Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
Slowly I make my way through the Kingdom Hearts series. You can read my reviews for previous Kingdom Hearts games right below.
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
One thing to make note of before we proceed is that I have never played Dream Drop Distance before. The original Dream Drop Distance was released for the Nintendo 3DS back in 2010. The version I am reviewing, however, is the HD remastered version located on the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Collection for the PS4.
Story:
I'm just going with the flow when it comes to the storyline of this series. I was doing a decent job following along with it for a while. It wasn't until I played Birth by Sleep that my attention finally started to waver. It definitely wavered here, too. But I am going to do my best to recap the events of the game for you.
This game takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, and before Kingdom Hearts III. Sora and Riku have to undertake a test that will determine whether or not they are worthy of the title of Keyblade Master. Personally, I think they did enough to prove their worth in the first few games of the series, but that's just my opinion.
To pass this test, both Riku and Sora are sent to the Dream World, where they have to battle Dream Eaters that are corrupting several different Disney themed worlds. Of course, it is up to you to unlock a bunch of keyholes and set everything back on the correct path.
That is the very basic gist of the game. And I mean, the VERY BASIC gist of it. Organization XIII, Xehanort, Xemnas, and all these other characters that I have a hard time keeping track of all make appearances here. Since this game is set in the Dream World, I could never tell what was really happening and what was not. A lot of convoluted stuff involving time travel comes into play. A lot of long cutscenes take place, with a lot of confusing character babble.
As I said, I've kind of thrown in the towel when it comes to truly understanding everything happening in this series. I am just going with the flow. Props to the game makers, however, for referencing past titles in the series and offering recaps of lesser known Kingdom Hearts games like 358/2 Days. Playing this game is a good way to catch up on Kingdom Hearts events before attempting to take on Kingdom Hearts III, even if you aren't going to understand everything you see and hear.
Gameplay:
Despite the confusing storyline, I still had a lot of fun playing this game. After playing Birth by Sleep, it was good to come back to playing as Sora once again. What makes Dream Drop Distance unique is that the game allows you to switch back and forth between Sora and Riku basically at any time. To beat this game, you have to clear all of the worlds with each character. While it is cool being able to play as two different characters, keep in mind that this means you are going to have to clear each world twice, which can be a little repetitive after a while.
There are a few returning stages, such as Traverse Town, Tron, and Monstro. New stages include The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and my personal favorite: Symphony of Sorcery. This stage has some nice, trippy visuals. It also pays homage to the classic orchestral scores used in Disney films over the years.
Combat is similar to what you see in Birth by Sleep. Each of your characters has their normal jumping and slashing attacks. You can customize what you want your special or magical moves to be, however. These moves appear at the top of your combat menu. You can cycle through them and then press the triangle button to use these attacks. After using a special move, you have to wait for a meter to fill up before you can use that special move again.
There's not much I can say about this game's gameplay that I haven't said about other Kingdom Hearts games. It definitely follows the same old Kingdom Hearts formula. Bosses were a little easier this time around, which was appreciated.
Oh yeah how could I forget the whole Spirit system? You can capture and craft Spirit sidekicks that aid you in battle, functioning similarly to how Donald and Goofy operated in previous entries to the series. Some of these Spirits were occasionally useful, but I found this whole addition to the game to be somewhat pointless. I've never been a fan of the whole Pokemon-esque monster sidekick thing. You have to pet them and feed them and play games with them to get them to level up, and that is just not my thing. Also, they do jack shit to help you out in battle and their contributions are barely even noticed to begin with.
Graphics:
The game looks good. It looks like pretty much other Kingdom Hearts game I have played up until now. After reviewing four other Kingdom Hearts games in the last few months, I don't really know what else that is new that I can say to add to this conversation. It's a good looking game. It's not a sensational looking game, but it looks good.
Sound:
Just like with the game's graphics, I don't know what else more I can cay about its music and sound effects. The game sounds great. Good voice acting, good sound effects, good music. No complaints here!
Once again, I must give Symphony of Sorcery a shout out because I absolutely loved the musical score for this stage. I have added several of these songs to my assorted online musical playlists.
Overall:
Surprisingly, I liked Dream Drop Distance a lot. For some reason, I thought this was going to be a relatively weak entrance to the series. But no. I had a good time. If I had to rank it among Kingdom Hearts games, it would be below I and II, but above Chain of Memories and slightly above Birth By Sleep.
The game is fast paced. The worlds are fun. The graphics and sound are top of the line. The combat is among the best in the series. I had a hard time putting this game down.
Any negatives I need to point out? Yes. There are a few.
While I enjoyed the ability to play as Riku and Sora, I thought the whole Drop meter thing was a pain in the butt. How this Drop meter works, is that it steadily decreases as you play. So if you are playing as Sora and your Drop meter runs out, you are forced to switch over to playing as Riku. It doesn't matter if you are in the middle of a boss fight or anything important. You HAVE to switch. You can use items to refill your Drop meter, but you need to equip these items and they take up valuable space in your inventory.
I also felt that things were a bit repetitive. You have to play through each stage with both characters, so you are playing through each stage two times. They make an effort to diversify the stages, but it doesn't always work out. The Tron, Musketeers, Hunchback, and Traverse Town stages all feel remarkably similar.
The storyline isn't very interesting to me either. I can kind of follow it, and I can see what it is doing to set up Kingdom Hearts III. That doesn't mean I think the story is good, though. It's just so.... blah to me. I can't help but feel that the game's storyline is what is keeping me from simply liking the game to REALLY liking the game. If only it was better, I would have gotten so much more out of this game.
As it stands, Dream Drop Distance goes down as my third favorite Kingdom Hearts game so far. While I don't think it will ever go down in history as one of the greatest games ever made, there is still a pretty good time to be had here.
Final Score:
B
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