Kingdom Hearts were a series of role playing games which grew out of collaboration between Disney and Square Enix, the developers who brought us the Final Fantasy series. This was a coup for both companies. Enix got access to the roster of Disney characters, which would help the game penetrate the American market. Disney, for their part, not only raised the profile of their characters but also became associated with an already successful game developer.

The games started to arrive in 2002 with Kingdom Hearts on the PS2; further iterations of the game would appear across multiple formats. With the first update of the PS3, players lost the ability to play PS2 games, unless they had kept their older machines. This means new players would have no access to much of the series. That is until now.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX sees three of the games getting a high definition makeover. The three are held on a single disc, but before you get too excited Kingdom Hearts 358/2 is not a game at all, but a cinematic rendition of the game. The cut scenes have been upgraded and like the other two benefits from a better musical score and vocal acting. With added inserts 358/2 plays like a passive game. Whilst there has been an effort to include all of the cut scenes, this has led to an uneven viewing experience.

The first true game is the Original Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, which itself was an update of the original release and until now only available in Japan. It follows the adventures of Sora, who following an invasion of his world, loses his friends, but gains a Key Sword. With his sword in hand, Sora travels the various Disney worlds, searching for his friends.

The game follows the same pattern as many other Enix games with an uncomplicated battle system and the chance to level up, so you know that you’re going to spend your time grinding at some point. The PR blurb states that the controls have been updated, but personally I still found that the camera was too fast, especially in a fight.

To counter this, you are able to target the nearest enemy and Sora will attack. This does feel a little odd, even though it works well, it removes some control from the player as you can just move around with this permanently on, swinging your keysword. Ok, I may be being a little pedantic in accusing the game of being too easy in the combat elements, this was after all designed for the younger gamer.

The updated graphic look good, but their age cannot be disguised, especially in some of the lack of detail in the characters faces. The backgrounds, however, look sumptuous.

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories takes up Sora’s story with a search for his friend and King Mickey; this time they battle The Organisation of Nobodies. Once again the game has had a HD makeover, similar to the first game. Originally released for the Gameboy, the game uses a modified battle system, which allows for combinations in battle.

While the games cannot truly disguise their age, this release allows a whole new generation to play, what are essentially, good games and because modern players demand trophies, Enix have added trophies to the titles. Now, if only they would do this with Final Fantasy V they would make a whole generation of gamers happy.

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Charles Packer