Simple and Clean?
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue is like the past KH compilations, including 2 full Kingdom Hearts games as well as a movie. The difference with this collection is that it doesn’t contain a main title like 1 or 2, but instead spin-offs Dream Drop Distance that appeared originally on 3DS, while the second is Birth by Sleep, which came out on PSP first. But it doesn’t stop there, Birth by Sleep also has an extra episode that ties into the events of Kingdom Hearts III…
It’s a great collection and while it isn’t as packed of content as 1.5 HD or 2.5 HD, it’s just as worthwhile. It’s hard to recommend if you are new to the series however, as the story is pretty confusing even for hardcore fans, let alone newcomers. On the flip side of that however, is that 1.5 and 2.5 are getting a PS4 release in March, so you won’t have to wait too long to have the entire saga to this point on the PS4.
On the whole, it’s an impressive package and well worth getting if you are dying in anticipation of KH 3. We get a nice taste of what’s to come, while finally bringing the remaining games to the PS4. It might be a long way till KH 3 comes, so it’s more than welcome to have something to fill the rather large void set by it’s predecessors, plus hopefully KH 3 will resolve a lot of unanswered questions set out by past entries.
Visually, it’s great to see the games running on PS4. They’ve had a nice face-lift compared to their handheld counterparts, while the controls have converted well to console too. Birth by Sleep is a little on the short side compared to Dream Drop Distance and other entries, but the 0.2 episode more than makes up for it.
The Verdict
While hard to recommend to newcomers, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue brings the remaining KH titles to the PlayStation and with 1.5/2.5 HD getting a re-release next month, it’s never been a better time to get into the series. These are amazing games, the spin-offs alone are more than worthy of your time and it sets the stage nicely for the true sequel, whenever it arrives…