These days, games are treated as much more than just fun little diversions that keep us from going completely insane. Video games are now "entertainment properties" that are levied about in much the same way as movies, pop singers and television shows, and this type of marketing can lead to some bizarre and unexpected outcomes. Such is the case with Kingdom Hearts, a syrupy-sweet merger of the Walt Disney and Final Fantasy franchises that could only come from a land as fickle as Japan. Equal parts RPG and action platformer, Kingdom Hearts marks Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuyo Nomura's debut as lead producer. Though these two disparate worlds have come together better than anyone could have expected, there are several critical flaws in the fundamental design of the game that prevent it from being as much fun as it should be. Should this stop you from playing it? Let's find out.

Games produced by Squaresoft are renowned for their top-notch presentation, and Kingdom Hearts does not disappoint in this regard. Much of the game unfolds through real-time cutscenes, most of which feature excellent acting from the authentic Disney voice actors. That means you get the real voices of Donald, Goofy, Mickey and every other character you can name. I mean, they've even got James Woods as Hades, so you know this game is quality. Dan Castellaneta pitches in for Robin Williams as the voice of The Genie, and the previously-mute Final Fantasy crew all sound quite convincing (except for the John DiMaggio-less Wakka). Haley Joel Osment gives a pretty good performance as Sora, one of three new Nomura-designed Disney characters created specifically for the game. Along with Riku and Kairi, Sora sets out on an epic quest across what seems like the entire spectrum of Disney characters, and you'll meet close to 100 of them before the game is over. Both ends of the respective universes hold up surprisingly well in this game, so those worried about a bastardized vision of either one shouldn't worry too much.

For the first time in history, characters from different Final Fantasies have gathered in the same game in a sort of All-Star capacity. The likes of Squall, Yuffie, Aeris, Cloud and even Cid (FFVII) make an appearance during the game, and they adopt the animated Disney style very well (Selphie looks too cute to even mention). Some are allies, some are enemies, and some are optional super bosses for intrepid players to find, but all of them look fantastic and it's great to see some of my favorite characters back in action. I didn't think it would work, but goddamn it, it does. Music is surprisingly bland for such a big-budget Square game though, especially the lackluster J-poppy theme song ("Simple and Clean"). Many favorite Disney themes appear in the game, and while some of these songs work well as background music (such as Halloween Town), others simply serve to drive players bonkers ("Under the Sea", for instance). There is some decent variety here, but overall Kingdom Hearts is not a musical showpiece like its bigger Square brothers.

Kingdom Hearts follows many of the conventions for which Square games are famous. This light-hearted game tells the tale of a young boy named Sora who finds himself separated from his friends Riku and Kairi at the hands of The Heartless. These fiendish chaps, as the title suggests, are devoid of anything resembling pure and good, and are embroiled in a nefarious plot to steal the hearts of all the people in the Disney universe. It appears that at an all-star cast of Disney villains, including Maleficent, Hades and Captain Hook, is pulling the strings. Sora quickly meets up with Donald and Goofy, who are sent out by King Mickey to find the bearer of the Keyblade and save the universe. As you might have guessed by now, that big sword Sora carries around is the Keyblade, and like many Square heroes is the "chosen one", so to speak. Sora, Donald and Goofy will travel to many different worlds on their adventure, from Wonderland and Atlantica all the way to the Deep Jungle and Neverland. Some are clearly more polished than others: the level design and atmosphere in Halloween Town is exceptional, while the underwater Atlantica feels claustrophobic and monotonous. There's a lot to see and do in Kingdom Hearts, and odds are you'll enjoy at least some portion of the game.

Visually, Kingdom Hearts shows some notable improvements over its predecessor Final Fantasy X, but it curiously shares many of the same problems as well. The most immediate concern is how well the Disney cast would translate to three dimensions, but Square has done a remarkable job in recreating cel-animated characters in full 3D without the use of cel-shading. Each character is shaded and textured extremely well, and features outstanding facial modeling and animation. You'd swear that Disney themselves were responsible for animating some of these characters, as their gestures and facial expressions are dead-on recreations of what you've seen in the movies. The environments are well-constructed and fun to explore, though they don't look quite as good as the characters do at times. There's a handy first-person view mode (finally!), so you can check out the characters and environments from any angle. Textures tend to smear when you get too close to them and there is some shimmer here and there, but overall the game is technically competent and captures the cartoon style of many different sources quite well. Like many PlayStation2 titles, Kingdom Hearts is decorated with incredibly attractive particle effects from the likes of magic spells and weapon strikes, and defeated enemies explode into a cornucopia of shiny "munny" and treasure chests. Neat. Throw in an extremely attractive interface on top of everything and you've got yourself a very visually pleasing game.

Of course, the title also reveals Square's continued deficiencies in programming on the PlayStation2. Just like Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts lacks any type of anti-aliasing, causing the game to look like a jagged, pixely mess much of the time (Jack Skellington's pin-stripe suit is an eyesore). The game uses a slick filter during the underwater Atlantica world that smooths everything out quite nicely, so why this technique couldn't be used for the remainder of the game is quite the mystery. Also like Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts switches between high- and low-detail models quite frequently during the course of the game. While the high-detail models are absolutely exquisite and feature some truly impressive facial animation, the low-detail models are disappointing by comparison, with flat facial animation and lower resolution texturing. I'm sure most players won't even notice these flaws (especially younger players), but they are still readily obvious to graphics professionals like myself. C'mon Square, get on the trolley.

