Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue Reviews
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a great opportunity to look at what players can expect in Kingdom Hearts III due to A Fragmentary Passage and partly χ Back Cover.
Review in Russian | Read full review
While both Dream Drop Distance and Fragmentary Passage are good stuff, this is a much more niche product than the previous compilation, and far more difficult to recommend. It's essential if you're a fan, but... let's face it, if you're a fan, you've already played these games. And on a system on which they run natively, rather than this (again!) erratic, temperamental Cloud Version. We feel like it's our destiny to repeat ourselves on the matter, but if you can buy this package for another system we'd earnestly implore you to do so - it may not be handheld, but at least it would be yours to keep and it would run reliably and consistently. As it stands, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue on Nintendo Switch is yet another compromise. If your internet connection is consistent and strong, it runs great... when it's running great. But, you know, stuff happens. Using Ethernet while docked helps, but it's still putting a sticking plaster on a glaring wound. So, once again, another good package but presented in the worst way. And slightly less good than the last one.
As its fittingly long name implies, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue should serve as the last appetizer before the long-awaited main course that is Kingdom Hearts 3. The best part is arguably Aqua's new chapter, a short but sweet entry that teases the promise of KH3. It's too bad that it couldn't be longer but for fans burned out from waiting, it just might rekindle their interest in the series, provided the price of entry isn't too high.
There’s a decent amount of content in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue, but it doesn’t explain much for newcomers playing their first Kingdom Hearts game on the PS4. In addition, Back Cover will feel like a waste of time to some, and Birth by Sleep will feel too short. Dream Drop Distance translates fairly well, but alone it’s not worth the price of admission. As a bundle, the entire package offers a decent value and a great lead-in to Kingdom Hearts III.
While the gaming community shared a collective groan when Kingdom Hearts 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue was announced, the remake is one of the best HD packages the Kingdom Hearts series has ever produced. Holding two entirely-knew Kingdom Hearts experiences and a criminally underplayed title in the franchise, Final Chapter Prologue is a collection that every likely Kingdom Hearts III player should experience.
While it’s not the new Kingdom Hearts game that many may have wanted, it’s much more than just a simple collection of old titles or some cheap cash-in. It’s a bridge to what awaits, and I can’t help but feel excited after watching the credits roll for the umpteenth time.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue is a collection which fans of the saga should not miss. Despite not overflowing with contents, this anthological prologue to the story of Kingdom Hearts is the missing piece of the series created by Nomura.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I’d heartily recommend this for KH fans, although I caution that perhaps they should wait for the price to drop. Newcomers to the franchise entirely should avoid this title until the first two anthologies are under the belt. This is definitely not an installment that is easy to jump into.
The best parts of this new Kingdom Hearts collection — the remaster of Dream Drop Distance and Aqua's miniature adventure — offer plenty of fun and a tantalizing taste of what Kingdom Hearts III will be like. The series' narrative absurdity is ever-present, but so is the addictive fun of its hack-and-slash gameplay.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a meaty and highly distinctive package which should delight cartoon-obsessed youngsters and those who live to play Japanese RPGs. But, despite the Disney involvement, it doesn’t feel likely to challenge the mainstream. In certain respects – albeit in the grand tradition of Japanese RPGs – it’s so complex as to be baffling.
A collection of well-made PS4 ports, preparing fans of the series for Kingdom Hearts 3. But for everybody else it's not worth buying.
Review in German | Read full review
Even this compilation has not the same amount of contents that past remastered Kingdom Hearts packages, it's exciting to see a little bit of the future of the series on the actual generation of consoles with a great remasterization of a portable game and a short game that showed us the evolution of the franchise.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
It should be an easier purchase to make if you haven’t played DDD before, but other than that, it’s hard to recommend this collection if you’re only getting it for 0.2, however awesome it may be. I do also understand just how starved Kingdom Hearts fans are however, so do know what you’re getting yourself into, but take solace in the fact that even though 0.2 is short, it’s a thrilling ride.
But, if you’re a longtime fan, this is still a solid entry in the series, and A Fragmentary Passage might be worth the price of admission alone. There are moments throughout when the underlying gameplay and combat exceed the limitations of the collection, and you become totally swept up in eliminating as many goofy enemies as quickly as possible, bouncing off walls, flying through the air, hurling fireballs. For these moments, Final Chapter Prologue is a success.
Final Chapter Prologue is a great game for series veterans, but it's severely lacking in content compared to previous collections.
This collection gathers together a good game, an exciting demo and a movie that's strictly for hardcore fans. It's a decent package, but certainly isn't for newcomers.
All in all, KH2.8 is worth the experience for any Kingdom Hearts fan and I look forward to piecing more of the story together and enjoying more of the series' back catalogue with the other two remixes set to release early this year.
Mandatory purchase for the Kingdom Hearts series fans, giving a foretaste of what will be in Kingdom Hearts 3. Unfortunately, compared to previous collections, this is extremely modest in content.
Review in Polish | Read full review
While it is nice to see the portable titles make their way to home consoles, you can tell that this was just another distraction from the bigger issue for Kingdom Harts fans. While this game does fill that hole in the collection nicely, it's not really worth a full retail price, or even a slightly lesser discounted price. These side stories aren't going to give us any huge insight into the game series and is completely skippable. While it is an enjoyable romp if you do buy it, this is a game I'd recommended for hardcore fans only.
In conclusion the game is okay, it’s not for me specifically as I’ve never been a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts but I can see why it is as popular as it has become, thus as a result fans will enjoy it, I don’t know if they’ll love it though as the content level is minimal, one revamp of a full game, one short extra game lasting barely a couple hours and an hour long cinematic to fill the gaps for the cost of $69 AUD? Not the best value if you ask me. But no doubt many will pay for the small amount of content to fill their void until the release of Kingdom Hearts III the twelfth instalment of the series as a whole, and HD remakes are always a welcome addition giving a fresh new take on games that players can sometimes miss after replaying the originals as many times as I have playing mine. So in the end, Kingdom Hearts fans will feel their money was well spent.