Kingdom Hearts

Game Info

Publisher: Square Electronic Arts

Developer: SquareSoft

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: September 17, 2002

Summary

Kingdom Hearts is the story of Sora, a 14-year-old boy whose world is shattered when a violent storm hits his island-paradise home, and is separated from his two closest friends, Riku, a 15-year-old boy, and Kairi, a 14-year-old girl. The storm scatters the three to differnt and unknown worlds. At the same time, there's turmoil in Disney Castle. King Mickey is missing, and Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy set out to find him. On their travels they meet Sora on his own search for his lost friends. The three are told of ominous creatures known as the Heartless - beings without hearts derived from an unknown dimension and as it turns out, manipulated by Disney villains and the ones responsible for the devastating storm. Upon discovering the link between the Heartless, the storm and the disappearance of King Mickey, Sora, Donald and Goofy join forces and help familiar Disney heroes to save their worlds. [Square]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Kingdom Hearts II

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central Game Revolution GamePro Guide IGN IGN Insider Guide

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 149 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joey V gave it a10:
Look the others have said, this is one of the best games ever created. I loved the incredible story, enthralling quotes, and beautiful music, as the high points. But don't worry the gameplay is pretty good too. Of course when you think of Final Fantasy+Disney it = GTFO. But believe it or not, it works beautifully.

kingdom hearts gave it a6:
This game had a good concept and almost good controls, except for the horrible camera views, and the x-button mashing. If you try to turn one way to see something, you have to walk forwards or backwards, ending usually in you falling off wherever you are. If you try to make up the button mashing with magic, you run out of MP very fast, and the only way to recharge it is either more button-mashing or an elixir/ether which are both pains to use because you have to take the time to scroll down and select items, and select what you want to use. In a boss battle, this can be very ineffective. The game also encourages you to buy the guide, because in many places, it leaves you off with a random start. I like the fact, however, that you could decide between Atlantis and Halloweentown, as Atlantis was both incredibly hard, and had horrible controls. Also, if you wanted to repeat the game in a relatively fast time, there is no way to get past the hours and hours of cutscenes.

Eric B gave it a9:
I'm just gonna go with the flow here, and say this is one of my favorite games of all time. Sure, the camera is a bit awkward most of the time, but that's just a minor problem when comparing it to the epic, exciting and memorable adventure this game has in store. The worlds are colorful and unique, and the music is incredible, bringing back memories of the cherished disney films. The characters are very likable, minus a few of the minor Final Fantasy people (Cid). The difficulty can jump around a bit, with there being about 10 or so final bosses, and the last one being one of the easiest fights in the game in comparison. But I definitely enjoyed this game a lot, and recommend it to anyone looking for a great, long action/RPG.

Emily P gave it a10:
This is probably the most beautiful games I've ever played. When I first played it at a friend's house, I expected it to be some fun, easy-going game like Mario or Donkey Kong, But I bought it and found that it was much deeper than that. I found it to be dark, like Final Fantasy, but it held that sort of Disney magic that connot be paralelled. The quality of the graphics and music were stunning, the characters wonderful, and the whole mood just so memorable that I can't compare it to any other game. It has a touching innocence about it that easily softens you up. You CANNOT think of this as your standard shooting-robots-level-three-high-score video game; it is more like a movie, something to be patient with. And the best part was, I think, that the ending resembled the old Final Fantasy sad yet touching ending, like FFX. I was certain that this game would end all sugar-coated and too happy, but I was surprised when it didn't. In fact, every time I hear "Never Land Sky", "Traverse Town", and "Dearly Beloved", it makes me close to crying! Anyone who loves either Disney OR Final Fantasy should seriously try this game. DO NOT PLAY KINGDOM HEARTS 2 FIRST. It will ruin the whole thing for you.

Mike E gave it a10:
I was very reluctant to play this game at first because Disney has this reputation of producing "fluff" material that are supposedly family oriented *cough* Bolt *cough*. However, I was more interested to hear at the time that Squaresoft (at the time) was involved with this project. Once I placed the disc into the system, picked up the controller, title sequence began, I was immediately hooked. This game surpassed my expectations. It has squaresoft quality and disney still gets the wholesome message out that is notable. I have read and heard several complaints about the game play. Now, I want you to go online, video game store, or even if you own it look at the case and I want you to read the rating. What does it say? E for everyone for ages 10 and up. Right there! You should already know the demographic for this game. If a game is rated E then you should take in consideration of what the game play might be like. It's going to be something easy and accessible for some youngian to pick and play. Stop being picky and enjoy the game, if that is possible. The cool thing about the game play it's based in real time instead of standing there waiting to attack. It is more refreshing to say the least. The only gripe I really have is the camera angles, which should of been with the right analog stick from the beginning but that was fixed in KH2 thankfully. The characters are completely endearing. Sora is that kid who just wants to hang out and be with his friends and could be considered the underdog in this adventure. Also, he has the innocence to him about having a crush on your closest female friend. It's very relatable. As you embark on your quest your main objective is to find your friends but encountering Donald and Goofy your main objective becomes protecting several disney worlds that have their own theme. Every time you go to a different world more interest is created with the atmosphere of that world and my favorite aspect of the game: the music. It's a wonderful soundtrack, I own all of them as we speak. *Multiple fingers point at him, voices in the background shouting "geek!"* Indeed, lol. Everything about this game seems to be perfect, well scratch that, it's really enjoyable. The game works well with all the elements that have been placed before it. It's a well thought out game and I am not ashamed of saying that I own it in my PS2 collection. If you're one of those folks who thinks that ending is on the verge of propaganda and all that non-sense. Get your heads out of your arses, seriously. It's made to be a positive experience and said a decent message out about friendship and how the light perserveres over darkness. Like I said, think about the rating and the demographic. Fun light hearted game filled with great spectacle values and a great story. Love it.

Dana K. gave it a10:
A total awesome game, there is not another game out there that is near as good as this, it does have a couple downsides, but the activeness of the game, gives a spark, that leads to a beautiful fire!

Kyle G. gave it a10:
When I first saw the commercial for this game i was like,"a disney game with all the cartoon characters? that's gonna suck!". Then I borrowed it from a friend and played through it...and I played through it again because i liked it so much, but then i had to return it to my friend. I ended up buying it just so i could beat it one more time. This game has the most charm i've ever seen in a game. The music combined with the wonderfully diverse worlds make it a memorable experience. I liked remembering the game more than playing through it. It's a very nostalgic game because you get to interact with all those disney characters you watched when you were a toddler. Either you love it or you hate it.

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