Disney and Square Enix. For many players, the Kingdom Hearts games are a match made in heaven - mashing the lovable characters of the Disney games with icons from the world of Final Fantasy, in a game made by the gods of role-playing games. Originally released on the Playstation 2 way back in 2002, the Kingdom Hearts series has gone on to notch up seven games across five platforms, along with countless spin-offs, with the latest being Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS. But if you're a recent convert to the series and fancy seeing where it all began, or are simply intrigued by the prospect of a Disney role playing game, you'll want to keep an eye on Kingdom Hearts 1.5D Remix - a compilation of two of the early games, and cutscenes lifted from others, wrapped up in a high definition makeover to form a perfect place for new Kingdom Hearts fans to start.
You can tell it's Japanese - spiky anime hair and oversized swords are in abundance...
While it's pretty much impossible to sum up the story of the series as a whole, Kingdom Hearts mostly tells the tale of the main character Sora, who wields a powerful weapons known as a keyblade, and his friends Kairi and Riku as they do battle with the dark shadowy beings known as the Heartless, who've invaded the Disney world, and plan to recruit all the Disney villains to help them steal people's pure hearts and souls. Setting out on an epic journey to defeat the Heartless, you'll travel a galaxy where Disney films make up the various planets, rubbing shoulders, and fighting alongside characters from Disney films and Final Fantasy games alike, as you whack some sense into the Heartless with your giant key.
The compilation, awkwardly named 1.5 HD Remix, will feature high definition versions of two Playstation 2 classics, Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts: ReChain of Memories - the former of which has never made it to Europe, and the latter never left Japan. Somewhat confusingly, though, both of these games are actually slightly expanded remakes of games that did make it over here, with Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix being a "directors cut" of the original Kingdom Hearts game, and ReChain of Memories a port of the GameBoy Advance title, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. So, essentially, what you're getting are two HD remakes of the first two titles (chronologically) in the Kingdom Hearts story. To help fill in the gaps, the game's also set to feature cutscenes lifted from the DS's Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, which, chronologically speaking, is the third game in the series and fits in sometime after the original Kingdom Hearts game, but before Kingdom Hearts 2, yet takes place during the events of Chain of Memories, which seems to effectively be Kingdom Hearts 1.5. We think.
Either way, we're pretty sure Square Enix know what they're doing, so hopefully when you sit down to play the game for yourself, it'll all make a lot more sense. The Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix collection will be available this autumn, exclusively on the Playstation 3 - which means we have yet another role-playing game (or in this case, two) to work through in the latter half of the year. If you're a Disney fan, or just like sinking your teeth into a good role-player, it's worth keeping an eye on this one.
