This Year in RPGs: July

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (released 7/31/2012)

Without a doubt June belonged to the newest entry of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Dream Drop Distance, now available on 3DS. The Kingdom Hearts franchise started on the PS2 in 2002. At the time it was released people were wary of whether or not it would succeed. After all, the mashing together of Final Fantasy characters with Disney characters seemed too generous a helping of fan-service to have any lasting success. Well, here we are ten years later and Kingdom Hearts is now one of the most well-loved ARPGs, critically acclaimed by gamers and critics alike.

Kingdom Hearts (usually) tells the story of Sora, (the PSP entry Birth By Sleep was a prequel which featured different protagonists) a young boy from the Destiny Islands and his friends, Kairi and Riku. In the world of Kingdom Hearts, Mickey Mouse is king. Literally. The first entry had Sora pairing up with Donald and Goofy, who picked up the roles of wizard and knight, respectively. The player traverses to a number of Disney worlds (and some original works, too) where they can close the keyhole with the keyblade that only Sora can wield.

The plot gets a whole heck of a lot more convoluted there, but suffice it to say that at its heart it's still a moving story about friendship, capable of being emotionally engaging and completely nonsensical at the same time.

There have been several titles released on handhelds since the first title, including Chain of Memories, Birth By Sleep, and 358/2 Days, but the series hasn't seen a console follow-up since 2005's Kingdom Hearts II. Which means fans have been asking for a release this entire console generation. Series creator and director Tetsuya Nomura has said that his team is too busy with Final Fantasy vs XIII to work on a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, but he has confirmed that Dream Drop Distance would be the last handheld Kingdom Hearts before the next console release.

Dream Drop Distance is only available on the 3DS. If you have one of those you should probably pick this up. It is, by all accounts, every bit worthy of the Kingdom Hearts mantle.