Why Kingdom Hearts must return to consoles
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.
It’s time for Kingdom Hearts to go back to home consoles. Square Enix have scrunched four of these games onto tiny handheld screens now – five if you want to count the oddball Chain of Memories. That’s five games worth of parsing the shadows of Traverse Town in the glare of the sun while riding the bus. Five games worth of Kingdom Hearts’ nausea-inducing camera on those tiny screens.
Enough already. If Final Fantasy Versus XIII is actually dead and buried (which Square Enix says it isn’t – but whatever), then shift all those internal resources to Kingdom Hearts 3 and be done with it. It’s a disservice to the franchise, the source material and the platforms to keep squeezing these games into such ill-fitting confines.
Okay, I’ve got the light rage out of my system. The sky is not falling. Birth by Sleep and now Dream Drop Distance are perfectly serviceable games. But is the series reaching its potential on those platforms? I don’t think it is. Barring some drastic change, Kingdom Hearts is always going to be better-suited for home consoles than handhelds. It’s in the franchise’s DNA. It’s even evident in additions like Dream Drop Distance’s new “Flowmotion System,” for instance, which sends Sora bouncing off walls and objects, like lamp posts and even enemies. It’s not a bad idea and would be a nice addition to a console game. On the 3DS screen though? There’s just too much going on.
Gallery: Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (7/17/12)Continue reading Why Kingdom Hearts must return to consolesWhy Kingdom Hearts must return to consoles originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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