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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Kingdom Hearts III in Video Games

Jul 7, 2020

Kingdom Hearts III

2018 | Action, Role-Playing

8.0

(21 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

A Ton Of Fun

Kingdom Hearts III is an action/RPG developed and published by Square Enix. It was directed by Tetsuya Nomora and Tai Yasue, produced by Rie Nishi, written by Tetsuya Nomora and Masaru Oka with music composed by Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, and Tsuyoshi Sekito.

Set after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and a sequel to Kingdom Hearts II; it's a conclusion to the "Dark Seeker Saga" and finds Sora and friends trying to prevent a second Keyblade War. Their search for the seven guardians of light has them visit worlds and cross paths with many different Disney and Pixar characters. Sora, nearly taken over by Xehanort, discovers he has lost his strength as a result. He resumes his travels accompanied by Donald and Goofy, in order to regain his "power of waking'. Traversing the realm of darkness, King Mickey and Riku search for Aqua while Kairi and Lea train to with their new Keyblades.

This game is a lot of fun. I never got to play the other Kingdom Hearts games so this was my first introduction to the series. I really liked the gameplay although sometimes the enemies are nothing more than canon fodder. But it was awesome with interacting with all the Disney and Pixar characters and seeing some of their worlds. I was very confused with the story but it goes by pretty well and there are lots of videos and pages on the internet if you want to catch up or dont remember what's going on or who's who. I didn't include some of the gameplay that showed boss fights because I didn't want to give anything away but the boss fights are a lot of fun. I just had the game on normal so I haven't found it very hard but I dont know if that stays the same if you increase the difficulty. You do have the options of changing gear for your allies and having the group eat meals for buffs as well as upgrade your keyblades but I generally stay away from that unless I have difficulty on a stage or boss. One thing I really didn't like so much was the spaceship battles that you get when traveling from world to world, I found them a bit tedious and annoying. But I'm sure some people liked them. All in all I'd give this game a 7/10. Below is a link to a video showcasing gameplay that I posted to YouTube.

Kudos

Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Becoming Darkness in Books

Jan 23, 2020

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Never have I ever read a book in which Hitler won World War II and succeeded in taking over the world.

Until now. I admit I'm a little fond of this one because of the whole alternative history thing going on right there, but I'm a little disturbed here, Lindsay Francis Brambles. You're as bad as Agatha Christie and came very close to killing everyone. Although technically, you did kill most of the characters that I grew fond of. Not cool. I don't think I can ever forgive you for this transgression of Trigger Happy Book. (More like Explosion Happy Book.)

But in the very long run, I only liked Becoming Darkness for a few things.

Sadistic as it may be, I did like how Brambles made Hitler won the second world war and unleashed a virus that made a lot of people turn into vampires all of that is told within the first few pages. Although the origins of Gemorrah (le virus) is revealed throughout the story and integrated in the plot, I still don't understand how the creators came up with that name in the first place. Does it mean something in German, or is it something they thought sounded sinister and cool and decided to go with it? In my humble opinion, it does not sound cool or sinister. It sounds like a Mary Poppins word.

I also really liked how Brambles didn't go completely off course from history there are some references to the war, there might be another significant historical figure who makes a cameo appearance (under a different name, but don't quote me), etc. Basically, there's not much that's thrown in completely off kilter aside from maybe the virus I still feel fishy about that.

Sophie Harkness does not take BS when there are boys hitting on her in the stupidest, cheesiest ways. Namely: "We're meant for one another because you're a girl, I'm a guy, and we have the parts to create phenomenal offspring." Sorry for the disturbing image, but that was very much implied by the character. Unfortunately for her, she sort of believes in love at first sight when she first met Val back when she was fourteen.

Sophie is also not a judgmental character she's very open-minded and believes vampires aren't exactly sinister blood sucking creatures. Every other Immune, those who can't get Gemorrah, are so judgmental and narrow-minded, it just peeves me greatly. It IS understandable, though, considering the year Brambles sets the book in.

Unfortunately, I didn't really like the whole flashbacks. For awhile in the beginning, it's a little confusing and I had to backtrack to make sure it was a flashback and not actually set in the present day. There's a "sort-of" warning and then we're in flashback mode that feels like it's set in the present but is really Sophie telling a story. On the bright side, all those flashbacks (and the journal entries written by Sophie's mom) all play a relevant role in the overall plot.

I also didn't really like Valentine. Though I eventually warmed up to him over the course of the book, something about him was really disturbing. He's not an annoying "stalker type" of character, but it IS a little weird he still tried to keep his connections to Sophie's family from grandma to mom to Sophie in the hopes of falling in love again. But considering the fact he's doesn't throw out stupidly cheesy lines at Sophie, I like him a little.

Have I mentioned I'm sick and tired of seeing the name Valentine over and over again in literature? We just can't get any more original than St. Valentine, can we?

I would totally summarize Becoming Darkness in a few words if only I didn't end up giving major spoilers. But in a nutshell, the book quite literally tells me all of us should be downright grateful the Third Reich didn't succeed. It also told me I'm royally screwed if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but I think I've established that in sixth grade with the whole Ramen Noodle Stove catastrophe.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-becoming-darkness-by-lindsay-francis-brambles/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>