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rayxnkh3 · 5 years

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Let Let it Go Go

Haynah na hey a na naaaaa. Okay that’s enough of that, Arendelle! Frozen world was an absolute visual and eventful treat that definitely leaned into the fact that it is such a popular IP. Also, this was a long level so very long review incoming!

Story:

Once again a world where it’s a rehash of the movie but with Sora, Donald, and Goofy mixed up in things as well. There seems to be some sort of overall link to the princesses in the worlds that Org13 needs and it’s nice to see them mention it more and more as you progress through the worlds.

Donald comments at some point about being worried about falling down. Donald, you don’t take fall damage, I have seen you fall 15 stories and shrug it off like you just went down one step. Calm down.

Now, I am a fan of Let it Go, but why did we have to have the entire thing as a shot for shot remake of the film? (Probably because it’s so popular) But it does seem odd and out of place considering we don’t get entire other songs from all the other IPs. Tangled didn’t replay “I have a dream” and I friggin love that song. Though Sora’s comments at the end were hysterical and it made it abundently clear that some of the writers/designers didn’t quite get why it was there too. (Sidenote: If Donald or Sora sang this instead I would’ve fallen over with laughter =D)

Almost immediately after we got “Let it Go” we started “Do you want to build a snowman”, which would’ve felt odd and out of place as well but if that is a constant in this world than I am more okay with it. My problem was Anna recalling the events of the start of the film OVER the song itself. Thank goodness for subtitles or I would’ve had no clue what anyone was saying. A character talking over a singing childhood version of herself does not make for a good cutscene.

Kristoff comes off as sort of a creepy guy in this version. If you didn’t see him earlier talking to Sven and voicing Sven himself than it just comes off as creepy. Kristoff makes that voice so he has someone to talk to due to his loneliness at the start of the film, this is charming and kinda sad which makes you feel sympathy for the character. Without setting that as a groundwork then you get some weirdo who voices his animal in the presence of his friends. Odd.

Elsa’s giant ice monster (whom this moment forward I am calling Frosty, because I can) gets so much more personality in this world. You see them (cause I don’t know what gender they are, mixed in with who knows if snowmen have genders) striving to catch up and protect Elsa after she gets kidnapped. Their concern for their master makes them strive to fight heartless and team up with Sora to save them. Hell, Frosty even holds up a giant heartless moon towards the end to protect Sora. I was devastated when they fell into a giant void of darkness. Good job KH3 for making me care about Frosty just to kill them off, good storytelling, sad feels.

Design:

It can be really hard to make a land of just ice and mountains appear visually stunning, but for the most part they did a great job. The ice and mountains were varied and there were multiple shapes, sizes, and shades of ice to keep things varied amungst the world. The sledding scene had such gorgeous reflective ice on the ground I was sad it passed by so quickly.

The heartless in this world were particularly great. The ice deer heartless were so friggin adorable! I felt bad when I had to murder them all. The ice dragons on the other hand were terrifying and the final boss was stunningly gorgeous! Excellent job art team who designed these heartless’s looks!

Only small nitpick about the look was we didn’t ever visit Arendelle itself. The level is called Arendelle yet we didn’t set one foot inside the village. Tangled let us go into the city and it was an absolute treat! I would’ve loved all of the Nordic designs of the town had we had a chance to enter. Ah well, there’s always the next KH and Frozen 2.

Mechanics:

The ice labyrinth at the beginning of the level was an absolute treat. It felt like a classic dungeon crawl and was filled with areas to explore, enemies to kill, and “puzzles” to solve. It might’ve dragged just a touch too long but overall it was an absolute blast to play through and got me pumped for the rest of the level. It was a completely pointless part of the level, didn’t contribute to the story in any way, but was quite fun!

Up and down, up and down. That was the basics of the level itself and overall I can’t complain too much, but why did it have to be the same thing so many times? Going up and down the mountain once, possibly twice, would’ve been fine. But constantly trying to get back to the Ice Palace and not once going to the village to change things up felt very repetitive.

So going down on Goofy’s shield. The first third was a nightmare. Terrible movement, locked camera, and fidgety enemies. Not being able to see the enemies mixed with not being quick enough to dodge said enemies attacks got frustrating rather quickly and I found myself hoping it wouldn’t last long. The second third was a quick turn around as flying down the mountain collecting munny (as my friend described it) felt like Snowkids on the N64, which is a good thing. The last part was fighting said Ice Dragons and they were medium difficulty. Having three of them was a tad harsh at this point into the event but overall it was alright.

On a brighter note, when Frosty appeared and we trekked through the snow storm beating up heartless together, it felt very random but definitely a warm welcome to my party. Yes, I made a pun, get over it.

The final boss was an absolute cinematic masterpiece. The design of the ice wolf mixed in with the floating wolf heads was challenging and gorgeous. There was a moment of awe and stupor as the wolf turned into a frackin moon and crashed down upon Sora and gang. Great fight that kept up the action without making me feel overwhelmed, while simultaneously just being beautiful to look at. No goop monster this time.

Final Thoughts:

This level was on the longer side and it definitely feels like it’s because Disney knows how well received Frozen was. There was also a lot of hype built up during marketing that revolved around Frozen, so I get this being a long level that pays homage to it’s source material. Thankfully it was a 1080 spin of fun from start to end, though it went a little heavy on some of the Frozenness of it all. As I said in the title, Let Let it Go Go.

Level of Enjoyment: Fat body Olaf (Large and in charge)

#KH3 #kh3 review #kh3 frozen #spoilers #gamedesign #gamereview #let it go

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