well im gunna cut straight to the report! here!
Hey everyone,
Here is IGN's report on KH2.
How many demos can a game get before it sees release? Square Enix seems to be trying to answer this with Kingdom Hearts II. Although we were given a chance to play a new demo of the game at E3, Square Enix had yet another new demo ready in time for the Japan-only Square Enix Party.
Not that we're complaining. Getting a chance to play more of what's sure to be one of this Winter's best titles (yes, the game is now set for a "Winter" release in Japan) is always okay with us. We just want to see what happens between the areas that we've been able to play, like Beauty and the Beast and Hercules.
The Square Enix Party demo offered players a chance to try out four stages of play: Beast Castle, where you fight the Heartless with Beast, Land of Dragon, where you fight the Heartless with Mulan, Disney Castle, where you protect Mini from the Heartless, and Agrabah, where Aladdin joins in on the fight. Since we'd already tried out a Beauty and the Beast demo before (although, we'll admit, possibly not this one), we decided to spend our time with the other demos.
Land of Dragon is based on Mulan. Taking place in the courtyard of the Forbidden City, the demo consisted of a fight with a massive dragon boss. Mushu, the talkative dragon sidekick from the movie, actually appeared in the original Kingdom Hearts in the form of a summon spell. With his full game now appearing as a major part of Kingdom Hearts II, you can expect to see other characters from the movie as well, including Shan-Yu, Li Shang and Mulan herself.
More interesting was our sampling of the new Disney Castle demo. This demo started off with Donald and Goofy greeting Mini and introducing Sora to her for the first time. Mini, who of course knows of Sora, asks him to lead her to the throne room, past the Heartless that have invaded her castle. Donald and Goofy, for some reason, decide to go off on their own, meaning it's up to you to make sure that Mini makes the short trip safely.
Mini follows you as you work your way through the main hall of the castle. She has a damage bar which fills up should she incur damage. The game ends if the bar fills up. You have to make sure that Mini is safe by moving slowly through the hall and taking out any attacking Heartless. Mini helps out the cause by blasting incoming attackers with magic. She'll also team up with you for a special attack that sends all enemies flying away. Mini also listens closely to your instructions, and won't move forward unless you tell her to, by tapping the triangle button.
Once you make it to the throne room, things get interesting. The throne room is full of beasts, including dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of pesky flying creatures along with a few tougher ground-based creatures. You have to be particularly careful about pacing your movements here, as moving too fast will leave Mini behind and have her get swarmed by enemies. Your team attack with Mini is particularly useful here.
So what happens at the end of this demo? We're not exactly sure, as Mini, sadly, lost a turn this time around.
The Disney Castle section of Kingdom Hearts II will feature some additional Disney favorites. In addition to Mini, you'll find Daisy, Chip and Dale and even Merlin greeting you as you enter Disney Castle for the first time.
We didn't get a chance to play as much of the Agrabah demo as we'd have liked to. This one was pure action as Aladdin, Sora and Goofy work their way through the Cave of Wonders. The Cave includes platforms and puzzles set across multiple rooms.
There's more to the Aladdin world than just the Cave of Wonders, though, as you get to meet Jasmine, Jafar and Iago on the streets of Agrabah. Of course, this isn't the first time Sora and friends visited Agrabah, so if you played through the original Kingdom Hearts, you'll be familiar with Aladdin and crew.
The set of demos Square Enix has been able to put together for the game suggests that Kingdom Hearts II will offer almost too much. In addition to the four areas mentioned above, you'll also find a Hercules section and a section devoted to Pirates of the Caribbean, featuring more human-style characters. It should be safe to expect even more, especially from the Square Enix side of characters.
The new Kingdom Hearts II demo was accompanied by a trailer, which may well have been the same as the trailer shown at E3. Regardless, this trailer managed to get us even more pumped for the game. Of particular note were a black and white Steamboat Willy sequence, a scene showing Square Enix characters Cloud and Squall speaking to one-another, and a scene of Arial comforting Prince Eric on the beach. How can this game not be good?
Although announced the day before, the trailer let the audience in on the news that pop star Utada Hikaru will, once again, be creating a musical number for Kingdom Hearts II, following her now legendary work on the original title. The new theme song is called Passion. Unfortunately, we weren't given an early preview of the song.
We were surprised to see Final Fantasy XII get a final Japanese release date before Kingdom Hearts II. However, with a Winter Japanese release planned for the Disney and Square Enix collaboration, the title should at least arrive before FFXII. IGN has also heard some buzz that recording for the game's US version is pretty far along, meaning US gamers could get the game close to their Japanese counterparts.
