GamesRadar+ Verdict
Pros
- +
Amazing characters and atmosphere
- +
Touching story
- +
when it happens
- +
Deeper combat
Cons
- -
Camera and combat can get chaotic
- -
Story is touching
- -
but incomprehensible
- -
A few boss battles are annoying
Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
We're still amazed that Kingdom Hearts even exists. An action RPG that casts Goofy, Donald Duck and now Mickey Mouse fighting through multiple Disney worlds? Along the way, they interact with new characters and villains created by the developer/publisher of the Final Fantasy games?
This should never have happened, but it did. And it should never have been brilliant, even magical, but it was. So is this sequel, actually the third game in the series, after the PS2 original and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for Game Boy Advance. It's a whopping, 30+ hour fantasy epic filled with familiar gameplay:evilcritter thwacking, spell-casting and Disney universe-touring.
Or is it? KH2 actually makes some big changes; most of which involve clubbing bad guys. The first game's mind-numbing scavenger hunts are out - there's not a Dalmatian puppy or Trinity Mark in sight - but a heavily retooled combat system is definitely in.
Almost every level is home to a new character who subs in for Donald or Goofy, be it Simba, Tron, Beast, Mulan, Jack Skellington or another. Still more can be summoned for brief cameos: Chicken Little, Genie, Stitch and Peter Pan. Most of those folks come with special team-up moves they can do with Sora, such as Mulan's dragon-powered meteor storm of blazing fireballs, or Stitch's oddly dangerous ukulele strumming.
More info
| Genre | Role Playing |
| Description | It's back: that mystical merger of Disney characters, Final Fantasy cameos and Action RPG combat against sub-human agents of nothingness. Weird? Oh, yeah. But also wonderful. |
| Platform | "PS2" |
| US censor rating | "Everyone 10+" |
| UK censor rating | "Rating Pending" |
| Alternative names | "Kingdom Hearts 2","KH 2","KH II","" |
| Release date | 1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK) |
As some analysts "hope" GTA 6 will normalize $100 games, one Baldur's Gate 3 dev points out that "prices haven't risen with inflation"
Leading analysts predict the Nintendo Switch 2 could shift anywhere between 14 million and 20 million units in its first year - if Nintendo can keep up with demand
30 years later, Fallout creator Tim Cain is searching for a legendary D&D player who cheesed an entire competitive dungeon with a lightning-fast Monk build
