Kingdom Hearts offers single-player joy

By Kayla Richardson
Guest Contributor

It is hard to find a single-player game that can entertain an entire room full of people.

When I confessed my addiction to a certain video game last year, a few friends were shocked, but also ecstatic since they were big fans of the game, too. That game was “Kingdom Hearts.”

Immediately afterward, we headed to my house to power up the old PlayStation 2. There were many nights that followed that consisted of one of us playing while the others sat and cheered them on.

“Kingdom Hearts” is a fantasy game that contains characters from the favorite Disney movies, “Final Fantasy” game series, and a few that were made up specifically for the game.

The main character is a kid named Sora. After being ripped from his best friends by creatures called Heartless, he ends up in a strange town with Donald and Goofy as sidekicks. Donald is his normal ill-tempered self who provides comic relief to the game while Goofy has the usual “duh” factor surrounding him.

The three go off in search of King Mickey, who might have the answers to why the universe is being invaded by heartless. Unfortunately, he is missing from his castle. To find Mickey, they must hop from world to world, which are modeled from Disney movies.

“Kingdom Hearts” Trivia: One thing many people don’t realize about “Kingdom Hearts” is that the voice cast actually features a wide variety of famous actors The main cast consists of Academy Award-nominee Haley Joel Osment, who was nominated for the film “The Sixth Sense,” as Sora; David Gallagher, who most recently starred in “Super 8” and “The Vampire Diaries,” as Riku; and Hayden Panettiere, probably best known as the indestructable cheerleader on “Heroes” or the young girl in “Remember the Titans,” as Kairi. Other members of the voice cast include Dee Bradley Baker, who has risen to fame recently as the voice of Klaus on “American Dad,” Mandy Moore and Lance Bass as Sephiroth. Even the comedian Gilbert Gottfried reprises his role as Iago from the “Aladdin” series. This, of course, was before he was fired from being the voice of the Aflec duck.

Along the way, you are able to have some of your favorite protagonists as sidekicks. The game itself can get rather difficult as you play through the storyline, fighting battles along the way.

One of the worlds is inspired by Disney’s “Hercules,” and you must prove yourself in true warrior fashion. In the coliseum you battle enemies from some of the worlds in the game and also more challenging bosses including Cerberus, the three-headed dog from “Hercules.” “Kingdom Hearts” is full of action, but it is the story behind the action that keeps you guessing.

Success on the PlayStation 2 has spurred the creation of other “Kingdom Hearts” games that can be played on the GameBoy Advance. There is currently a “Kingdom Hearts II” that has been released with even more worlds, and a third in the works. I enjoy all of them, but the original is still my favorite.

The worst thing about this series is that the developers are taking so long to release the third game.

This is part of our on-going “Great Video Game” series. If you would like to submit a video game you believe is great, please email us at lariat@baylor.edu.