Kingdom Hearts 3 was the latest of the games released with Disney/Square when released. It has since been noted that Melody of Memory was released so that is the latest game in the edition. However for KH3, it has the makings of a fantastic game following the 2.8 editions. What makes KH3 great? Are there any negatives to it? ALl that and more below!
Positives:
1. Combat- The combat in this game is second to none. It is yes straight forward, but how you use the strategies is something as well, so it has a lot of different ways you can combat and do well with. I found this to be a really good game with combat. Which leads me to..
2. Shotlocking- Shotlocking is amazing in this game and did well overall for me, when I decided to do well with it. Most of it was more trying to get me to be good with shotlocking, but it was a very nice, very next gen type of approach to it and something that most gamers can use as an added strategy against the enemies.
3. Character growth- Yes the characters still grow a lot overall, which is good even in the third game of the main KH lore but of all the other games as well. This features amazing growth of self, others and the mission overall. I love Sora's development, but I was most impressed with Donald's development as well. I think the game is better for all characters developing over the course of the game and this is not a surprise as the game is so well done with it.
4. Bringing Back Exploration- I surely hope they move on with later games with more exploration like they did with The Caribbean in KH3. That will help get back a lot of fans to the KH4 wagon. If they can figure out a Trinity like system for KH4 to make exploration and something like they did with the Caribbean where items are meaningful in KH3 on exploration, that would be fantastic.
5. Storyline- This was always going to be a major plus for KH in most any game they offer. However the storyline in KH3 is absolutely fantastic and it is also straight to the point of what you have to do and how to get to that point. IT does provide twists and turns but the end result is the same overall.
6. Graphics/Music- Yes this was also going to be a plus but the music is amazing and the graphics are amazing as well. I loved both and they were fantastic in every regard!
7. The Ending- I will not spoil it but I felt the ending was absolutely brilliantly done. Disney and Square should take great pride in how they ended this game and how they transition to other games of the KH series in the future.
Negatives:
1. Cutscenes- There is one thing I will not go with and that is so many cutscenes. Yes I understand why that, no I don't like it regardless. There are just so many early on and while it tampers down a bit, it's still very overwhelming to have these many cutscenes overall. If there was a way, they could have cut a couple of hours of cutscenes I felt but that's one of the only negatives to this game I feel.
2. Pacing- I actually thought this was a positive upon my first playthrough of this but it actually is a negative. It's just too fast overall. I replayed this to get a different feel for the pacing but holy smokes it is way too fast after replaying it.
3. Replay Value- there just isn't much to it for KH3. It's really just "Go to place, do thing. Go to next place, do thing." But that's really all there is to it minus one world (The Caribbean) so really there isn't a ton of replay value to it.
Overall Rating
Without much more I would suspect yes this is a must have for most every gamer and a game everyone should play. You have to be patient with the cutscenes though and honestly most will be skippable I believe. The pacing and replay value also docks this further. However, if you want you can get past that then it is great, but overall it isn't the best work by Disney or Square but still solid enough.
Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10.