Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 & 2.5 Remix Review
Kingdom Hearts is one of the most confusing game series I’ve ever played, a Japanese role playing game with a Disney twist, that has a story that still makes very little sense yet is extremely fun to play as you get to explore Disney worlds while battling Heartless enemies.
After 15 years and so many titles in the series, Square Enix have re-released the two PlayStation 3 Kingdom Heart Remix collections in one nice little package. Featuring 6 different titles from across many different consoles including the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. With four playable games that are easily over 30 hours long each and two movies that bring together all the scenes from their Nintendo DS titles, there is so much content packed into this collection. This collection certainly offers good value for money, as playing through the four titles will easily deliver 120+ hours of entertainment. For someone playing through any one of these four titles for the first time would make this collection worth purchasing for.
Obviously some of these games are between 15 and 7 years old, so while the games look silky smooth and at their best, it’s important to remember these are older games and don’t stack up as well, when they are compared to its modern day releases such as 0.2 and Dream Drop Distance that were included in the recent 2.8 collection. And for those with a PS4 Pro, the game looks stunning, especially if compared to its PS2 original and has dated very week, plus the gameplay sections run so much more smoother at 60 frame size per second, so that’s another added bonus.
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix still holds up extremely well, though it’s clear to see how the game has improved over the years, especially with the jumping, which felt cumbersome but certainly not unplayable. This is the game that started the whole franchise off and the way it brings together new characters and established characters from the Final Fantasy and Disney in an interesting story.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories plays slightly differently to other games in the series as it uses a card based mechanic for fighting, which I wasn’t that a big fan of. It does however help fill in some of the backstory between 1 & 2.
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is another classic game that is a huge improvement over its predecessor and also introduces more characters and is a personal highlight of the collection. It runs extremely well and is very enjoyable, it is a highlight of the collection.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix is my sleeper hit from this collection, and quickly became my favourite game from the collection. The overall look of the game, plus the movement of characters and fighting methods are far superior, though the worlds are slightly smaller due to this being a PlayStation Portable port and had to play slightly differently, however this does result in more save points being available, which was an issue I had with previous titles.
As far as the two movies go, Re:coded and 358/2 days go, I wouldn’t say these are handled that well, since there is a lot of text between the video scenes but it’s probably the best way these games could be represented to include them in this collection.
I do have a few complaints about the game, mainly that I believe this collection should have been released before the previous PS4 collection, 2.8. As new fans wouldn’t have benefited from a different release schedule. Plus with the collections released on the PS3 a couple of years ago, it did seem to take along time to port these to the PS4. And during that time, there doesn’t look like too much work went into fixing some of the errors from the original release. Some players have complained that with the game now running at 60 frames per section, some times it goes too fast and can cause issues. But again these are more minor issues.
Personally I feel this is an excellent collection and perfect for new players wanting to get into the series and for older fans who want to experience the game again. However if you’ve already played through 1.5 and 2.5 on the PS3, I’m not sure it’s worth upgrading with so many other major new titles out now to spend your time on, as these are short games.
This is an excellent collection, it’s hard to complain when there are four excellent titles in a package that are so much fun to play. It might take a while for most players to get through the history of this franchise, but having all the games together, does make this more attractive. Even if you only wanted to play the core two games, this is an easy recommendation for any new player wanting to jump in or someone who wants to relive some classic Disney games.