associate : Kingdom Hearts I : Every Magic Spell, Ranked
Which isn ’ thymine to say the worlds featured in Kingdom Hearts II are inadequate. Some indeed are– merely retreading stories that were better in the source material– but a well few make up for a miss of interesting tied blueprint with interesting set pieces, meaningful narrative or character development, and excellent legal action all around.
10 Atlantica
It ’ s about admirable Kingdom Hearts II would go to such lengths as to take everyone ’ s criticism against Atlantica in the original plot and amplify them tenfold to create something sincerely black. Composed entirely of rhythm method of birth control mini-games, Atlantica serves as tribute to the musical earned run average of Disney history .
In that respect, its inclusion body is very easy to both understand and prize. unfortunately, the execution is excruciating. Some of the songs are precisely downright maddening, and it ’ s hard to feel like playing around in Atlantica international relations and security network ’ t a waste of time when it doesn ’ metric ton progress the diagram or feature KH II ’ s core gameplay .
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9 Land Of Dragons/Beast’s Castle (Tie)
Kingdom Hearts II has a fantastic open followed by a inaugural act that ’ s actually good all right. Olympus Coliseum is actually pretty bang-up ( and we ’ ll get to it later, ) but Land of Dragons and Beast ’ sulfur Castle are honestly reasonably underwhelming, particularly in comparison to Wonderland and Deep Jungle, and especially in comparison to the lie of the worlds in KH II.
farming of Dragons ultimately suffers for bland, early game flush design and a fib that ’ sulfur actually just a much worse retread of Mulan, whereas Beast ’ s Castle, while quite interesting in terms of level purpose, doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate use Beast half arsenic well as the first base game, about undermining him returning at all. Plus, Xigbar blows .
8 Agrabah/Port Royal (Tie)
To Kingdom Hearts II ’ s credit, Aladdin II: Return of Jafar and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl are such unique choices for adaptation, it ’ south about enough to make up for the fact they ’ re just lesser retreads of their films ( albeit with enough changes where they ’ rhenium not fair their movie counterparts. )
Agrabah and Port Royal both feature a healthy acid of natural process, but neither universe is that interesting in comparison to the rest of KH II ’ mho worlds. It ’ sulfur nice to revisit Agrabah, american samoa well, but it and Port Royal don ’ thymine leave all that a lot of an impression early than the knickknack of their stories. Though that ’ s not worse thing in the world .
7 100 Acre Woods
As is the shell with the inaugural plot, 100 Acre Woods gets a bad tap for not truly aligning with the lie of Kingdom Hearts II ’ s core battle. Unlike Atlantica, however, 100 Acre Woods does abide by the core gameplay. While Sora will only be partaking in mini-games, they ’ re at least slightly grounded in recognizable gameplay .
relate : Kingdom Hearts I : Every Party Member, Ranked
Plus, 100 Acre Woods is barely a cute earth. It was charming in Kingdom Hearts I, more or less putting Sora in Christopher Robin ’ second shoes, and its pursue up here is a nice admonisher of the more pleasant elements of Sora ’ s travel. It ’ sulfur good for a game to give itself space to breathe sometimes. even better when it ’ mho optional .
6 Olympus Coliseum
Olympus Coliseum sees a huge upgrade from the beginning game. It international relations and security network ’ thymine as immediately charming considering it ’ s no long fair a glorify stadium ; but hey, it ’ sulfur nobelium longer a transfigure sphere. Olympus Coliseum has actual tied plan and Auron ’ randomness inclusion as the series inaugural party member from Final Fantasy is a very dainty touch .
Olympus Coliseum ’ s claim to fame will constantly be its tournaments, though. From the Pain and Panic Cup to the Hades Paradox Cup, players will find hours of message tucked aside inside the Olympus Coliseum. Simply having an stadium of sorts elevates it considering how much emphasis KH II places on its battle .
5 Disney Castle/Timeless River
They ’ re technically not the same universe, but they might a well be. Disney Castle and Timeless River are basically two halves of one hale, working together to create quite the interest exhaust in Kingdom Hearts II ’ s floor. Disney Castle takes Sora and party to King Mickey ’ s palace, nowadays overrun with Heartless .
In the basement, players can access Timeless River, an ode to Disney ’ mho vivification from the late 20s and early 30s. Filled with great military action set pieces and a long ton of Disney appeal, it ’ mho hard not to love the ambition team that is Disney Castle and Timeless River. Plus, Lingering Will can be found in Disney Castle post-game .
4 Pride Rock
It ’ s not constantly fun when a game locks your abilities or on the spur of the moment shakes up what you can do during gameplay, but it can truly enhance an experience. Case in distributor point : pride Rock. Transformed into a leo, Sora loses a decent ball of his abilities, but he gradually builds up a new skill set on Pride Rock that ends up being precisely angstrom fun as any of Sora ’ s Drive Forms.
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related : Kingdom Hearts I : Every world From Worst To Best, Ranked
not just that, Pride Rock opts merely to adopt The Lion King’ s back half and with a few key changes, something that allows Pride Rock to narratively feel more in-line with the worlds from the inaugural game. It ’ second besides equitable fun having Simba in the party and traversing a jungle. If nothing else, Pride Rock does justify its empty space .
3 Space Paranoids/Halloween Town (Tie)
It ’ sulfur always a dainty when the party has to change their appearance for a world, and both Space Paranoids & Halloween Town do an excellent job at capturing the charming of Kingdom Hearts; visiting different worlds to piece together a greater narrative. This rings true in the case of the former particularly, which actually weaves Xehanort into Tron ’ s lore .
Neither worldly concern is particularly large, but they both feature batch of variety in terms of grade design and the enemies fought. They ’ rhenium playfulness worlds to fair roam through and explore, and both their stories do more than merely retread their respective films which is constantly a massive plus .
2 Twilight Town/Radiant Garden (Tie)
Booting up Kingdom Hearts II merely to play as Roxas with no clear indication of how these two characters are even connected, it ’ sulfur hard not to immediately give in to Twilight Town ’ s phantasmagoric atmosphere. It ’ mho unlike anything else in the series, a world perpetually on the cusp of dark but brimming with light. It ’ s a nice act of theming .
Beyond the bang-up opening as Roxas, Twilight Town makes frequent reappearances throughout the plot alongside Radiant Garden ( Hollow Bastion for most of the fib. ) These two worlds are home to some of Kingdom Hearts II ’ randomness very best moments, both narratively and in terms of gameplay. It helps that Radiant Garden features quite a morsel of post-game subject .
1 The World That Never Was
Kingdom Hearts II ’ second expansive finale and an excellent stopping point to a plot that honestly just gets better the more you play, The World That Never Was is hush the series ’ best endgame. Filled to the brim with boss fights, highly emotional cutscenes, and storytelling that resolves about every tarry plot thread in a meet manner, it ’ sulfur hard not to love The World That Never Was .
Between Roxas and Xemnas, each boss here is a home run, to say nothing of tied design that– while simple– does actually feel like level design ! If nothing else, The World That Never Was balances its pace fabulously good, making for a ending that closes Kingdom Hearts II on a higher high than KH I ’ sulfur ending .
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Renan Fontes
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