Kingdom Hearts: 2.8

Game'scover

About the Game

Game:Kingdom Hearts: 2.8
Genre: Action RPG
Consoles: Ps4,Xbox, PC && Switch
Published:Square Enix
Developers:Square Enix
Released:January 2017

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 is the third bundle of the series as Square Enix were doing their best to put all the games into one platform. The bundle was once again developed by Square Enix and it was released in 2017 for the playstation 4. Unlike the previous two bundles this one was interesting, as the only game that was left to remaster was none other than Kingdom Hearts 3D(Dream Drop Distance). This is only one game and yet it received a bundle. The solution that was found was to inlcude an Andriod game Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover as an hour cinematic experience and Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by sleep which look more like a demo for the upcomming long awaited Kingdom Hearts III. The game was heavily praised for remastering KH:3D and also managed to build the hype for the upcomming KhIII for how good 0.2 BBS was. The Kingdom Hearts 2.8 bundle was released in other bundles such as Kingdom hearts The story so far which pretty much placed all three bundles into a single one and it was also included Kingdom hearts All in one bundle which similar to Kingdom Hearts the story so far included the three previous bundles with the addition of Kingdom Hearts III. The all in one bundle was released for the rest consoles such as Xbox,Pc and switch as cloud.

Whats is Kingdom Hearts?(no spoilers)

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix. It is a collaboration between Square Enix and Disney and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square Enix employee who is known for working on final fantasy vii. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover between Square Enix and Disney based in a fictional universe. The main character Sora, and his friends Donald Duck and Goofy journey around various Disney , Pixar and originally designed worlds.They battle the heartless and various creatures of darkness in order to save the world from the darkness. Throughout their Journey they make new friends along the way, characters from the disney world they visit and various final fantasy heroes. The series consists of thirteen games , and with the release of Kingdom hearts III in 2019 and The Remind DLC 2020, the game finaly concluded it's first saga known as the Xehanort Dark arc. After the events of the Remind DLC (2020), the game released Kingdom hearts Melody of memory which prepared th stage for the next game. In 2022 Kingdom hearts 4 was revealed alongside a new app game . The series are well received from the public although sometimes its beeing critisize for its bizzare story telling. The main issue of the series was the fact that all the games add to one story, however they re split to multiple platoforms such as Ps2,psp,ps4,Android,gba and the Ds. Square Enix though realised the mess they made and the remastered the games and released them as collections for ps4 and xbox. A wide variety of related merchandise has been released along with the games, including Cds with the soundtracks of the series,multiple figurines,plushies,clothing ,companion books(guides,artbooks), light novels, a collectible card game, manga series(by Akira Amano) and potentially an upcoming TV series.

What is the 2.8 Bundle

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 is a bundle that was released in 2017 and combined three different games.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by sleep - A Fragmentary Passage
Kingdom Hearts: 3D Dream Drop Distance HD
Kingdom Hearts: X Back Cover

Three games, where two of them were previously released in two different platforms such as the Nintendo 3Ds, the Android/IOs and ps4(for the new one). The bundles made a fantastic job in bringing all the games of the series into a single platform, for everyone to enjoy. The Bundle includes two games, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 and Kingdom Hearts 3D that the player can play on and X Back Cover which is not playable but instead is in the form of a movie. To elaborate the game Kh:X had it's cutscenes remastered with additional new scenes in order to fill in the playable sections.

The game Kingdom hearts 3D HD was previously reviewed as individual, which can be found below.
The reviews go as follow:

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by sleep - A Fragmentary Passage

Game'scover Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A fragmentary Passage is was a brand new content that was made in order to justify a bundle. The game focusses on an old protagonist Aqua found in Kingdom Hearts Birth By sleep (PSP) 2010. In the oppenning scene of the game, King Mickey references how they(warriors of Light) ll need to be able to gather their 7 guardians in order to clash with the 13 darknesses (Due to the events in 3D). Their best chance that they have is to find the lost keyblade master Aqua as she is the only one who knows where another key blade wielder (Ventus) is located.

The game then proceeds to re introduce players to Aqua as she is making her way into the darkness. Ever since her fall(in the darkness) Aqua is seen fighting the heartless and trying her best to survive, while holding on to her memories of her two friends Terra and Ventus and her fallen Master Erigus. Everytime Aqua feels alone and is ready to give up she remembers why she here and for who she is fighting for.(keep in mind Aqua has been in the darkness for Approximately 10 years and that time flows different). While exploring the darkness Aqua sees that certain locations (from BBS) are also sank into darkness and she decides to explore them. Furthermore, the game made sure to show Aqua at her best and tie the story for the upcomming Kh III.

