Square Enix is out with a new addition in their Kingdom hearts series, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream drop distance. The story continues from Kingdom Hearts 2, and you control Sora and Riku. The battling and gameplay style is similar to previous Kingdom Hearts titles. Real-time attack and magic commands. However, there is one unique feature in Kingdom hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance which it mentions in the title. "Drop". In this dropping system, you take turns controlling Riku and Sora, and the time you are able to control both characters are decided by a "drop gauge". There are different ways in which you can extend the drop gauge. I have read many complaints from players with the dropping system. The main problem is that your character can be dropped during a boss battle if it lasts too long. Now, you could use an item to replenish your drop gauge, but this item will take up extra space in your command deck, which means you will have one less magic or special command to use against the boss.
The command deck is the same feature that Square featured in KH:BBS, which includes a small list of commands where you can select whether you want to attack, cast magic, or use an item. Each magic and item you carry takes up one slot, so the player must choose the most useful combinations depending on the circumstances. Everytime an item is used or magic is cast, the slot takes about 5-7 seconds to recharge before it can be used again. I find that this is a clever way of adding tension to the battle, but there is one flaw. The d-pad is used to scroll through the command deck and it is inconveniently placed under the analog stick. This means that you cannot be running, or moving when you want to scroll through which magic or item you want to use. Having only one shortcut command doesn't help the situation much either. Throughout tough battles, I always found myself getting killed or taking heavy damage because I was trying to find, for example, the curaga tab or blizzaga tab.
Another unique feature is flow motion. Flow motion is similar to what you can do with sonic the hedgehog, except you are bouncing off walls. You can use flow motion to kick off the wall and speed ahead to where you need to go, or you can kick off the wall and attack an enemy. Since there is no limit amount of wall jumps, you can travel an entire area doing just flow motion wall jumps. I have to admit, it does look pretty cool, the animation of how sora and riku flow motion jump look like they are leaping from building to building, like spiderman.
Staying on the topic of special features, another one is, "reality shift". Reality shift is the touch screen experience this game offers. During random times, when you are attacking an enemy, the game will let you enter reality shift. You will enter a mini game in the bottom screen. Mini-games include, connecting dots, elite beat agents style mini-game, slashing objects with co-ordination. Things like that. It is a good addition, since it adds variety to the battles.
Would you be surprised if I told you that Sora and Riku were actually Pokemon masters? Well, believe it or not, they are. Well, not exactly pokemon masters, but Dream Eater masters. Dream eaters are spirits similar to heartlesses that the game lets you collect. There are evil kinds called nightmares, which you fight as your opponents, and spirits, which are the good kinds that you create with dream pieces. They are collected throughout the game. Dream eaters fight along side you in battle, you can level them up and boost their affinity by petting them or playing mini-games with them through the touch screen.
Some small changes have been made also, such as being able to open treasure boxes during battle, and there is no more gummi-ship mini game, instead it is replaced with a dive mini game where you're character will face a mini-boss or go through obstacles while flying into the world. One nice addition that Square added that I thought they should have added with some of the other KH games, is text recap on the plot of the previous games. The story can become a tad bit confusing, and the text recap on every game really helps KH new comers or those who have not played every KH game to get up to date with the plot.
Overall, this game is must buy for any Kingdom hearts fan. Even if you are not, this game is a worthy purchase as it has a fun and intuitive battle system, a deep story, and great graphics, probably one of the best looking games on the 3DS right now.