Kingdom Hearts II

Not to much to report as I've been locked away at work, with no sign of relenting. I have some serious hours this week and next, thus limiting my at home to the estimations, i.e. sleep.

Returning to my only column-like feature

Parts of a Hole:
Kingdom Hearts II
I love playing video games, but don't play them as much as I did in my early 20's, not so much as growing up I'd say as growing more selective. I love a good RPG or action'adventure game, but I'm pretty selective in my first person shooters. Most are pretty derivative and seem like a waste of good money. When I need a good FPS I always fall back on Halo or Halo II.
Kingdom Hearts II stems from the love of the first game, and how its both fun and highly addictive. As I played the first game I was fairly certain that I wouldn't like it, I mean Disney and a RPG?! The last think I thought I would enjoy is listening to a game with voice over acting by the voice of Goofy. But, I was proven wrong. Square just makes good games and this is no exception.. Hell they even tie in what I think are two of Disney's best franchises. The Pirates of The Caribbean and Tron. Pirates was Disney's best movie in years and I hope the sequel(s) hold up. My true love though, is Tron. Easily in my top 10 favorite movies of all time, I love the visuals and the kind of fun campiness associated with it. Hell, SFX in commercials are better than in Tron, but I loved what it started. There would be no computer graphics if it wasn't for Tron laying the groundwork. I love me some Tron.
Anyway, back to the game... Its got great voice overwork by many of the lead actors in the movies, including James Woods and Orlando Bloom. Hell they even got Bruce Boxloitner and David Warner from Tron back. The graphics content has improved over the last game with a wonderful spectrum of color. They have also done some improvements with the camera angles blocking views.It's full of fun mini games and a compelling storyline, I give it a great recommendation. My only real complaint is that its a bit on the easy side. While the first one had some really challenging fights, the sequel is pretty much just a button masher. I rarely use magic or heals as direct damage seems good enough. Still, a lot of fun, especially considering that the play time is in the range of 40 hours or so.
Anyway, that's enough of that, hope you enjoyed the review.

End of Line.
Gerrad!