You know that friend nobody likes? The one that keeps showing up because no one’s told him to buzz off? That’s what water levels are to videogames. Upon arrival, they kill the mood and alienate anyone who was on the fence about staying or leaving. In short, they tend to ruin the entire flow of a game that’s otherwise just fine, and very few titles have been able to do liquid environments right. ... » Read More

25 Sep 2009

Faces of Death: Disney Edition

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Have a seat, children… Now, I know you thought Mickey, Ariel and Pinocchio would last forever, but the harsh reality of gaming is that all characters must eventually die. Often it seems like God is being cruel, yet it’s a fact that anything with a health bar will eventually perish. ... » Read More

24 Sep 2009

Grisly Disney

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

We hear you kids in the back: “Disney is nothing but kiddy bullshit! There’s no way Kingdom Hearts can be hardcore with Mickey Mouse in it.” Really, mister? Then you have no sense of history and you’re about to get some. Wipe away those knee jerk images of princesses and dancing cats - we’re about to expose the bloody, black powder underbelly of Disney’s hardcore legacy of sheer brutality! ... » Read More

23 Sep 2009

The best and worst of Mickey Mouse

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

There’s an ancient and oft cited survey floating around the web that claims that Mario is more popular than Mickey Mouse. Sure, sounds believable. Even if the source of the poll has gone unaccredited since 1990. So, in order to present the following article in terms our audience can understand: Mickey is basically the Mario of everything else. ... » Read More

22 Sep 2009

Kingdom Hearts: the story so far

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

It seems a lot like Disney and Square-Enix are on different wavelengths as far as developing games goes, what with a Warren Spector project in the works and Final Fantasy XIII well on the way. But there was a time when these two juggernauts of adolescent entertainment teamed up to make sweet, sweet video game love in the form of Kingdom Hearts. ... » Read More

22 Sep 2009

The Disney games you forgot existed

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Licensed games come and go, so most of us don’t bat an eye when titles based on movies and TV shows fall into obscurity. Today, they’re ephemeral by nature, seemingly designed with an expiration date only as far off as the coinciding property’s DVD release date. ... » Read More

21 Sep 2009

Why Final Fantasy doesn’t matter to Kingdom...

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

We suppose our regular readers, weaned on the violent acts of Marcus Fenix and Solid Snake, deserve an explanation. Why has GamesRadar devoted five whole days to anthropomorphic rodents and smile time gags on the week Halo 3: ODST hits shelves? It’s partially due to poor scheduling (not necessarily on our part!) and a lifetime of love for The House of Mouse. ... » Read More

21 Sep 2009

The Top 7... Kickass Disney games

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

The Week of Disney: You’re soaking in it! Go ahead and pretend these characters mean nothing to you. Once you’re done lying to yourself, pretending you don’t have no connection with the likes of Mickey, Donald and Goofy, let’s marvel at just how astounding it is that almost every person in the world born in the last century shares some familiarity with these characters of unrivaled legacy. ... » Read More

17 Aug 2009

The Top 7... games that need prequels

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Every time a game is successful, critically or commercially, folks start speculating about sequels. Will there be a sequel? How many sequels? When will we see the sequel? What will happen in the sequel? Who shows up in the sequel? Sequel? ... » Read More

3 Jul 2009

If video game characters were Pokemon

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Ever wondered what it would be like to have video game characters in your Pokemon party? Why choose boring old Bulbasaur when you can choose a beautiful Kasumi? Or a level 50 Sackboy? We've given 21 game characters the Pokemon treatment, with four moves to choose from and some evolutionary states too. Who would you choose? ... » Read More

15 Oct 2008

RPG Emo-Off

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

You know the type: spiky hair, sad eyes, too many belt buckles in his ensemble to count. You might meet one or two of these guys in fighting games, or starring in a Prince of Persia sequel; more often than not, you’ll see them wangsting their hearts out in a sprawling Japanese RPG epic. ... » Read More

16 Jun 2008

The Top 7... Worst Parts of Best Games

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Nothing's perfect. Stare closely enough at anything - even a masterpiece - and you're bound to find flaws sooner or later. They might be small. They might be insignificant. They might not detract from the overall quality of the piece at all... Except when they really, really do. With these seven games, in fact, you don't need to stare. Their flaws are so huge, so obvious, so frustrating and so effing obnoxious that you can't help but ... » Read More

6 Dec 2007

Game music worth putting on your iPod

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

Dec 6, 2007 With Super Mario Galaxy being critically acclaimed not only for its timeless platforming gameplay but also for its brilliant musical score, we got to thinking about other games that had great music. In fact, music so good it's worthy of listening to in its own right, outside of the context of a game. Now, we must stress that musical opinion is different for every single person, so you may disagree entirely with the examples we've got here. But, with the variety we've got on offer, ... » Read More

22 Mar 2007

The games that shaped a generation: PS2

PS2 Feature | Kingdom Hearts

25. Kingdom Hearts Squaresoft | Squaresoft | 2002 A third-person action game with light RPG elements added - and which happened to merge the Disney and Square universes in an utterly captivating way What made it so great? Kingdom Hearts is what happens when you give classic, universally loved characters to the best RPG storytellers in the business and ask them, "could you maybe fancy this up and make one of those video games with 'em?" It sounded ludicrous at first - Donald Duck as a wizard, ... » Read More

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