Skip to main content

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (2017, Playstation 4) Review


GO WITH THE FLOW


Also for: Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One


As I've already ascertained in the past, the Kingdom Hearts series has some of the most stupefying writing I've seen in all of entertainment media. By now it's reached a point where that's actually starting to work in its favor. Here, the dream logic is so overwhelming that I zone out completely, not even making the slightest attempt to understand what I'm seeing and hearing. I glance down at my phone or drift away in my thoughts, waiting for the cutscenes to end and the gameplay to commence.

And lo and behold, as a result I'm starting to have a bit of fun with ol' Kingdom Hearts. This entry, called Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD, is a PS4-remaster of an old Nintendo 3DS game. And the remaster looks good, with its hi-res textures and big playground levels full of charm and detail. The melodious soundtrack is affecting, and the combat is quick and challenging.

Heck, thanks to a new mechanic called Flowmotion, even the exploration feels liberating and almost dreamlike. It allows me to slide on railings, bounce against walls and leap high into the air. Platforming is no longer a nuisance, and I can utilize the momentum to inflict major damage to my enemies. It's exactly what previous entries needed.



Okay, so the story is one of the worst yet (maybe the Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded movie crap was even worse) but who cares. This game allows me to collect Spirits and name them, and then feed them sweets, play with them and pet them, only to have them fight alongside me. The better I bond with them, the more skills I unlock. Each spirit has its own unique skill tree, with about a dozen abilities to unlock, including some hidden surprises.

So the Spirits are not just useful, they're essential in beating the game. And they're cute, dressed up in all the colors of the rainbow. Collecting them and keeping them fit and entertained through various mini-games is the closest this series has gotten to a genuine level mechanic. And if there ever was any doubt about what inspired them, an arena sidequest lets you pit your spirits against a few opponents in a bona fide Pokémon-card game.


The story is the usual nonsenical rumantions about light and darkness, this time with both Sora (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) and Riku (David Gallagher) in leading roles. Master Yen Sid (Corey Burton) thinks they both must complete a test to see if they are worthy of becoming Keyblade masters, which by now you'd assume they already are. Several of the Disney worlds have fallen into slumber, and you need to go there and unlock their keyholes.

Sora and Riku somehow get separated and must fight their way through each world individually, in two different dimensions. They see signs of each other's presence, but cannot communicate over the dimensional gap. And so, they both get to visit the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tron, Pinocchio and a few other familiar faces of the Disney trademark. Each world's story is summarily told and devoid of anything but key characters, enemies and big, empty locations. Who really cares what happens to it?



Our heroes visit many of the very same locations and fight many of the same bosses. That is not great design, and yet another example of how this game's plot isn't just poorly worded, but also disrupts the natural progression of the gameplay. You cannot go past certain points until both storylines get there. For instance, I reached the end way too soon with one character. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the game didn't handle that well.

In spite of all that, Dream Drop Distance could've been a series highpoint for me, were it not for an ill-conceived feature that automatically switches between the two playable characters on a timer-basis. This maligned "Drop"-mechanic exists to incorporate two narratives into a single playthrough. The solution is better than previous games', but try to tell that to one who was just about to win a long, tough boss fight when time ran out - only to have to start over from scratch upon returning.


A workaround for that exists in the shape of a consumable that you install into your action command menu. However, by the time you realize you need to use one it's often too late. Boss fights often appear without a clear forewarning. You cannot alter action commands in the middle of combat, and need your few command slots for more important skills, magic or items. You can rarely afford to waste them on that consumable.

Most enemies are corrupt versions of your own Spirits, called Nightmares, with the same moves and skills. I love their colorful designs, which allow their unique characteristics and personalities to shine through. Many of the boss fights consist of larger Nightmares, and the ones that don't are formidable opponents that constitute some of the toughest story battles we've yet seen.



Throughout this series, most games come to fruition in these boss fights, and in Dream Drop Distance they are pretty great, at least conceptually. Unfortunately, the pace of the fights is ramped up to its highest yet. This means you mostly just flail around with your Keyblade, using your attack commands once their cooldown is finished, and heal up every once in awhile. On a higher difficulty than "normal" you also spam the block button. The point is that you mash buttons and hope for the best, rather than respond to your foe's actions, and that doesn't feel satisfying.

I gotta hand it to Square Enix - they're not afraid of experimenting with Kingdom Hearts, as they've never copy-pasted a winning formula. In the latter half of the game, you land in the world of Fantasia, an old, classic musical starring Mickey Mouse. It's one of the series' best levels, with a strong musical theme. The sound effects are muted, hardly any dialogue is uttered and the score is a great concoction of classical tunes. This demonstrates how the entire series could have prevailed - told by audiovisuals alone, with no words but the ones shaping in the minds of the players.

But the sad fact remains - no matter how much they tweak their Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix never  gets it quite right. Any good addition tends to be overshadowed by something bad. This game has the RPG-leveling and exploration going for it, and would've been great when mixed with the back-half story beats from the original Kingdom Hearts, and the humor, pacing and combat from Kingdom Hearts II. But instead we get that accursed drop mechanic and enough dream logic to make a sane mind turn mad.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wing Commander (1990, DOS) Review

ALL YOUR SPACE ARE BELONG TO KILRATHI

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (2016, Windows) Review

NEEDLESS FAN FICTION

Zack Zero (2012, Playstation 3) Review

AVERAGE TO THE MAX

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (2015, Playstation 4) Review

ONCE MORE INTO THE FRAY

Assassin's Creed: Origins (2017, Playstation 4) Review

MASSIVE TO A FAULT

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (2015, Playstation 4) Review

THE HIDDEN BLADE OF THE FRANCHISE