Kingdom Hearts Re: Tired

Originally part of the Japanese-only release Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix +, the game was considered an "extra". Yes, Square-Enix is charging us full price for what was a bonus disc in a Japanese "Director's Cut" release of KHII containing new weapons, cutscenes, areas, and boss battles. Though disappointing, it is fortunate that SE decided to release re:CoM in the States at all, especially given the fact that we are definitely in the PS2's twilight years. I purchased the game solely to support SE's efforts to bring over "special edition" releases, even if we don't get the whole package...

All that said, if you liked the GBA release, or never played it, this game is for you. Just don't expect it to be a proper sequel to Kingdom Hearts II (a far superior title). The engine used to render the areas and characters is based on KH1, and therefore the areas are a little more barren than you would be used to from KHII. Also, they didn't bother to re-sync the lips with the English voice acting, which can be exceptionally distracting if you have studied Japanese at all and can actually see what the characters are saying (although for most of you that probably won't be an issue). The storyline bridges the gap between KH1 and KH2, and explains what happened to Sora prior to the start of KH2. Most of the voice actors from KH2 reprise their roles, although some notable ones are missing (though I doubt any Square fan was REALLY expecting Hayden Penettiere to reprise her role as Kairi due to her newfound fame courtesy of HEROES, so her absence isn't surprising).

To those expecting normal KH gameplay, I've got bad news for you there, too. It's a card game. Don't wince too much - it's an action-based card game. In a sense, all your actions (including items, attacks, and spells) are represented as cards, and you form a deck of commands you can use in battles. The higher the number on the card, the more effective the card is, and a card of a higher number can cancel an enemy card of a lower number. The system works surprisingly well (especially when strategy comes into play later on in the game, stacking certain combinations of cards and using them all at once in "sleight" attacks), but the fact remains that the entire system doesn't work quite as well in 3D as in 2D. As I play the game, I keep wishing for the KH2 battle system.

As I said, this was not intended to be a stand-alone game, and it shows. What you get is a 3D remake of CoM on the GBA, script largely untouched, with a few new cards and a couple new boss fights (which are welcomed). The quest is long, especially when you consider the two playable characters (I won't spoil). In order to get the full story, you'll have a lot of difficult card battling ahead of you - which may be a good thing or a bad thing. The difficulty is also ratcheted way up - especially in the second quest. You WILL die a few times, and it'll take some strategy to figure out decks to best certain bosses.

One final note: PS3 compatibility FAILS.

If you have a PS3 with SOFTWARE EMULATION (either the old 80gb model, or the MGS4 40gb special edition model), you will experience glitching in the first area of the game and won't be able to pass the tutorial. Some people bought the game concerned their game was broken or glitchy, but this turned out to be the fault of the software emulation of the console. In my opinion this is unforgivable, SE will lose a few sales to this. People with launch units (60gb or 20gb) will be able to play the game completely error-free, courtesy of hardware emulation.

Other than that, it's Kingdom Hearts...but not the triple-A Kingdom Hearts you're used to. This is more of a snack to tide us over until Birth By Sleep and 358/2 Days (yes, they REALLY are keeping those names for the American releases) hit the PSP and DS next year.