Kingdom Hearts II
Lightning strikes twice.
Published: May 30, 2006
It also helps that the game plays much more ably than before. As I mentioned, the camera has been tweaked (it's now mapped to the right analog stick instead of the puzzlingly retarded move of using the shoulder buttons in the first game), but the improved lock-on system and the camera as a whole is much, much more agile, leading to less fights where you can't see anyone and more time spent comboing the crap out of enemies.
There's still a button mashing element to be sure, but two small changes make all the difference in the world. For starters, holding down the L1 button gives you access to a quick menu of spells and items, which is invaluable in fights and adds far, far more variety than you'd expect. Secondly, nearly every enemy in the game can be attacked with Reaction Commands -- simple timed events where you can hit the triangle button to use an enemy's attack against them. Half of the fun is finding out what they are, and when used in boss fights the RC moves can be brilliant in their execution. It's hard to overstate how much more fun and interesting they make even simple combat, and it was a very, very wise move indeed on Square Enix's part.
Also added were Drive Commands, which let you merge Sora with Goofy or Donald (or both) for a faster, more powerful combatant. Perhaps because the regular combat is so fun, however, you may not use these abilities all that much (the fact that your Drive meter fills fairly slowly doesn't help either). Both Drive Forms and Summons (yes, they're back, and they feel even more useless this time) can be leveled up just simply by killing enemies with them, providing some nice side RPG elements, though this, like synthesis (which uses Moogles, hooray!), can become quite tedious.
Similar to Drive commands, you can also team up with the characters from the Disney worlds you'll run around in. These attacks with suck away your magic bar, but they're often devastating attacks, and they're well worth it in boss and mini-boss fights. Since you're usually invulnerable during the attacks, and because the game now makes it so that healing spells drain your party's magic anyway, it can be a strategic advantage if you've drained an enemy's health enough to just use the combination attacks.
So the combat is fun, the storyline (when it's present) is awesome, and the variety in stuff you can do is better than in the first game. About the only area where the game does drag (beyond the forced revisits of the worlds) is in the ending, which is an absolute marathon sequence. The game is definitely easier this time around, and there are continue checkpoints, but there is a feeling that it builds up to a climax and then tries too hard to keep it going for too long. The end is indeed satisfying (something all RPGs should be) but it takes too long to get there.
In between the beginning and end, though, there's so much to do in side quests and missions (these are both usually pulled from stuff you've already done, though), that you may not mind. You probably will mind that there's a bit too much familiarity at times. Going back to see Pooh or Beast or Hercules or Ariel or Jack Skellington just doesn't have as much punch this time, and the new worlds picked for the sequel aren't as much fun. Still, finding all the treasure, the maps, the characters and generally just trying to fill up Jiminy's Journal has been made very, very addictive indeed, and perfections will find themselves slogging through things just to get that little Mickey symbol.