Hey everyone,
Here is IGN's report on KH2.
How many demos can a game get before it sees release? Square Enix seems to be trying to answer this with Kingdom Hearts II. Although we were given a chance to play a new demo of the game at E3, Square Enix had yet another new demo ready in time for the Japan-only Square Enix Party.
Not that we're complaining. Getting a chance to play more of what's sure to be one of this Winter's best titles (yes, the game is now set for a "Winter" release in Japan) is always okay with us. We just want to see what happens between the areas that we've been able to play, like Beauty and the Beast and Hercules.
The Square Enix Party demo offered players a chance to try out four stages of play: Beast Castle, where you fight the Heartless with Beast, Land of Dragon, where you fight the Heartless with Mulan, Disney Castle, where you protect Mini from the Heartless, and Agrabah, where Aladdin joins in on the fight. Since we'd already tried out a Beauty and the Beast demo before (although, we'll admit, possibly not this one), we decided to spend our time with the other demos.
Land of Dragon is based on Mulan. Taking place in the courtyard of the Forbidden City, the demo consisted of a fight with a massive dragon boss. Mushu, the talkative dragon sidekick from the movie, actually appeared in the original Kingdom Hearts in the form of a summon spell. With his full game now appearing as a major part of Kingdom Hearts II, you can expect to see other characters from the movie as well, including Shan-Yu, Li Shang and Mulan herself.
More interesting was our sampling of the new Disney Castle demo. This demo started off with Donald and Goofy greeting Mini and introducing Sora to her for the first time. Mini, who of course knows of Sora, asks him to lead her to the throne room, past the Heartless that have invaded her castle. Donald and Goofy, for some reason, decide to go off on their own, meaning it's up to you to make sure that Mini makes the short trip safely.
Mini follows you as you work your way through the main hall of the castle. She has a damage bar which fills up should she incur damage. The game ends if the bar fills up. You have to make sure that Mini is safe by moving slowly through the hall and taking out any attacking Heartless. Mini helps out the cause by blasting incoming attackers with magic. She'll also team up with you for a special attack that sends all enemies flying away. Mini also listens closely to your instructions, and won't move forward unless you tell her to, by tapping the triangle button.
Once you make it to the throne room, things get interesting. The throne room is full of beasts, including dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of pesky flying creatures along with a few tougher ground-based creatures. You have to be particularly careful about pacing your movements here, as moving too fast will leave Mini behind and have her get swarmed by enemies. Your team attack with Mini is particularly useful here.
So what happens at the end of this demo? We're not exactly sure, as Mini, sadly, lost a turn this time around.
The Disney Castle section of Kingdom Hearts II will feature some additional Disney favorites. In addition to Mini, you'll find Daisy, Chip and Dale and even Merlin greeting you as you enter Disney Castle for the first time.
We didn't get a chance to play as much of the Agrabah demo as we'd have liked to. This one was pure action as Aladdin, Sora and Goofy work their way through the Cave of Wonders. The Cave includes platforms and puzzles set across multiple rooms.
There's more to the Aladdin world than just the Cave of Wonders, though, as you get to meet Jasmine, Jafar and Iago on the streets of Agrabah. Of course, this isn't the first time Sora and friends visited Agrabah, so if you played through the original Kingdom Hearts, you'll be familiar with Aladdin and crew.
The set of demos Square Enix has been able to put together for the game suggests that Kingdom Hearts II will offer almost too much. In addition to the four areas mentioned above, you'll also find a Hercules section and a section devoted to Pirates of the Caribbean, featuring more human-style characters. It should be safe to expect even more, especially from the Square Enix side of characters.
The new Kingdom Hearts II demo was accompanied by a trailer, which may well have been the same as the trailer shown at E3. Regardless, this trailer managed to get us even more pumped for the game. Of particular note were a black and white Steamboat Willy sequence, a scene showing Square Enix characters Cloud and Squall speaking to one-another, and a scene of Arial comforting Prince Eric on the beach. How can this game not be good?
Although announced the day before, the trailer let the audience in on the news that pop star Utada Hikaru will, once again, be creating a musical number for Kingdom Hearts II, following her now legendary work on the original title. The new theme song is called Passion. Unfortunately, we weren't given an early preview of the song.
We were surprised to see Final Fantasy XII get a final Japanese release date before Kingdom Hearts II. However, with a Winter Japanese release planned for the Disney and Square Enix collaboration, the title should at least arrive before FFXII. IGN has also heard some buzz that recording for the game's US version is pretty far along, meaning US gamers could get the game close to their Japanese counterparts.