Over the course of just over 10 years Kingdom Hearts has made its way into the homes of millions throughout the world. The storyline was well-conceived, and its use of popular Disney and Final Fantasy characters many feel like they were living their ultimate fantasy. As an incredibly popular but mechanically dated game, it’s been one of the most requested HD remakes of the PS2’s library.
After years of request, Square Enix has released Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, a bundle of three of the series’ games with a variety of improvements. Is it all we hoped it would be?
The game opens with a screen allowing you to choose from one of three Kingdom Hearts titles. There is the first game released to the public for the PlayStation 2, but with the additional features of the Japanese special edition, Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix. The second game is Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which is the follow up to the first, and released for the Gameboy Advance. As for the final game included on the disc, it is Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, a game released for the Nintendo DS gaming system. While three titles hold a special place in my heart, the original Kingdom Hearts is undoubtedly the standout of this a great gaming package.
Amongst the choices, I initially selected the very first Kingdom Hearts title and it loaded rather quickly. As soon as it finished loading, a new screen appeared that was completely different from the original. However, even with the change in imagery, the music that played was the original title screen music, so this naturally brought forth the sense of nostalgia. When I chose to begin a new game, it gave me an array of options. Inspired by future titles, it now granted me not only the option between Beginner and Difficult, but it also provided the option of Rare. With this game style, I would be immediately equipped with items that boost not only my character’s AP, but also give me a 30% more Experience during battle. Having played the game before, I was excited to see what it would entail and selected it.
After jumping into the game world, I was expecting the loading screen to be displayed, but I was wrong. The game then presented another option, the ability to control the camera, or to leave it on an automatic setting like the original version of the game. Well, being adventurous, I chose to manually control the viewpoint, and further confirmed all my choices to begin the game. This single setting would prove to be invaluable.
Immediately following all of these persistent bits of information, I was immersed in an astonishingly well-delivered cinematic opening. Yes, it was still the same as the original, but the quality of the image, the coloration, and frame rate were far beyond that of the PS2 version. That same improvement in quality applies to the other two games as well.
As I played the games late into the night, I was continually astounded by the amount of work that was put into polish. Not only were there more game modes, but because of the video quality I was able to actually see the different areas that were such a pain to visualize previously. Not only that, but when it came to fights, such as the giant Heartless creature that appears after the consumption of Sora’s Island, I saw every little detail of the bosses, making the fantasy even more believable. More important is the ability to control the camera which brought a profound improvement to the quality of the experience. Not only was I able to author control of my view to see my surroundings better, I was able to act accordingly without worrying about the original game’s infamous screen glitching that would make me fall off a ledge.
Now, you must remember that the two included handheld games were originally formatted for small displays that could not present the kind of quality a larger console could. Because of this, I was amazed that when I proceeded to play them; everything from the motion, to the controls, color, image quality, and frame rate were almost at the same level of polish as Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix.
If there is anything that can be complained about it is that the music will still cut out on random occasions, but if you have played the game as much as I have, it’s one of those things that you have gotten used to. Other than that, I cannot emphasize enough how much of a difference the camera controls, image quality, and frame rate have enhanced the original game. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to muster enough motivation to beat the original Kingdom Hearts another time given how many hours I have clocked, but Square Enix truly outdid themselves in re-mastering these fine titles. I have fallen back in love with the gameplay and am itching to experience the tough endgame content in HD.
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX reinvigorates the sense of adventure that many of us forged memories with years ago. For those who beat the original, this is your portal to experiencing some of your favorite titles of the past decade in a bright, new light. Gamers new to the series won’t be able to appreciate how much has been done to modernize these popular games, but what’s here is good enough to make fans out of spectators. It’s a trip down memory lane that shouldn’t be missed.
Kyle Ames is a News Contributer for CraveOnline’s Gaming channel.
We received one review copy of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX from Square Enix for PS3. We were held to the embargo date of Tuesday, September 10th, 2013.
