Ranking The Games & Movies Of Kingdom Hearts: All-in-One Package Worst To Best

A controversial pick perhaps, but when you line them all up in a modern context, the fact is Kingdom Hearts III is the best of the Kingdom Hearts games.

It may overcompensate in taking down the series’ grueling difficulty by making the game too easy. The lack of a proper Olympus Coliseum and 100 Acre Woods level is disappointing. Of course, its efforts to conclude nearly 20 years of convoluted storytelling are often clumsy at best.

But when Kingdom Hearts III works, it just plain works.

Kingdom Hearts II built on the lessons of the first game, the handheld games built on the lessons of each previous handheld game, Kingdom Hearts III builds on the lessons of every previous game making the ultimate Kingdom Hearts game and then some. It’s a cornucopia of gameplay elements brought together that shouldn’t work but damn do they ever.

Running on the basic combat from the mainline games, but adding in elements from the handheld games like Shotlock, Flowmotion, and dropping, Kingdom Hearts III learns from every element of the past. On top of that it adds new elements like Prince of Persia style wall running, and Disneyland based Attraction Commands making it the overstuffed and overwhelming Kingdom Hearts game we always needed.

Beyond the combat, the game also pulls no punches in its environments. Not just pulling from pure Disney, it now takes from Pixar movies too. Gamers the world over shouted “finally!” when we were able to visit a Toy Story world. Not to mention these are the most gorgeously detailed and massively scaled worlds in any Kingdom Hearts game.

With environments ripped from movies with pinpoint accuracy and a script with twists and character pulls that practically require footnotes, it’s a game purely for the fans. But if you are a fan, if you’ve been through it all, if you’re someone who’s followed this adventure for years or someone brand new going through all these for the first time, it’s one hell of a trip.