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.
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