kingdom hearts

so i picked up this new ps2 game last week called kingdom hearts. it's a RPG fusion of Square Enix's Final Fantasy characters and almost every single character from all of Disney's films. you play the character, Sora, a 14 year old boy who is trapped on an island with a handful of other children and you get sent on a journey to figure out the purpose of your life. the game itself is very similar to the final fantasy games, but without so much detail. it is a RPG, so you do have the ability to level your character up and chose how to upgrade him (fighting, magic, etc), but it's not a turn based rpg, it's real-time. soon after being knocked off your island during a massive storm, you end up in Traverse Town trying to make heads or tails of where you are and why you are there. the storyline (and this is really cool) follows, in conjunction with your own, another set of characters that are out to save their own kingdom from the evil that has corrupted it (consequently, the same evil that you soon find out plays a role in your life as well). this other party is comprised of Donald Duck and Goofy, who are under orders from their king, Mickey Mouse, to find the key to saving their kingdom. And your character, Sora, possesses that key. So, Sora teams up with Donald and Goofy and the battles begin. I've spent almost 6 hours playing this game and i've just brushed the surface of it. You interact with characters from the FF series and the Disney series, so when you leave Traverse Town, to head out on your first mission, you are sent to Wonderland, where you meet Alice, the Queen, the Cheshire Cat and the rabbit (who will be eternally late for his life). You are tasked with finding Alice when she is kidnapped. there are a multitude of side quests like finding the 101 dalmation puppies (which are recovered over the span of the entire game) when their parents task you with locating them. the graphics are a bit cartoony, understandably, but still quite well done. the battle system, again being real-time, is responsive and fun. as your character levels up, you learn new fighting abilities and have new magic and weapons to fight with. because a game like this is so entrenched with side quests and hidden treats, i printed out a help guide, which equalled 147 pages, so this will, no doubt, be a long game. i look forward to it.