Rise of Sora, is really what the game should have been titled. There is great story in this game but so many cut scenes that you will probably spend more time watching the mini movies in the game than actually playing.

I'm disappointed to say that if you're looking for new worlds in the game you'll find few that you haven't already visited in the first in one way or another. New to the game are Disney Castle, Land of Dragons (Mulan), Beast's Castle, Pride Rock, Port Royal, and the World That Never Was. I would include Twilight Town in this list but it's pretty much the same concept as Traverse Town. After all the speculation of new worlds in this game I was really, really disappointed to find that those were the only new ones the others are recycled from the first game.

The game play handles a bit better in this one, as you play you can change the view without switching to first person mode like you had to in the first Kingdom Hearts game. And there is the introduction of the Reaction Command, which is really cool in the beginning. After playing for a bit though I find that it takes away from the game because it's essentially another cutscene nor are you really winning the battle because you're skilled you're now winning because you can push the triangle button when it tells you to on the screen.

Sora is still making his way through the worlds with Donald and Goofy. Donald, who consumes way too much magic, and Goofy, who provides little help aside from handing potions off to Sora and Donald. You are still searching for the king and Riku, it's amazing how the same plot could carry across to a brand new game. There are many new characters in the came including DiZ, Organization XIII, and Roxas. Along with new villains called Nobodies.

Another new aspect in the Kingdom Hearts world are the forms. Sora can now assume different forms for battle, once learned that is. The first that he will learn is Valor Form, his outfit becomes red and he is able to wield two keyblades at once. You will need Goofy in your party to use Valor Form. This was by far my favorite of the forms. Next is Wisdom Form, in which you turn blue. This is magic based, Sora floats about the screen firing blue magic from the keyblade. Donald is necessary to use this form. After that are Master and Final forms, both sacrifice all your party members to use so you are the only one on the field. Unlike Valor and Wisdom though you are not limited to one type of attack, in Master and Final you can use both your magic and physical attacks. You will also wield two keyblades during these forms. These four forms once learned can be selected from the Drive command in the left hand menu on the screen. There is one more form, Anti-Sora, however this form is chosen at random. Sometimes when you go to turn into one of the other forms this one is triggered, Sora winds up looking kind of like a Heartless Shadow and crawls about the room. He does a fair deal of damage like this despite his lack of a weapon.

The different worlds were all pretty easy, the most challenging is probably Pride Rock. In Pride Rock, Sora is actually transformed into a lion cub who wields the keyblade in his mouth. He also runs quite quickly and until you get used to the new controls it's easy to by pass lots of things, like treasure chests and enemies.

Overall I was not nearly as impressed with this game as I was the first one. Same plot, same worlds, the only upside really was changes made to the controller's functions.

Recommended: No