While the presentation and story certainly carry Kingdom Hearts, the fundamental design of the game comes across as unfortunately flawed and shockingly unpolished. Kingdom Hearts is an action RPG at heart, and shares more similarities with games like Secret of Mana than it does with any Final Fantasy. The crux of the gameplay is fighting The Heartless, who pop up just about everywhere to fight you. Battles occur in real-time right on the regular map screen, and you'll take control of Sora as he jumps, rolls, hacks and slashes his way through hordes of Heartless foes. Your other two party members (usually Donald and Goofy) are controlled by the CPU, though you can modify their battle personalities to a limited extent. A nifty lock-on feature lets you focus on one enemy at a time and keeps things organized, though this tends to do some wonky things to the camera. Battle actions are handled through an on-screen menu that is managed by the directional pad, while movement is handled with the analog thumbstick. This keeps the action fast and furious and prevents players from being bombarded with too many menu options. This streamlined approach does have a downside, as I'll discuss later.

While this setup has a lot of potential to work, Square simply hasn't put enough play testing into this game to recognize its rather glaring faults. Camera angles are more critical to an action RPG than to a traditional turn-based one, and Kingdom Hearts rivals Super Mario Sunshine in its utter disregard for functionality and usability. Instead of mapping camera control to the right analog stick, Square has opted to use R2 and L2 to pan the camera slowly in either direction. What's worse is that there is no zoom function on the camera; the game forces you to play from a very close-in perspective, essentially dooming the player to virtual tunnel vision. Battles quickly become frustrating when the camera refuses to show you the best angle of the action, and platform jumping will quickly become a nightmare for all but the most tolerant game players. The real-time handling of magic spells and items also fails to work in critical situations, as many times you'll find yourself fumbling for a magic spell or potion only to be killed by a stray projectile. This is not fun, and I'm absolutely shocked that Square would release a game with this type of mass market appeal in such an unplayable state. I expect much better from this company.

While deaths in normal battles allow you to continue your game at the beginning of said battle, boss battles require you to watch whatever lengthy cutscenes preceded it. When you have to watch the same unskippable cutscene over and over again due to a difficult boss encounter, you'll wonder why you're even bothering to press on. And this will happen, as Kingdom Hearts is an unusually difficult game considering Square's legacy of cakewalk RPGs. Most boss battles employ some sort of gimmick, and many boil down to button mashing and sheer luck rather than preparation and knowledge of battle conditions. I've never been tempted to use GameShark codes on a first playthrough of any game before, but Kingdom Hearts is seriously testing that resolve. The games' deficiencies are all the more puzzling in light of the Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana) games, which offer the perfect balance of turn-based magic and item usage while still allowing a high degree of real-time battle freedom. Why Square didn't simply replicate that successful game design formula in Kingdom Hearts is quite the mystery. Many players will find themselves pressing on simply to see who or what comes next, and if not for the expertly-designed and incredibly cool Halloween Town level, I might have returned this sucker long ago.

Worse still is the inordinate amount of awful mini-games Kingdom Hearts forces you to sit through. In the same way that Capcom should be limited to no more than ten versions of any one game, Square should be forbidden from ever including mini-games in any of their titles ever again. From vine-swinging in the Deep Jungle to barrel-bashing in the Coliseum, Kingdom Hearts does its best to bog players down with frustrating, poorly-designed diversions intended to pad the length of an otherwise short adventure. But that's not the worst of it, oh no: each world is separated by an ugly, pitifully easy space shooter level that you absolutely cannot skip (the first time, anyway). Featuring poor PlayStation-era graphics, these levels find you piloting a Gummi Ship (could Square be any more insulting?) through corridors of brightly-colored blocks and Lego-style space ships. Like the main game, the camera perspective here is completely unusable, and you'll find yourself bashing into walls and missing what seem like easy targets through no fault of your own. This would be infuriating if these levels were actually difficult in any way, but they offer such little challenge that one wonders how they even made it into the game. While you can upgrade your Gummi ship into some sort of super vehicle (through a surprisingly robust editor), there's absolutely no incentive to bother doing so.

In the end, Kingdom Hearts at least proves that mega-franchises can come together to yield delightful hybrid worlds when treated with the proper amount of respect. Its presentation, story-telling and visual flair are all classic Square game magic, and most players who pick up this game will absolutely love what they've done with the Disney and Final Fantasy universes. These high points make the drawbacks stand out in sharp relief even more, as Kingdom Hearts is a painfully mediocre gameplay experience that suffers from shoddy camera work and cheap battle mechanics. Much like Super Mario Sunshine, the concept is sound but the execution is lacking. I still recommend checking it out, however, as it does offer some unique elements (chibi Final Fantasy characters, James Woods and the brilliantly-conceived Halloween Town stage) that delighted even me. Just be prepared for some teeth-gritting, joypad tossing and copious amounts of swearing at your beloved cartoon characters.