KH0.2 Review and Thoughts

Alright so I headed to EGX 2016 (biggest UK gaming con) yesterday and had a ton of fun playing games like Sonic Mania and Dishonoured 2 and Yooka Laylee. But the main attraction for me was obviously the Square Enix booth. World of Final Fantasy, FFXV, Dragon Quest Builders and of course. Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The game itself was in a 4 TV wide booth with the worlds tiniest line (it was literally just me so I got to play it twice in a row and take notes LMFAO) so I got plenty of experience with the game. The Demo allowed me to only play 0.2 so thats what i'm reviewing, DDD will have to wait its turn again. (Please take any opinions with a grain of salt as I am indeed a KH person who enjoyed KH1 and KH2 more than BBS. However I have still played plenty of BBS so I am fully aware of what I am talking about when I draw comparisons.)

Gameplay:
Basic Movement was given a small speed boost. Aqua moves faster than in BBS which is pretty great. However Cartwheels have been nerfed majorly. There is now a full second delay between Cartwheels making them just as slow as Terra's Level 1 Slide in BBS.

The whole point of the demo is to search for "Gears" around the map, giving the overworld a maze like overview. Kind of like KH1. Each time you hit a gear, you would gain another Aqua ability to use with the appropriate abilites.

The abilites given were all of Aqua's end game BBS abilities (Doubleflight, Air Slide etc etc) however there was no Barrier/Guard which was interesting. Probably a demo only thing.

Regular Keyblade Combos have not changed from BBS but they are slightly faster. Only slightly though.

Magic has been integrated back into the Combos just like KH2 meaning you can finish a combo with a more powerful version of Magic and carry on a combo after using magic (FUCK YES)

Using Magic outside of combat didnt do anything other than what they were supposed to so no "blizzard sliding" in this demo. Sorry guys.

Shotlocks now slow down the world around you while you are aiming which is a MAJOR improvement over its BBS counterpart. This allows you to aim for the faster enemies and bosses without a problem.

The Shotlock itself used in the Demo (Prism Rain) hasn't changed in terms of how its used but it looks cooler so I guess thats a plus?

Command Styles are now Reaction Commands. When the timer hits 0 the game can prompt you to press Triangle to change styles. The command style used in the demo was Spellweaver/Magic Wish now renamed to Ars Magica. The combos are the exact same as they are from BBS but they have a slight speed increase making them worthwhile over regular combos.

Spellweaver itself is still a finisher you can get out of the Command Style yet it's random(?) how you obtain the finisher. Throughout both my playthroughs I still did not figure out how you could make Spellweaver appear as a finisher (it wasnt as simple as filling up the bar like in BBS). The move itself looks really cool and flashy and completely destroyed the Boss of the demo.

Heartless were generic Shadows and Darkballs, however there was a new Heartless that required you to use a specific spell on them sometimes to spice it up so you dont just Mash X for all the mob fights.

The "interactive enviroment" (Aqua sliding down ramps, jumping across rooftops etc etc) is very VERY unnecessary and can also get in the way alot. This may be my inner speedrunner talking but I got around just fine by Doubleflighting and Air Sliding everywhere. They also happen while you are fighting, I had one instance where I was locked onto a Shadow and was ready to cast a Firaga but then Aqua slid down the ramp and away from the fight.

Aqua also now tends to a small hop without pressing any buttons onto ledges that go up to her knees. This was a little off putting but its not a major complaint.

The camera now zooms in and does a over the shoulder perspective of mobs or important things in the overworld. These sometimes stop you from moving around and sometimes dont. Aqua also talks and gives her voice on said things, usually to point the player in the right direction which is cool.

Aslong as you were stood inbounds, Aqua could stand on any collision, this includes sloped rooftops and the like. Usually with KH, these types of things would make you slide off but I could stand literally anywhere which was weird.

Orbs dropped from enemies were the typical "Health, MP and Focus" orbs as normal. No Munny drops though.

The Demo itself didnt have any cutscene skipping or a way to enter a pause menu which annoyed me slightly since the Demo had the camera set to inverted horizontally which i am NOT used to at all.

Speaking of the camera. They zoomed it back out like in KH2 while you are walking around but the combat camera is exactly like BBS and DDD where they take more focus on the enemy you are locked on to rather than Aqua.

Chests only had Ethers and Hi-Potions. They allow you to attack as soon as you throw them just like KH2 again.

As expected due it NOT being a handheld title. But Triangle is back to being the context sensitive button again. Hurray.

The Boss Battle was nothing too special. A typical hit till death with no strategy kind of fight. Both times I fought it I used different strategies. One time using Command Styles and Shotlocks, the other using regular combos and magic. I had an easy time with both so /shrug

Graphics:
Aqua's Model looks reallllllllly fucking good. They really did a good job with it. However Terra's model looks fucking hideous. Hopefully they fix it before KH3 comes out.

The destroyed town in the Realm of Darkness looks really pretty, it really does show off the PS4s power. However some of the architecture is hard to distinguish between in bounds and out of bounds.

The game was running at a solid 60FPS with 0 drops which is sexy as fuck, KH in 60FPS just looks so beautiful.

Story/Cutscenes:
Cutscenes use the same engine and map as the Gameplay as expected. The cutscenes also smoothly transition in the gameplay with no loads just like in KH1 which is nice.

Aqua's VA is still as fucking DRY AS EVER. Seriously does it not hurt her VA to show a little bit of emotion? She's just as emotionless and monotone as a school boy actor reading off a script.

Speaking of VA, Aqua's battle cries and such are slightly higher pitched which is really weird. She yells exactly the same things as she does in BBS which made me think they ripped them straight out of said game but they are just....different. I dont know.

Music:
All three music tracks used were ripped straight from BBS's Secret Episode. The overworld music is the regular Realm of Darkness music. The battle music is also the Realm of Darkness Battle music and the Heartless boss fight's music was Dark Hides theme.


Overall, the game looks a feels like BBS but has some KH2 and KH1 in it to make it feel alot better than BBS (if that makes any sense). If their Idea of this was to sell people on KH3 and to tie them over. Then they've done a pretty decent job since this sold me to actually get 2.8 since I wasnt really all that interested in a DDD remake and a movie. The demo itself took me 10 minutes with 3-4 minutes of cutscenes on either end for both of my attempts. I don't think they will put this on the PSN store or anything because of this length but I'll hold my tongue on that.

I'd give them demo like an 8/10. It's spiked some of my interest in 2.8 and KH3 in general. Maybe Osaka Team have gotten it right this time.


Maybe...