A Peek Into Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance | Preview

Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance for the Nintendo 3DS has gained some major hype since its announcement. You play as Riku and Sora, the well known characters of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Familiar faces such as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are, of course, present.

Other faces in the Disney world appear too, such as Quasimodo from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” alongside characters from the franchise itself, such as Axel. Are you a huge fan of “Tron: Legacy”? Yes? Good! There is a portion of the game that allows you to experience what it would be like to play in the world of “Tron,” just in case you didn’t get enough of it before in Kingdom Hearts 2.

The game-play is phenomenal, to say the least. If you are not a fan of turn-based RPGs from the days of yore with other Square Enix games like Final Fantasy, then Kingdom Hearts is the one for you. There is just something about running up to a creature and hacking and slashing with your keyblade that causes a feeling of warmness in the heart and peace in the mind. But it isn’t just about hacking and slashing. Each character has different move sets and specials that can get you out of some pretty tight spots. Some may be specific to the area; some may be carried with you throughout the game.

If you are an avid Kingdom Hearts player, then this all seems too familiar to you. Not much has changed from the previous games of non turn-based fighting, encountering and defeating Disney villains to progress, and the dynamic relationships Riku and Sora experience. But Kingdom Hearts 3D brings to the table a very subtle, yet fascinating addition.

What is most interesting about this game is the cameo that is set to appear in a later part. Riku and Sora run into a face that is not too well-known, but still comes from a very fascinating and underrated world. They run into a boy named Neku, who is the main character in the game The World Ends With You. It is no surprise why Neku from The World Ends With You makes a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3D. Both games (as well as the other Kingdom Hearts games) were created by the same team. The thoughts and ideas of this team are placed within these games, so it only made sense to combine them in some way.

If you do not know the basic story of The World Ends With You, here it is without revealing too much: Neku must have a partner to destroy monsters within a week or something bad happens. He must do so by the use of pins and fashion in Shibuya, Japan.

In the case of Kingdom Hearts 3D, the story of Neku pokes its little head in because Neku needs a partner in order to survive a puzzle and low and behold, guess who shows up? That’s right! Neku asks someone from the game to be his partner. But who does he choose to be his partner? Well, you will just have to play the game to find out.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is set to be released in the United States July 31, 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS.