When I was a kid, I amassed a decent collection of Disney toys. But as I entered preadolescence, I craved more mature toys faster than my birthdays could supply them. Consequently, I wound up incorporating my one or two G.I. Joe or Thundercats action figures into the worlds of my Disney characters, which led to some pretty weird scenarios. Kingdom Hearts is the video-game version of that.
The magic of the series comes from how easily it blends completely different worlds and art styles. You'll have your spiky-haired, anime-inspired avatar fighting alongside a realistic representation of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and a completely cartoon Donald Duck, but it never feels all that odd.
This sequel clears up the original's nagging control problems and adds levels inspired by Tron and even Steamboat Willy. If the first one was too cutesy for you, you'll never survive the mini-games of the Hundred Acre Woods. But if you keep a nostalgic torch burning in your heart for Walt's empire, this 40-hour-plus action RPG will be just as entertaining as going through all the oversized plastic cases in your Disney video collection.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K6 by 2K Sports (3.5 stars)
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Xbox.
Rated: E.
With so many exclusive licenses being won, there's ironically less competition in sports games than any other video-game genre. EA got the NFL, and 2K got MLB. But EA also got ESPN, which has stripped 2K's ball game of its flair. It's still a good baseball sim—just not as good as last year's offering.
BEATMANIA by KONAMI (2.5 stars)
Platform: PlayStation 2.
Rated: E10+.
Before DDR, there was Beatmania, and the DJ rhythm game is only now making its way stateside. But a rhythm game is only as good as its song selection, and this one suffers a huge deficit in licensed material. You'll be thankful when you hear the song "Toxic," just because it's familiar, and I can't forgive a game that makes me grateful for Britney Spears.
SPLINTER CELL ESSENTIALS by UBISOFT (2.5 stars)
Platform: PlayStation Portable.
Rated: M.
If only the PSP had two more buttons and the world had no sun, this game would be awesome. With a few classic levels and some cool new missions, this could be Sam Fisher's Greatest Hits, but the PSP screen's notoriously bad glare makes many of the darker levels unplayable. And it's hard to feel like a badass spy when camera control and weapons are mapped to the same buttons, so you can't look and fight at the same time.
Matthew Scott Hunter has been known to mumble, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" in his sleep. E-mail him at
[email protected].