PAX East 2012: Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Preview

When you ask a Kingdom Hearts (KH) fan what’s so great about the series, you’re entering a twenty-to-thirty minute conversation that you probably never wanted to be a part of. When you ask a Kingdom Hearts fan why Kingdom Hearts hasn’t hit this generation of consoles yet, or the even more abusive one: why there hasn’t been a Kingdom Hearts 3, you’ll end up in an awkward one-to-two minute conversation where they’ll either say, “Well Nomura is really busy. You see, he is the project lead and…” or they’ll say, “There are these handheld games, right…” both trailing off in a short and inconclusive manner that will have you telling them they are doing fan-boyism/fan-girlism wrong.Fact of the matter is, there hasn’t been a Kingdom Hearts 3 for PS3 or 360 or Wii or anything. This fact, while sad, should not overshadow  some great handheld experiences of the DS and PSP era. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (KH3D), the first KH to take a step into this new 3DS/Vita generation of handhelds, is shaping up to be even better than those predecessors.

The handheld games in the KH series have always been a place for experimentation by the developers. They can try things on these shorter, more to-the-point games so that the next staple in the series can incorporate the better of these new features (if it ever comes out). Things such as deck commands from Birth By Sleep, and now free-flows and Dream Eaters in KH3D are just a few examples of these “test features”.

If you’ve played Birth By Sleep for the PSP, you’ll feel right at home with KH3D. Without the circle-pad pro, the button set-up is identical. Target and lock-on with the L/R buttons, move with the circle pad, and perform your actions with the face buttons. You also have a list of set deck commands that you’ll be able to change around and cycle through instead of having an MP gauge or special commands. Again, just like Birth by Sleep.

Before I go any further, keep in mind I played a Japanese build on a debug 3DS, so I didn’t exactly know everything that was happening on screen.

Now into the good stuff, the new stuff. I was playing Sora as he went through the Tron Legacy world. If you know anything about KH3D, you know that you play both Sora and Riku in a single campaign, but since I got a very short and to-the-point demo, I only got to play as one. The game was definitely gorgeous, and even though I couldn’t play it in 3D (again, a bit of a limited demo because of varying factors), I was very pleased with what I could see. Better textures, more unique environments; the things that the handheld KH games have needed.I mentioned before they’ve added something called “free-flows”. Now when you’re moving around, you’ll notice things feel the same, or at least similar. You’re still attacking, jumping, jumping and attacking, et cetera, but free-flows allow you to mix things up mid-combo. When moving, you can hit the Y button to roll, and if you roll into a wall, or certain objects, your character, be it Sora or Riku, will light up and start bouncing around off walls, objects, and even enemies. Out of this “free-flow state” you can attack a few times and end with a massive and explosive attack. The best part is you can do this any time, meaning you can free-flow out of a tight spot and do some serious damage. I only got to play Sora in my demo, but I was told that free-flows would be vastly different between Sora and Riku, as would almost all of the new mechanics.

The other big addition for this handheld game are the Dream Eaters. You are without your companions Donald and Goofy this time around, so instead you have these buddies called Dream Eaters, which you can have three with you at any time, and two out on the field at any time. As they move around and help you fight enemies, their gauges on the bottom screen will fill up, and once they’re full, you can tap their picture down below to grab them and do a powerful combination attack. If both your DE’s gauges are full, you can grab both and do an even more powerful attack. All the attacks did plenty of damage, but were pretty basic. I suppose depending on how many different DE’s there are will affect how useful and interesting their mechanic is in the game.

The last bit of new mechanics I got to see was a special attack that will activate randomly in combat. An arrow will appear on the bottom screen, and when you hit it, you’ll go into a quick touch-screen minigame. In the case of the Tron Legacy world, as its unique to the world, not the character, I had to hit three red words in a code that was flashing below. Afterward, I had the option to explode out of the ground and destroy enemies with laser beams. Who doesn’t love laser beams.

As a fan of the series, and as one who is on the more patient side of waiting for a third official Kingdom Hearts game, I walked away very pleased with this demo. I haven’t mentioned the story in this preview because I assume you KH fans out there already know and fully understand it. Maybe you’ve even read the Japanese synopsis on it. In case you aren’t a fan, if I tried to describe the idea of going into the dreaming world in order to complete the “Mark of Mastery” exam so Sora and Riku can both become Keyblade Masters… Wait, I lost you? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

If you love Kingdom Hearts’ crazy convoluted story, and the team’s tendency to add new combat mechanics that will usually never see the light of day in any other game in the series, I think you will get what you want out of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.

Stay tuned for my review and more info when the game drops in North America July 31st, and in Europe August 3rd.