Review: Kingdom Hearts Part 1

I'm sure back in 2001 when Kingdom Hearts was first announced as being a combined effort between Square and Disney a lot of people were probably thinking, what the hell, in fact I bet most people were but then it actually came out and it turned out to be a perfect combination. There was much more to this game then just Disney and Square characters however including all new characters unique to the game which tied all the loose ends together.

The game starts off dropping you right into a training level where you meet the main character, a 14 year old boy named Sora who has recently been having mysterious dreams relating to other worlds other then his small island home. During this introduction level you will have the option of choosing from series of weapons which will affect your stats when starting the game. Soon be introduced to the main enemies of the game know as the Heartless which are created when any one person's heart is consumed by darkness to the point where they lose it.

Before getting into the main story of the game lets talk about the music in the game. Now right from the opening cinematic you'll quickly notice how amazing the music in this game is and I'm not only talking about the addicting song, Simple and Clean, played during the opening. Much of the music throughout the game includes music from many Disney movies most of which representing the theme of the world. Of course there is all new music in the game but of course it's not quite as memorable as all those Disney classics that will have you going, I remember that song, through much of the game.

Early on in the story you will be introduced to the three main characters in the game, Sora, of course the main playable character in the game, Kairi a girl who had mysteriously appeared on the island one day, and Riku, Sora's best friend. The three of them are building a raft in order to sail away from their small island home, Destiny Island, in hopes of discovering new worlds. Also on Destiny Island you will get to experience the first set of character appearances in the form of quite a few familiar characters from the Final Fantasy universe. After a few simple quests a terrible storm hits the island and threatens to wash the raft they've been working on away and into the sea but what they didn't know was that this wasn't an ordinary storm as the monsters from Sora's dreams began to show up on the island. Sora will soon get a weapon know as the Keyblade to fight against the Heartless but it's not enough as the entire world ends up being destroyed.

Sora soon ends up in a completely different world made up of a town known as Traverse Town with neither of his friends anywhere around. In this town Sora soon meets many familiar faces including his two main partners throughout the game, Donald and Goofy. Sora quickly learns that the Keyblade is the only weapon that can stop the Heartless and that Sora is actually the only one who can use it.

After this you will be traveling from one Disney world to another riding in what is known as a Gummi Ship which might be the most annoying part of the game. These levels between each world put you in control of the Gummi ship as you steer clear of obstacles and enemy ships until you reach your destination. Now that doesn't sound so bad at first but when you realize that whenever you have to revisit a world you have to play through the exact same area again and again until later in the game you actually get the ability to travel back and forth between worlds you've been to without playing through these levels...