Mr. PSVR-2
Back in 2002, there was magic that was created. The blending of worlds from the creators of Final Fantasy, Square Enix, and Disney. At first, I mentioned those many years ago, and you could almost hear how things would not work out. But there were the die-hard fans that believed and that belief continued with its twisting story of timelines with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and with the Keyblades in hand, set out on an adventure that spanned many games to the most recent Kingdom Hearts III. But then there was something that was given to the PlayStation VR players out there, a free experience that, through some setbacks, was finally released to give us a special view of this special world. But does Square Enix bring the magic? Let’s find out with Kingdom Hearts VR Experience for the PlayStation VR.
Now, before I begin, I am not going to spoil this with a lot of video, as this is a free experience that anyone can download and sit back with. With that said, let’s continue.
You first start on the Gummi Ship, which in VR does give you a sense of the size of the Gummi Ship compared to just playing Kingdom Hearts, and, even though there is nothing to control in this experience, you can look around and see Donald and Goofy behind you talking, as this is the ending of a Fragmentary Passage. So if you have not played the previous Kingdom Hearts games, you should be ok as it’s not giving away spoilers, but in case you were wondering where in Kingdom Hearts you were at this point, hopefully that helps.
As you enter the next scene, you go through this tunnel that would make for an awesome Willy Wonka moment through the different scenes of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which, going through this tunnel of psychedelic scenes in Virtual Reality, again is pretty cool. But it does give you a sense of what it is like to travel from point A to point B in the Gummi Ship which again shows a view that only Virtual Reality can bring.
But it’s when you have gone through the tunnel that you start to think, is that it? At this point, you only have one other option to experience and that is Destiny Islands. Here we are brought back to Kingdom Hearts, where Riku, Kairi, and Sora are talking about their thoughts at the point right before the decision is made to leave the island. But what is pretty cool is how you are seeing things from Sora’s point of view. If you ever played Kingdom Hearts, you will notice how some of the characters have big feet. These big feet really show in Virtual Reality.
But as Riku, Kairi, and Sora are talking, it’s when you start to appreciate what VR brings to this experience. Looking all around you while on Destiny Islands and seeing that sunset and the water below you. It does have this calmness and peacefulness about it. I would love for this scene to be a social get-together on PlayStation VR. A place where we can all just sit and talk and admire our surroundings.
But the next part may have some people leaving with different thoughts going in or maybe the true fans will appreciate what is going on. There is a part where some magic happens. For those that have been to Disney World, there is a show called Fantasmic where water shoots up and projections of classic Disney films move on the water mixed in with the lights and live-action scenes. It is breathtaking. In Kingdom Hearts VR Experience, that is almost replicated in a way with the intro to Dream Drop Distance and I probably replayed Destiny Islands over and over just to see this part again.
But once it was over, I did get a glimpse of Twilight Town and maybe another surprise that left me wanting more, as my only other options were replaying the Gummi Ship and Destiny Islands portions over again with a Coming Soon section that I wanted to enter so badly. As much as I would love to have done more in this, as a Kingdom Hearts and Disney fan, I can appreciate what I got to experience and hope that the gates of Twilight Town will open up soon enough, among other things.
Kingdom Hearts VR Experience is out now and is free. To learn more about Kingdom Hearts, please visit the site and make sure to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Square Enix, please visit their site and make sure you like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Disney, please visit their site and make sure to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I am going back to Destiny Islands and enjoying the view.
