Warning ahead of time my review contains major spoilers. If you do not want to spoil the story skip the first paragraph. Sorry for the long review, but there is so much to say about KH3D.
Story: 10/10 One of the biggest parts of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is its well-developed story and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance does not disappointed. The plot of the game is basically that Sora and Riku have to take the Mark of Mastery exam. Their task is to seal the seven keyholes within the seven worlds. Shortly after they start their journey a man in a black coat appears and their test becomes a mission for both Sora and Riku. The best part about KH3D was how the story made me want more. Although confusing at first, the story realigns itself in the end. Not only is KH3D a follow up from KH2, it makes you question how Sora will become a true keyblade master. Let’s not forget all of the memorable Disney characters. From Quasimodo to several forms of Mickey Mouse the game contains a good amount of Disney characters. There are only seven worlds in KH3D, but each has two different stories that truly show the best of each character.
Gameplay (World environments, Attacks, Abilities, Dream Eaters, etc.): 9/10 Gameplay is the most important part of a video game obviously. KH3D lives up to the Kingdom Hearts name gameplay wise. Not only does the game contain about 50 hours of gameplay, there are several difficulties which the hardest one is unlocked once you beat the game. One reason the game takes so long is because of the world’s environments. KH3D probably contains some of the largest worlds in the whole series. These large environments are full of detail and are big mostly to use the newest feature in the game, flow motion. Combat has extremely evolved in KH3D with the add in of flow motion. In flow motion, you can bounce off walls and fly off into the air. You can also use the A button during a specific flow motion technique to do a special attack like shockwave or buzz saw. Flow motion is not only a simple cool add in to move around the expansive worlds faster, but a way of representing the fact that they are in a dream.
Dream Eaters are the newest addition of enemies in the Kingdom Hearts series, but they are also the newest allies. You can pet, feed, or play with your dream eaters and if you collect enough link points you can unlock abilities and commands on the ability link. Stat boosting ability’s like thunder boost or hp boost are only in effect when the dream eater is in your party, but support abilities like second chance stay with you regardless of the dream eaters in your party. Not only can you nurture your dream eaters, but you can also participate in Flick Rush where there are 3 on 3 Dream eater battles. Nightmare dream eaters look different than the benevolent ones. They all have dark looks. Also in harder modes nightmares become smarter and tend to attack Sora and Riku more strategically. With benevolent spirits ones they have a full link gauge you can team up with them. Sora usually rides them or uses them to hit or consume enemies. Riku does not ride them, but instead absorbs them into his keyblade temporally for a different way to pull of combos.
KH3D uses the command deck system from Birth By Sleep. You do not get commands by melding though. Instead you buy them from shops or unlock them on the ability link. Most commands are old, but there are some new commands like sparkga and balloonga.
The biggest feature in KH3D is the drop system. When Sora drops after the drop gauge is depleted you play as Riku and vice versa. This allows the player to play through two different stories without quitting the game and switching characters like in Birth By Sleep. When Sora or Riku drop the player can use drop points that they have collected throughout that session to power up or give a command to the character coming up. Both characters also share dream eaters and support abilities.
Graphics: 10/10 The graphics in KH3D are the best in the whole handheld area of KH games. When you look up close at Sora and Riku there is no pixilation whatsoever. Not only that, but the keyblade are no longer as thin as paper like in BBS. The worlds look crisp also. The detail in the characters is amazing. Up close you can see Sora move. His key chain on his neck also moves which makes him feel more realistic. When he is gliding his hood is flapping around which again makes the game more life like.
Overall: 9.8/10 Although I am a big Kingdom Hearts fan I still question how well this game would be do to KH games on DS’s being not very good. When I played KH3D it blew me away. The story, graphics, gameplay it was unbelievable. Not only did it become my favorite 3DS games, but one of my overall favorite games. One thing that frustrated me about Kh3D was the fact that you could not keep all the abilities. Of course I still loved it regardless of that. KH3D was one of the best gaming experiences Ive ever had in the last couple of years and I feel that the KH series will do even better in the years to come.