It’s pretty much the same, minus AR cards
This week I put a preview build of Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue to the test, and so far, I’m happy with how well at least one of the three games that comprises this compilation has translated — Kingdom Hearts 3D, or, Dream Drop Distance — one of the least silly bits of nomenclature in a franchise that likes to put fractions in their titles.
It’s a four year old portable game, sure, but it looked colorful then on the 3DS, and it looks great now when blown up on a TV in 1080p at 60FPS (a framerate that’s smooth, by the way). And just like any old Kingdom Hearts game you’ll need to get used to a weird camera (bring out that claw hand) and some lock-on issues, but everything else is there. That includes the pet/companion system, which doesn’t accommodate AR cards anymore, and is probably for the best.
With fantastic new worlds that haven’t been explored ever before in the series like Hunchback, Fantasia, and Three Musketeers, as well as a meaningful connection to the previous games as a lead-in to Kingdom Hearts 3, it feels more like a mainline entry than a half-hearted spinoff. Get a look at some screens in the gallery below before it hits its worldwide release date of January 24.
I’m really limited in what I can say about the Kingdom Hearts χ extended cinematic retelling and the all-new Fragmentary Passage portion of this triple-pack, so just stick around for the full review later this month.