Gameplay

The games combat is a mixure of Kingdom hearts 2 and kingdom hearts birth by sleep. The player controls Aqua through out the game as she ventures in the darkness. The player can use Aqua's Keyblade in order to attack enemies in close range. there's plenty of combos to be used in both the ground and whilst on air. Unlike Bbs where the player had the command deck, the game goes back to it's routes with the menu option. For Long range attacks Aqua can use her magic abilities which seemed to have hevily improved and became more usefull than the past entries. Magic is given to the player from the very start of the game. These spells can be activated by manuvering in the command menu (bottom left), selecting the option Magic and which spell is to be catsed. The second and more efficient way is to use controller shorcuts to simply press a button to open the quick command magic menu and press any of the buttons responsible for a spell. The spells require MP Bar(magic/mana bar) which is located next to Aqua's portrait in blue color. Each time a spell is cast the bar will be reduced. Constantly using a certain magic, will pop a quick command of an upgraded version of the spell which can be used MP free.
Constantly attacking build momentum to the player (which can be seen as Arrows above the command menu) which rewards the player with special attacks both for magic or for keyblade attacks. Which one of the two will be given is based on which type oif attacks (magic or key) were used the most. Shotlock also make it's re appearance in the series and is once again a very helpfull tool to help the player. Shotlocks slow time while the player tilts the camera to auto lock on targets. The amnount of the frozen time is based on how much focus bar Aqua has. Focus can be seen as yellow above Aqua's portrait. Once targets are locked the player can use the attack button to cast it.

Level Design

Unlike the previous versions of Kingdom hearts maps, 0.2 went back to its original routes where instead of linear level design and small sand boxes, it gave the player bigger areas to explore with interesting design options that make the player want to explore and not simoply walk straigh in a line. Although big, the game's map are easy to keep track of. Furthermore, the game gives the player alot of manuvering options such as an enormous Double jumb and multiple air dash. there's plenty of locations for the player to step on, in order to once again jump from. PLenty of locations also include puzzles which was something missed.

Collectables

the game does have a few types of collectables that require the player to complete certain objectives. The collectables come in the form of cosmeticks such as cat ears, tails and pixie wings.

Overall

Kingdom hearts 0.2 is good but it has a mjor major flaw. It is only 3 hours long including exploration. This is something that the game was heavily critisized by many as 3 hours is usually the length of a Disney world in an actual game. Nevertherless the game delivered a great story that really focusses heavilly on Aqua who is a character beloved by the Majority. Aqua's journey began on BBS, she was once again shown here as she ventures into darkness and will most likely play a major role in Kh III. Furthermore, the game tried to chain Aqua to the events of Kingdom hearts I as the end of this game, showcases that the ending takes place near the end of Kh1 as Aqua is in the background helping King Mickey defending Riku as he helps Sora. The gameplay was litterally the best so far as it combined a great close range attack with a very usefull magic and a not overpowered shotlock. The worlds of the game really combined the best of both worlds as it brought back the complex and interesting Level design of Kh1 with the simplicity of Kh2(which i am aware it contradicts but trust me it make sense). This game feels more like a Kingdom hearts III Demo or even the "cut out" prologue of KH III.

Kingdom Hearts X back cover

Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover is the cinematic remaster version of Kingdom hearts X, an android/Ios(2015) game which alsohappened to be a JP web browser gae released in 2013. The game takes place right before the events of Kingdom hearts 1 and way before Birth by sleep . In other words if you were to make a timeline of kingdom hearts events, this should be placed first. Everything that is introduced in this game will definetely make a reappearance inKingdom Hearts III and most likely characters from this game will also make an appearance such as the master of masters. The game introduces the Master of masters, the foretellers, Luxhu and what happenned to them ages ago. Pretty much it's the origin of the first keyblade war among the foretelles, the dissappearance of the master of masters and Luxhus secret mission. Overall this is an hour long movie whose events play a major role in the klingdom hearts universe, which creates and answers plenty of questions. The animation used is of high quality and the entire scenes are fully voice acted.

Final Thoughts

Overall Kingdom hearts 2.8 Final prologue was game that came up with a mixture of reviews and manage to complete the remaster Bundles set, as 8 now games were succesfully released in 3 remaster bundles 1.5 2.5 and 2.8 . Overall this bundle includes two games that one last approximately 30+ hours, the other 3 hours and an hours long movie . The bundle is set to be the last kingdom hearts project (with the exception of the on going Ios/Android Games) before the long waited Kingdom hearts III. As mentioned above the same bundle can obtain in all the other platforms in the form of a different bundle which itself included other games and other remaster bundles.
if this bundle is in your interest, it is highly recomended to purchase the All in one bundle or the story so far, which includes many other Kingdom hearts games unless the reason of purchase is for personal collection!