Summer of Kingdom Hearts – Part 4 – Kingdom Hearts II Final Remix Review

It’s really been a pleasure doing my Summer of Kingdom Hearts series as I’ve loved seeing these titles in a new light, not only in their improved forms but also with a bit more “experience” to be able to judge them in a new way. So far I’ve only reviewed the games I’ve played in the past, including the original title, the 3D version of a popular GBA game, and the DS title that was… all cutscenes. However, as I begin my Kingdom Hearts II Final Remix review, I’m very happy to say that this game is the best of them all and you can clearly see why it’s superior to all the previous ones.

Right from the start of the game, it becomes clear why the title is so special, because you don’t play as Sora or Riku, but as the mysterious Roxas. Who is he? What is his connection to Sora? Why are Axel, Diz and others after him? This build-up was a unique and fun part of a big journey that would take us to many worlds and help tie together the threads of the original game and Chain of Memories. It was quite a journey and I’m honestly a little sad that it’s over.

Once you’re Sora again, you’ll once again travel through a menagerie of Disney worlds (sometimes mixed with a bit of Final Fantasy) to stop Organization XIII, while also trying to find Riku the King and get back to Kairi. This may sound simple, but it’s done in a way that feels complex. Plus, the way everything looks, feels, plays, and even the worlds themselves feel like a huge improvement over what came before.

Why? Well, in the original Kingdom Hearts, you could say the worlds they chose were “simple.” It was the many “Disney Princess” worlds mixed in with a few other classics to give the “feel” they were going for. In Kingdom Hearts II, they went to places that people sometimes wouldn’t expect. We saw Tron in Space Paranoids and Mulan in their version of China! We even saw Mickey Castle and walked down the Timeless River! Oh, and did I mention Pirates of the Caribbean?

These additions and the revival of some classics helped the game feel bigger and fresher. Even the worlds we revisited, like Olympus Coliseum and Atlantica, were heavily changed to stand out from what came before.

In that sense, the gameplay feels the same as before, but with some key improvements. First, there are “Reaction” commands, which allow you to perform special moves against enemies, especially bosses and the Nobodies, which you have to time precisely for them to work. Then there are Limit commands, which are awesome tag-team moves you can perform with the various partners you find in the game. Also, there are the Drive forms, which give Sora transformations that work differently depending on the version you’re in. I’m a fan of the Valor forms and proud of them!

Even the graphics and animations were improved over its predecessor to add more flair and style to the mix. I’m all for it because it showed what the team at Disney and Square Enix could do from one level to the next with the PS2. Additionally, the Final Remix version added more cutscenes, improved the character models, added new things to collect and so on.

As for the game’s story, I think it holds up well while improving on certain things to set up the next game. I also liked that there are “episodes” within the worlds, so you can play a portion of the story, have fun somewhere else, and then come back to enjoy it again. The interweaving of the stories between Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Riku, Diz, and the Organization was almost mostly well done, save for one or two odd cutscenes that I felt didn’t add anything due to the context in this Final Remix. Regardless, if you’re a fan of these worlds and characters, you’ll have a lot of fun, especially considering the voice actors absolutely elevate everything.

They got Christopher freaking Lee to play Ansem the Wise! How did that happen?!?! And when you hear the classic voices of Disney characters again (I personally loved Ming-Na Wen and Bruce Boxleitner), you’ll be over the moon.

However, my review of Kingdom Hearts II Final Remix wouldn’t be complete if there weren’t some downsides, and there are. For example, while there are noticeable improvements, some of the shortcomings of the earlier games still apply. There were MULTIPLE moments in the game where a clear cutscene would suddenly become pixelated, making no sense. I don’t remember this ever happening on the PS2, so it’s a shame that it happens on Steam even though this is supposed to be the “improved version.”

Second, while I liked some of the additions, the boss fight between Sora and Roxas (which was previously just a cutscene) was a little confusing. It was a “Git Gud” type of boss fight, and I had as much trouble with it as I did with Dark Riku and Vexen in Chain of Memories. However, just like in that game, all the other bosses weren’t as difficult after I beat it. It’s a little odd that this sort of thing keeps happening.

I also had trouble with the controls at times. It was easy to accidentally switch between the two versions of the action buttons and end up somewhere you didn’t want to go. There were also some weird continuity errors in the game’s story and cutscenes that were odd. For example, Ariel’s interaction with Ursula seemed like she had just met her, and yet we beat her in the first game. Not to mention that certain characters in the world that never existed would “disappear from view” only to reappear later as if they had always been there. They weren’t, I know they weren’t!!!

Finally, certain boss fights and battles sometimes required you to do things in a very specific way, and that was quite frustrating considering the freedom the game otherwise gives you.

Despite these flaws, I end my review of Kingdom Hearts II Final Remix on a positive note. This game is truly the best yet, and it has a joy and whimsy to it that is impossible to ignore. In fact, as I noted on the last episode of the Nintendo Entertainment Podcast, it would have been a high point if they had ended the series right then and there.

Next up for Kingdom Hearts this summer? Birth By Sleep!