Kingdom Hearts II starts off exactly where Chain of Memories left so many of us hanging. Sora's asleep in his little seed that Namine(a character who can manipulate memories) put him in to restore his shattered memories. It's been a year now, and he's almost ready to wake up.

However, when he does wake up he's in for a world of trouble. The sinister Organization XIII(a group of people in black trench coats) are stirring up a sinister plot involving the Heartless and a new enemy called "Nobody". So once again, Sora, Donald and Goofy must venture off into the many Disney themed worlds in order to find out who exactly these Organization members are, and what they plan to do, while at the same time trying to find Mickey, Riku, and this so called "Door of Light".

The game starts you off as a new character, named Roxas. He is a blonde haired kid who resembles Sora in a way. The tutourial portion of the game is played with him, and it can last up to three hours. During this intro scene you explore the new world called "Twilight Town". It is there you'll meet up with such characters as Siefer(Final Fantasy VIII), Setzer(Final Fantasy VI) and ViVi(Final Fantasy IX). There's also a few minigames to earn extra munny and of course, the infamous humongous boss tutourial. While you explore Twilight Town, you also learn of Roxas's mysterious past while also enjoying Christopher Lee(Lord of the Rings) playing the part of DiZ, a man in red who's shrouded in mystery.

Veterans of the first game will be glad to know that many of the controls remained untouched. There's improved battle tactics and a new Drive System. The camera is vastly improved and much more bearable. The game itself is much larger too. Each world will take about eight hours for the casual gamer, and this isn't including the return trips. New players, or anyone that hasn't played Chain of Memories, get a thourough recap of the first two adventures thanks to the amazing introduction movie.

There are a few new worlds added to the mix, plus some returning favorites (and not so favorite). Worlds like Disney Castle, Land of Dragons(Mulan), Pride Lands(Lion King), Port Royale(Pirates of the Carribiean), and Space Paranoids(TRON) make the game vibrant and full of life. There's even a world called "Timeless River", which turns you into a 1929 version of Sora and the gang as they explore the world of Steamboat Willie. And yes folks, the world's in black and white, and even comes with a movie projector sound to add that old cartoon feel. Old worlds got a major overhaul. Olympus Coliseum has it's usual tournament and now an "Underworld" area as well, and Halloween Town gets Chrismas Town added to it. Don't worry though, thankfully you won't have to go "Under The Sea" for long. That world has been turned into a minigame similar to Dance Dance Revolution.

Travelling between worlds is done with the ever famous Gummi Ship. However this time, the sequences are fast paced, and full of neat things to do. They have a normal route, which involves switching camera angles, and many many enemies to shoot down. Then there's various missions you can unlock as you fly beween each world, and a cool point system just so you can brag to your friends and say "Hey I beat your score of 90349304!"

Let's get back to the battle system though. There's a new "Action" key, where you push the Triangle button to activate a certain action sequence (like a dodge, or a combo attack). There's also something called the "Drive System" which is the driving force behind the new battle system.

The Drive system is a bar that can be leveled up the more combos and hits you make on the enemy. When it gets full enough, you can do things like a Team Attack, or fuse with Donald or Goofy (or both). The fusion gives Sora a few new "forms": For example, in valor form Sora combines with Goofy which gives him increased attack power, plus the ability to wield two keyblades. He also jumps a bit higher than he normally can in this form.

In wisdom form Sora combines with Donald Duck which gives him increased magical power. It also has an ability called "Quick Run" which allows Sora to move faster.

Fusing with both Donald and Goofy puts Sora into master form, available later in the game, which gives you a form like no other in the form of increased attack and magical power plus the ability to wield two unique keyblades. The second keyblade floats on its own, making the attack range even larger. However, this form has to be obtained by gathering drive orbs while in battle.

There's two other forms that are randomly generated called anti form and final form. Both of these I'll let you find on your own.

The summons are back as well. Old favorites, such as the Genie return. A new slew of characters come out to play such as, Chicken Little, Stitch, and Peter Pan. Each has their own power, but I was a bit dissapointed at how lacking the summons were in this game.

With the added Drive system and the triangle triggers, this game is a vast improvement over the first one. As far as graphics are concerned, they're also vastly improved. The cinematics are absolutely stunning, and did I mention you can actually skip the cutscenes now? There really isn't a point to skipping them during the first run though, since they're jam packed with information.

Overall get this game as soon as you can! If you loved the first one, you'll definately love the second. Every aspect of the game is vastly improved over the first one, including the camera. The storyline is deep and dark, but kids and adults alike will still beable to enjoy the game without any problems. And it's worth it alone to hear that Sora actually hit puberty. All in all, I give this baby a smashing 10/10 keyblades.