Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

"The Keyblade Warriors Return Once Again" 

 

 


Developer: Square- Enix
Publisher: Square-Enix
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Genre: Action role-playing game

 

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance marks the seventh installment in the Kingdom Hearts series and marks the return of Sora and Riku. Both will travel to seven playable worlds that are trapped in sleep to become Keyblade masters. These new worlds cannot be reached by the Heartless or the Nobodies but these worlds are inhabitant by the Dream Eaters. Two kinds of Dream Eaters exist: The Nightmares, which consume dreams, are your opponents and the Sprits, which consume Nightmares, can tamable allies.

 

 

The demo starts you in Traverse Town as Sora wondering how he ended up there. With his signature shoes and deeper voice Sora yells for Riku only to have someone else answer. Surprised Sora meets an unlikely person who is apparently apart of a game that marks its players with a time-limit. This unknown person, Neku Sakuraba, is looking for his game partner and Sora offers to assist. Initially the player rejects his offer conveying that his not a player and thereby useless, while Sora insist on helping new friend. He accepts Sora’s help and rushes away.

 

The demo allows players to use both familiar and new techniques to eliminate dream eaters. Fast-pace action has been the core of the Kingdom Hearts and Dream Drop Distance is no exception. Players will be able to use a new ability called Flowmotion which allows players to perform acrobatic stunts such as wall-jumps, grinding rails, and swinging on poles and combine them with flashy moves. Another added ability is known as Link, where Sora is able to combine with a specific Sprit when the purple bar beneath the health gauge of the creature is full and perform a special attack. Two attacks shown in the demo was a musical attack with a purple cat that involves you pushing commands and Sora riding a blue bear to perform a shockwave attack.

 

 

The demo is very short and can be completed in less than 10 minutes. It allows you to tackle two areas of Transverse town and ends with a boss fight against a giant monkey Dream Eater called a Hockomonkey. You will still attack enemies with your Keyblade and use an array of magical attacks and techniques. The controls are easy to use and the camera and lock-on are controlled via the L and R buttons. You’ll able to play around with the Flowmotion mechanics and the link abilities throughout the actual environment to understand what to expect. Also included is a well-rounded tutorial system. 

Overall Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance looks and plays like Kingdom Hearts. The controls were easy to use and even the new additions had the same high-pace combat that is expected with good use of the 3D. It’s unfortunate that there was no option to control Riku but it was fun for ten minutes. 

 

 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed (@Twitter)