Kingdom Hearts 3D is a game that attempts to cater to two distinct fan-bases. The series is now more than ten years old, and most of its original fans are in their twenties, so it makes sense that this time around, the game is a bit lighter in tone. It's more colorful, whimsical, and heavy-handed with it's morals of friendship and optimism. You know, stuff that appeals to younger players. The enemies this time a round are rainbow-colored animals with a Pokemon aesthetic, no heartless or empty husks of humanity here. The game is also decidedly easier, even on proud mode, than many other KH titles. It's odd, but I feel like Nintendo really got their fingers in the pie this time, despite this being the third Nintendo exclusive* Kingdom Hearts game. For many longtime fans, I think this will be a mostly unsatisfying experience, especially in contrast to the moody storytelling of recent KH spin-offs like "358/2 Days" and "Birth by Sleep." However, if you stick it out to the end, you'll find a lot to love here; it's just that most of the KH charm is crammed into the last two hours.
As far as gameplay goes, Dream Drop Distance mixes it up a little, though not always in the best way. The phenomenal Birth By Sleep ability system is back, which has you loading a strategic set of special attacks or magic to be activated one-by-one or in a flurry, depending on the situation. Also like Birth by Sleep, you'll never be accompanied by Donald, Goofy, or the denizens of whichever Disney world you're in. Instead, you can craft "Dream Eaters," or rather, more colorful versions of the game's enemies, which fight and level-up alongside you. It's very reminiscent of Pokemon, though I'd argue the enemy design is a bit more fun. By the end of this game, Sora or Riku could be rolling with dinosaurs, leopards, lions, and/or dragons, all in eye-bleeding technicolor rainbow format.
The biggest addition to the KH formula comes in the form of the "flowmotion" system, which is a fancy term that means you can now basically fly and glide all over the map by jamming into a wall and pressing "X." Unfortunately, while it is cool and fun to be able to do anime-esque feats of wallrunning and whatnot, it largely negates the need for scenery at all; you'll just be blowing past it at mach-speed anyway. This new traversal system also allows you to hop upward infinitely, meaning treasure chest are now hidden in an oddly vertical manner. And because the environments are now much larger to accommodate your crazy new ability to rocket 100 yards in a second, environments tend to be blander, and pay less homage to Disney than ever before.
That's a shame, because graphically, this game is beautiful, especially for the 3DS. Kingdom Hearts is all about simple textures with complex geometry, which provides it's unique cartoon+Final Fantasy aesthetic. Dream Drop Distance looks sharper than anything else in the series, at least until the HD packages were released on PS3. As stated before, the environments can be big and bland, but when the characters and combat visuals are this top-notch, it's not really much of an issue.
While we're on the topic of artistry, holy fuck does Yoko Shimomura hit it out of the park on this one. I've always found her scores to be among the best that game composers can offer, but damn, each and every song in this game feels tonally and rhythmically perfect for the situation at hand. If you asked me to give one single fuck about a Pinocchio world after the repeating Hell that was Monstro, I would've laughed. But her score for "Prankster's Paradise" is rich with whimsy and emotion, it quickly became my favorite world in the game. The soundtrack only gets better as the game goes on, culminating in probably the best compositions in the series thus far: L'Eminenza Oscura I and II. If you have the time, definitely go to Youtube and check those songs out. Series veteran's might notice the decidedly KH1 elements in those songs. That's because...
This game's story deals directly with KH1 in many ways. That's the thing that drive's me crazy about the oppressively beginner-friendly nature of this title: it's not going to make any sense at all to a newcomer. Basically, the game is 15 hours of boring Disney-romp, and then two hours of revelatory madness that expounds upon the complicated insanity that already is the overarching KH storyline. And it's not just KH1 that's referenced; Birth By Sleep, Chain Of Memories, 358/2 Days, and even Re:Coded all play a role in the lengthy finale.
Without spoiling anything here, the ending involves a lot of connecting seemingly disparate elements from across the series, as if they were part of a grand design all-along. It's immensely rewarding to long-time fans, as it ties a lot of loose ends and sets the stage for an epic conclusion, which I'm sure Kingdom Hearts 3 will be. At the same time the high-stakes final encounters at the end of this game are no slouches either. The bosses are challenging and fun, and the story concludes fantastically. However, I really can't imagine what indecipherable nonsense this must seem like to newcomers. At least the first 15 hours are fairly straightforward.
In the end, Dream, Drop, Distance feels like a game with two audiences in mind. But instead of gradually bringing newcomers into the fold, it just cordoned off the end and hung a sign that said "Superfans only." And as a fan, it's a bummer I had to slog through 15 mediocre hours to see the amazing conclusion. Upon finishing, a friend and avid fan told me that it's like the development team was developing the game completely unaware of what the story would be, and then Tetsuya Nomura showed up on the last week and they made the ending. I tend to agree.
Hope this Helps!
-Terry B.
