PS3 Review: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX

Simple and Clean?

Kingdom Hearts is back; packed with stunning visuals it’s better, brighter and more enjoyable than it ever was before. Now all in HD the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix features not only Kingdom Hearts Final Mix but also Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories and the non playable movie-like Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It has all been revamped and now includes Playstation 3 trophy support.
kh1
Starting with Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, fundamentally the original Kingdom hearts. Players should remember that it’s not a remake, just a remastered version. It’s an RPG and the story follows Sora the keyblade wielding protagonist on his journey to save the multiple worlds at risk of being consumed by shadow creatures named the heartless. As the keyblade is the only weapon truly effective against the heartless the fate of the different worlds lie in Sora’s hands.

While the visuals on PS3 are now seamless and crisp. This more colourful version still has some clunky controls. The camera is still as awkward as it was in the original PS2 version. The awkward camera angles make the lock on mode harder to use albeit not impossible. The first few hours of gameplay are also a bit repetitive and frustrating, at times there seems to be no obvious objective which can get quite frustrating. Overall this didn’t stop me enjoying the game, its fun and light hearted and still as enjoyable as the original version was 11 years ago.
kh2
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories is the direct sequel to the first Kingdom Hearts, also remastered and now in HD. It’s an exciting follow up and it’s fun to see Sora, Donald and Goofy back together in all the action again. It‘s also still exactly the same game it ever was just tweaked visually. However it has one new feature; the card based battle system. The idea is in the game you collect character, moves and magic cards which you can select in battle to attack enemies. It takes a while to get used to but it’s still thoroughly enjoyable.

The only disappointing part of this compilation of games is Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It isn’t a playable game like the other two. It’s a slight let down not to have a HD version of the DS game to play. All it is, is almost 3 hours of cutscene footage from the game which seems utterly pointless. However if you want to achieve all of the trophies you have to watch the whole thing which is incredibly frustrating.

The Verdict
If you overlook the clunky controls, overall the games are incredibly enjoyable just as they were all those years ago. The visuals are beautiful and flawless. Fans of the original series will definitely enjoy this high definition version.

khscore