Kingdom Hearts II: Encyclopedia II - Kingdom Hearts II - New gameplay features

Kingdom Hearts II - New gameplay features

Gameplay has been said to be revamped from the last game; there are various new features offering the potential of more interesting play.

Kingdom Hearts II - Mickey's Help

In certain boss battles, if Sora is knocked out, a second option may be available, called "I won't give up!" It allows you to play as Mickey Mouse. Mickey is fast and his attacks are brutal, and he can shoot beams of magic from his Keyblade. However, you must revive Sora to finish off the boss; this is done by pressing the triangle button repeatedly to fill up his Drive bar. This can also be done by constantly attacking the opponent. After the bar is full, pressing the triangle button will bring Sora back to life. If you lose as Mickey, Sora will be automatically revived.

Kingdom Hearts II - Magic Abilities

Once again, Sora has control over magic, like in the previous two games. However, some magical aspects have changed in this game:

Fire - Sora creates a small ring of fire around himself. This ability can be upgraded to Fira and Firaga.

Blizzard - Sora unleashes a small blast of ice from the tip of his keyblade. This ability can be upgraded to Blizzara and Blizzaga.

Thunder - As in the previous games, Sora summons blasts of lighting from the sky to electrocute enemies. This ability can be upgraded to Thundara and Thundaga.

Cure - With this ability, Sora can heal himself or members of his party. This ability can be upgraded to Cura and Curaga.

Reflect - An ability new to the series, this ability is like the ability from the past games called Aero. This one is different in that it actually makes Sora invulnerable to attack for a short period of time. It can be upgraded to Reflecta and Reflectaga.

Magnet - Using this ability, Sora can draw all enemies towards him to unleash a flurry of attacks. This ability can be upgraded to Magneta and Magnetaga.

In Kingdom Hearts II, the two new abilities Magnet and Reflect replace Aero, Stop, and Gravity.

Kingdom Hearts II - Drive Forms

Sora can "fuse" with either Donald or Goofy to become more powerful and acquire different attributes as well. Three out of the five forms allow Sora to use two Keyblades instead of one, and the second keyblade may be equipped in the items menu for this purpose. There are five drive forms in all.

The first two forms have Sora merge with one of his permanent party members, Donald or Goofy. One is Brave Form, where Sora merges with Goofy, and dons red and black clothes. Although he cannot use magic in this form, Sora gains a massive boost to his physical ability. Sora wields two Keyblades which doubles his combo potential dramatically and also gives him additional attacks. Sora also runs twice as fast in this form. The other, Wisdom Form, is where Sora merges with Donald for this form, and he dons blue and black clothes. Sora gains a massive magic attack boost, and glides across the floor instead of running, giving him superior movement control. Wisdom Form replaces the attack command with shoot, which lets him shoot a blue magic bullet from the tip of the Keyblade in rapid fire if pressed continuously making Wisdom Form a long distance specialized form.

The other two forms have Sora combine with both Donald and Goofy to attain greater power than in the other two forms. Master Form is where Sora merges with both Donald and Goofy for this form, which combines the powers of the Brave and Wisdom forms. Sora's combo potential is increased, but his magic power is increased as well. Two Keyblades can be wielded, his clothes will turn yellow and black, and he is able be to fly as well as perform a double jump. The drawback to this form is that the drive meter will decrease quicker than the previous two drives. When in Final Form, Sora will merge with both party members and don white and black clothing. Wielding two Keyblades psychokinetically as well as the ability to glide, Sora wields incredible power in this form, dispatching enemies with ease and dealing increased physical and magical damage.

Anti Form is a bizarre form that is caused by receiving a certain amount of total accumulated damage during Drive. Sora turns completely black like a shadow, walks on all fours, and has yellow eyes, similar to a basic Heartless. While in this form, both partners disappear and Sora uses his "claws" for wide-range attacks that may be weak with individual attack, but they also have a very high maximum combo count. Unlike the other forms, when this form occurs it will cancel out Drive when entering a new area as opposed to staying in effect. Sora is also unable to use either items or magic, and both of the computer controlled partners will dissapear regardless of who Sora drives with.

Kingdom Hearts II - Different Command Menus

A new feature is that each world has their own command menu, which are sometimes animated. For instance, Olympus Coliseum's design shows the image of the top of the Coliseum, and Port Royal's design is to show a ship's steering wheel and the Pirates of the Caribbean logo. If the player desires, the command menu's design can be changed to the original Kingdom Hearts design in the options menu. There are two different Command Menus; a normal one, used to access magic, items and attack, and another used for attack, drive and party.

Kingdom Hearts II - Reaction Command

The reaction command, similar to the Resident Evil 4 real time reaction commands, is used during fights and can allow you to perform certain actions when timed correctly. For example, against "Dusk" nobodies, your character will slide behind the normally evasive opponents and set you up for a combo. Reaction commands can also trigger counter moves as well. For example, a nobody might shoot a red bullet at you, but with a well timed reaction command, Sora will kick the bullet back at it. Reaction commands are often pivotal in defeating bosses as well.

Kingdom Hearts II - Combination Attack

A gameplay addition gives Sora a special linked attack with any of the guest characters, and the effect varies depending on the character teaming up with Sora. In the Olympus Coliseum world, for example, Sora has the option to perform a linked attack with Auron when battling enemies. Later in the game Sora will also be able to perform team attacks with Donald and Goofy individually as well in similar fashion.

Kingdom Hearts II - Summons

Like the previous game, Sora can summon a particular character to aid him in battle when attaining each of their respective items. Summoning however, uses the drive meter, so Sora can't drive and summon at the same time. The character will replace the two computer-controlled characters and fight alongside Sora for as long as the drive meter holds out. Instead of the summoned character being limited to only one action, the summoned character now has a menu of his own to perform multiple actions, some solo actions and some cooperative actions with Sora. There are four summons.

• Chicken Little is the titular character of Chicken Little. Chicken when summoned, chucks baseballs at enemies when on his own. His attack with Sora, "FPS", is, as suggested, a First Person Shooter-like mode where Chicken can throw baseballs in rapid fire from a first person view.

• Genie is the blue genie in a lamp who helps the titular character of Aladdin. Genie attacks with a humorous recreation of Sora's keyblade, and has a command to mimick any one of Sora's drive forms. The drive form to mimick must be unlocked first. Depending on the form he is in, Genie will be able to perform an enormously damaging move.

• Stitch is the cute but destructive anti hero of Lilo & Stitch. When summoned, Stitch is somewhat unique. He will actually climb around the menu screens as well as the screen itself (as if he were on the surface of your screen), and do various things while shooting the enemies with his plasma gun somewhat nonchalantly. His team attack with Sora is a ukelele jam session where different buttons can be pressed to prompt different musical attacks for big damage.

• Peter Pan is the boy who never grows up and the titular character of Peter Pan. Peter comes with Tinker Bell, and flies around attacking much like he did in the first Kingdom Hearts when he was a temporary party member. Tinkerbell heals Sora constantly at the same time. His team attack with Sora is somewhat cinematic, as Sora will be reminded of his adventures in Neverland in the first game (with pictures floating across the screen) while Peter and Sora fly around hitting anything in their path.

Kingdom Hearts II - Maps

It is optional to have a map in the top-right corner of the screen. In addition, mini-maps can be found in each world. On these maps, a small Kingdom Keyblade indicates Sora's location.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "New gameplay features", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki