This morning I was skimming my 3ds store when I noticed the new demos and saw the Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (3Ds) Demo. Having already payed fully for the game I decided to see whats in store for me and upon playing through the tutorial and the story sampler they had in it, I gotta say I really cannot wait until the end of this month. As this is my first main mini review I do things differently than I do normal reviews, instead of putting my two cents worth on the stuff in it, I give you a breakdown on the new stuff that is in store as well as what I learned from playing the demo but I will give my thoughts on stuff like graphics, music, controls, etc.
Here is the review portion:
Graphics - The graphics are nearly like the graphics from birth by sleep or like Kingdom Hearts 2. As with all Kingdom Hearts games as well as strong Disney overtones, everything is toony and colorful. When you strike an enemy, they have star effects from the Kingdom Key coming out as well as other colorful and nice effects. The 3D looks really great as well. The Cinematics look really sweet as well especially when you turn the 3D on.
Sound and Music- The sound in the demo are the same from past KH games with a little bit more clear touch up even during the newer quick based fighting, you can hear every strike, every dash, and every explosion clearly while the finely orchistrated music plays. I didnt get to hear any Disney tunes since the starting place was Traverse Town (From KH1 and KH Chain of Memories) which had its own music remade for the new installment. The battle music is pretty different and catchy as well.
Controls and new syetem - The controls are pretty simple and anyone who has played the series should be able to quickly get used to it as well as simple enough for newer players to learn. As well as the combat is much more quicker as well as movement in general with the new Flowmotion system (Explained next).
As with every Kingdom Hearts game, Square Enix KH team is always adding something new to the franchise. This game has a good few new additions that I got to mess around with and enjoy. Here is a couple.
- Flowmotion movement and Combat System: Flowmotion is the new main movement and added combat system in KH 3Ds. Its kinda like a parkour system added that allows Sora to jump off of walls, swing around lamp posts, grind off rails, and even grab onto enemies while giving you more added attacks to make combat more quick as well as cool looking. It was really fun jumping and swinging around from everything while hitting enemies in your dash then following up with a special Flowmotion Finisher. Not only is it fun for combat but you can also trick around a whole area. After I cleared the area of monsters I tried doing laps around Traverse Town without touching the ground by doing the Flowmotion dash tricks and after 5 laps did one full lap without touching the ground.
-Reality Shift: Reality shift is a new action system that allows you to use the touchscreen on your 3DS to do a special move. When a special targeting icon appears over an object or enemy, you can either press A + X or slide down on the touch screen to perform this special action. The tutorial mentions that it is different in each area making it pretty interesting to see. Traverse Towns Reality Shift is the slingshot which turns the object into a ball and you can sling shot the thing off into enemies for an area splash damaging effect. It also works on some bosses as well.
-Spirit Link Guage and switching: In KH 3Ds instead of team up with Disney characters as mentioned in articles about the game, you team up with catchable and tameable spirits. These colorful characters you are able to tag team with to do specials by filling their link gauge and touching their picture on the touch screen. Pretty much that is all you find out about the Spirits at this time. You can use the touch screen to change out which ones you can use since you can only have two at a time out. In the demo you start out with a Dog, Cat, and Bear looking spirit partner.
What the Demo Offers - When you start the demo you can choose between two options. To either do the tutorial or play a part of Traverse Town. The tutorial starts you off fighting Ursela from The Little Mermaid as a returning turtorial boss (for now). The game goes over the simple classic KH controlls like rotating camera, locking onto stuff, as well as cycling and using the deck commands (action menu from most Kingdom Hearts games). Then the tutorial takes you over to the Flowmotion tutorials and finally the Reality Shift Tutorial then you are done.
The main demo stage puts you into Traverse town where you start off as Sora in his new red and black Valor looking outfit (KH 2 Valor form) as he realizes he is back into Traverse Town and notices Riku is missing (again). As he calls his close friend out a certain kid with orange hair and purple phones tells our hero sarcastically how loud he is being. The character turns out to be none other than Neku from the World Ends with You (also a SE game made by the KH team and if you have not played it yet get it nao!) He then grabs soras arm realizing he isnt a "Player" and says he needs to go find his partner and as Sora tries to volunteer to help, mentions that he can only team up with his Partner playing "The Game". (For those of you who dont know what I just said, go play TWEWY.) But takes Soras offer for help on finding his partner and zips off. The demo then places you into a stage of Traverse town. I then procede to utilize what I learned into the tutorial and tried jumping from wall to wall while kicking the crap out of every enemy in the area that got into my way until I look onto my touch screen map and notice I am near the exit of the area. I enter the door. I walk my way up the stairs until I fight the Demos boss which is some monkey looking thing with a nubbish tail box on his chest colorful as heck omgwtf stretchy arms looking thing. the I start the battle zipping along the small corridor damaging him as well as using the special Flowmotion actions until a reality shift prompt activates and I sling shot him to do more damage. The battle was tough but I bested the creature and the battle ends with the classic KH show motion victory pause as the screen goes black and shows the little dog hopping around cutely and falling down the stairs with the show title of game thank you for playing message on the bottom screen.
Final thoughts - the demo is great and worth trying out. After playing it makes me wish the end of the month would hurry up and get here so I can start my collection of spirit pets and see what else I can zip and swing off of.
