Noob's Review: Kingdom Hearts Unchained X

 

Author's Note: Please skip the first two paragraphs if you have no interest in my personal life. I am saving you some trouble.

Hello. Yesterday, I went to a job fair and completed an online test for a very interesting job vacancy. It has something to do with investigation and justice and all, and being a kid who watches too much crime dramas, I put my hope high in this opportunity. The first thing on my mind when I heard about the vacancy was, "Wow, I could sport a Ziva David with this job!" and if you have no idea who Ziva is, please Google her because she is a badass.

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed with how I was doing on the test. The result will be out on the 29th but I kind of evaluated my own performance and feel quite pessimistic because I could do so much better! There were two different tests and I kind of messed up the first one, which I guess was fatal because the second one was more of a psychological assessment. That brought my mood down —not to mention that I am now down with a terrible cold— but you know the best thing to do after a bad day? Gaming! 

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present you the second installment of Noob's Review.

I am going to talk about one of my favorite games of all time: Kingdom Hearts. I am extremely hyped with the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 and the trailer is already super lit but today, I want to talk about the mobile version of the game called Kingdom Hearts Unchained X. While the game might be unavailable for download in several countries, I fortunately had the access to try it and, boy, I fell in love with the game almost instantly.

My avatar used to look like this.

So, unlike the PS version, we can create our own avatar, dress them up and play as our own character. While it might be slightly disappointing that we cannot play as the classic playable characters from the other versions of the game, this is definitely something new and it honestly does not make the game less interesting. Another thing is that you can join a party, which makes battles easier because you can choose any player to assist you during a mission —especially in a Raid Boss battle.

There are four different modes (a.k.a quest types) you can choose. You can play the Story mode, which is basically the main part of the game, to complete every quest and unlock the storyline. The downside of this mode is that sometimes the quest feels a bit repetitive. In this game, the battle is structured and we take turn to attack. In each turn, we can attack the enemy for like four to six times depending on the medals we equip on our keyblade but I will save that for later! In short, it is not as dynamic as the PS version so I guess at some point, yes, the battle is pretty boring, but that does not mean that I hate it.

In the Special mode, you can do different kinds of missions every day with a lot of prizes you can use in order to upgrade your keyblade or level up your medals. Similarly, the Event mode offers pretty much the same thing but it is occasional and sometimes you can get special medals or there might be a themed quest you can complete. There is also the Coliseum in which you can do like mock battle to practice your skills and collect coins to be redeemed on the Coliseum Board, where you can get special outfits or bonus medals and all. This mode can only be unlocked once you complete 130 missions in Story mode, as I recall.

My favorite keyblade so far.

You might be wondering why I keep mentioning about the medals. These medals are the thing you equip on your keyblade which come in so many different kind of characters and skills, but in general there are three types of medals: Speed, Power and Magic. Oh, and you will receive more keyblades as the story progresses. For example, that keyblade above is called Olympia and it can be unlocked once you complete the missions in Hercules' universe.

Anyway, my favorite medal so far is this six-stars Power medal of Black Coat King Mickey:

King Mickey has a powerful special attack that targets all enemies at once. The only downside is: it requires 3 gauges (which is considered a lot!)

Note that the medal above has Poison skill? Skills do not come in one package with your medal, but you can fuse a Skill medal with any of your medals to get one. The Skill medals are usually available in Coliseum or Event boards. You can add some points to your Strength and Defense by fusing your medal with a Chip (Strength) or Dale (Defense) medal. That is how I got those plus points. On the other hand, Special Attack is a given skill that comes with your medal by default, and the only way to level it up is by fusing two or more identical medals with the same star level.

What else should I talk about? Oh, yes. The game takes place in several different universes, from Daybreak Town to Wonderland to Agrabah. So far, I have completed 325 missions and I am currently in the Underworld looking for Cloud Strife (Oops, spoiler!) where you can meet Hades and fight the multi-headed Cerberus.

I feel you, Hades.

So, do I love this game? Absolutely. (I am a trash for anything Square Enix)

What do you like most from the game? The medals! It is actually fun to collect different medals and power them up.

Do I like the mobile version better? Not really. I was hoping for 'real actions' instead of taking turn to attack with enemies —which actually reminds me of Persona/Shin Megami Tensei series.

Am I going to keep playing? Of course. This is the kind of game that has to (and will forever) be on my gadget. Better finish what you start, son.

Anyway, please note that I am not a pro and I do not even consider myself a gamer, so whatever I have said in this review might or might not be relatable to other players. One thing though: even if you are new to Kingdom Hearts, I am pretty sure that you will enjoy this game.