are definitely designed to take advantage of this-- each room is quite large and open, and has countless parts with which you can interact. The end result is that Flowmotion is a great innovation in the series, leading to a free, amazingly fun, fresh and unique style of play.

Dream Eaters: This time around, your party members aren't characters-- they are creatures called "Dream Eaters", or specifically, the friendly "Spirit" versions of them. This is another great innovation to the series. Many reviewers have likened the idea of Dream Eaters to "Nintendogs meet Pokémon", and they would be absolutely right. You are able to create new Dream Eaters (from recipes, or from mixing items and commands), and switch around your party of them. You can name them, try and collect them all (if you wish), and train the ones you do have. You can play a great minigame with them, and even verse others locally (in Flick Rush), pet them (which is extremely cute and fun), and unlock new paths in their Ability Link board. Dream Eaters definitely add a lot of new aspects of the game for you to play around with, and it's almost certain that you'll find a lot of enjoyment in a few of these. This is a great take on the concept of party members.

Drop System: The Drop System is Kingdom Hearts 3D's answer to telling two extremely connected, yet individual stories, at the same time. This way of showing both Sora and Riku's stories at once is in direct contrast with Birth by Sleep's method, which of course, completely separated the stories. While both have their strengths and downfalls, the Drop System is definitely an improvement. Instead of splitting up the story, and making everything out of order, it instead strongly encourages you to get both stories at the same time-- while still giving you the freedom of dropping at will, and focusing on a certain character's story if you wish. It leads to, perhaps, the biggest complaint of the gameplay-- that the Drop System can cause some inconveniences and annoyances when you are forced to drop, but it is still an interesting innovation that enhances the game's ability to tell the story (more on this in the next section).

Kingdom Hearts 3D offers great innovations in the gameplay department, and really improves upon the new direction taken by the series in Birth by Sleep. The Command Deck is still present, and along with new features such as Flowmotion, Reality Shift, the Dive System, Dream Eaters and the Drop System, Kingdom Hearts 3D is very notable and could be considered to have the best gameplay yet in a Kingdom Hearts title.

Story - 9.5/10

Kingdom Hearts 3D is the first major continuation of Sora and Riku's story after Kingdom Hearts II, dealing with the return of Master Xehanort, and the taking of the Mark of Mastery exam by Sora and Riku. Starting in Traverse Town, Sora and Riku must explore the Realm of Sleep, and open the seven sleeping worlds' Keyholes. Kingdom Hearts 3D is a step in the right direction for storytelling. Like the first game of the series, Kingdom Hearts 3D really intertwines the plots of each individual Disney world, and the plot of the overall story. Each world mixes Sora and Riku into the story smoothly, and reveals more about where the game is leading. We don't want to give too much away, but we'd like to say that Kingdom Hearts 3D ends with some of the most epic revelations of the series. It's a great lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III.

The most common complaint with the story of the Kingdom Hearts series is that the plot has become too convoluted, and that there are too many dependencies on other games for the casual player to just jump in. While this is still somewhat apparent here, Kingdom Hearts 3D has taken some great steps to make sure that the game is accessible to both Kingdom Hearts regulars and newbies alike. Firstly, the fact that the story starts with a clear goal-- Sora and Riku need to become Keyblade masters in order to defeat Xehanort-- makes it easy for a casual player to get involved. They are given a clear motivation for the story, with a clear view of who the villain is, and this allows them to understand what is going on without knowing the backstory. Secondly, the backstory is then explained in an optional way, allowing new players to learn, while not disrupting the regulars-- the Memento system, containing both flashbacks and summaries of past games, gives the player a way to learn more about the series if they choose. The fact that the Kingdom Hearts universe is so vast is definitely a strength of the series, and Kingdom Hearts 3D does a great job of making this accessible to people in the best way.

Presentation - 9.5/10

The presentation and soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts titles have always been a strong point of the series. The Kingdom Hearts series is known for pushing the technical boundaries of the consoles it appears on, and Kingdom Hearts 3D is no exception-- it really is a beautiful Nintendo 3DS title. The worlds are large and filled with interactive elements, unlike the stale rooms and hallways that some previous games have contained. Flowmotion allows for a large degree of freedom when exploring worlds, and this leads to some great fun platforming. While it would be nice to see some more "life" in the worlds, such as having NPCs appear like in Traverse Town of the first game, the environments are still stunning and graphically impressive. The 3D effect is a nice touch, enhancing what are already very attractive visuals.

Like always, the music of Kingdom Hearts 3D is amazing. This time, composer Yoko Shimomura is joined by both Takeharu Ishimoto (who also worked on Birth by Sleep) and Tsuyoshi Sekito. Tracks from previous games in the series have been given a nice change to fit the theme of the game, and the new tracks appearing contain some of the best in the entire series. As expected, the music of Kingdom Hearts 3D contains the same dramatic, emotional and nostalgic feelings that we are used to with Kingdom Hearts titles.

Replay value - 8.5/10

Even though Kingdom Hearts 3D only sports seven different playable worlds, each of them is vast and contains a lot of things to do-- the main story of Kingdom Hearts 3D is about 20-30 hours long, and there is significant replay value contained within the game. The Dream Eater and Dive Systems provide many optional goals and records for you to achieve. There is a trophy system within the game, which gives you a lot to work for, as well as other optional features such as Flick Rush, Link Portals, a "Critical Mode" after completing the game, and so on. Kingdom Hearts 3D will definitely hook you in, leave you playing for ages, and cause you to bring your 3DS with you everywhere-- as it's done for me.

Conclusion - 9.25/10

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is a great addition to the Kingdom Hearts series, and an amazing gift for the 10th anniversary. As the true sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D has exceeded all expectations and will give regulars and new fans alike a great experience for the Nintendo 3DS. We hope you enjoyed our review.