Before you start spamming me with hateful comments, go ahead and read my mission statement. First of all, I am a Kingdom Hearts fan from day one. I have played every game in the series, some more than others, from 2002 and beyond. I even have a replica Keyblade on my wall, not to mention shirts and other memorabilia. I also want to reiterate that while this article is going to focus on the worst aspects of Kingdom hearts III, that doesn't mean I think it's a bad game. On the contrary, I think in my heart of hearts I would give this game a perfect score, with whatever scale you prefer. It is a 5/5, a 10/10, a 100/100, and even an A+ in my book. How then can I name twenty things that are bad then? Easy.

Just because a game gets the highest possible score a site, or person can give, that does not mean the game is without flaws. It just means that even with these blemishes, the overall experience meant something more to the individual, or that it was better than the sum of its parts. There is a lot I wish Kingdom Hearts III did better, but even with the worst categories, they never made me want to scream in frustration. They were more disappointing, or confusing than anything else. Does that make sense? I hope it does and if not, maybe reading on will further cement my thought process in your brain. And yes, there will be SPOILERS!

30 Worst: Keyblade Graveyard

screenshots

Part of me can't help the feeling that the end of the game was rushed. Here's how these games usually play out. You go through a bunch of Disney worlds and get to a final, original area at the end, which is filled with all kinds of stuff. While the Keyblade Graveyard is indeed original, it's basically a boss rush area with little to no exploring. It also repeats itself with some boss moments. The pacing just goes out the window.

29 Worst: The Map

screenshots

On the plus side, areas are bigger and less linear corridors. That's all well and good, but finding your way can be tricky. The reason is that you can't enlarge the mini map, which barely helps at all. I can't believe a game can ship in 2019 without some kind of a big map to look at. It made exploring in that game feel like a chore when it should have been the opposite. Thankfully there are walkthrough videos online for those hard-to-find secrets.

28 Best: Keyblade Transformations

screenshots

I can't explain how Keyblades can suddenly transform into hammers and spears, but I don't want to. Ignoring any kind of logic, this is the best new mechanic in the game. Every single Keyblade Sora acquires is unique. Some may repeat certain design aspects though. For example, the Keyblade you get in Twilight Town can transform into guns and then a cannon.

The Winnie the Pooh Keyblade is also a gun followed by a cannon, but one that shoots honey and bees. It's not the strongest in the game, but it is deliciously ludicrous.

27 Worst: No Final Fantasy

screenshots

This is the third time I'm harping on this point, but I don't care. I wanted Final Fantasy characters in this game. Where did they all go? It doesn't make sense. It's not like Square Enix lost the rights. It's their series! It's also not solely focused on Disney characters because there are black coats everywhere. Couldn't you have snuck in one character like Noctis from Final Fantasy XV? He would have fit in perfectly. Prompto would too and he would love to get in on that Gummi Phone action.

26 Worst: Slow Start

screenshots

Kingdom Hearts II launched in 2006 in North America. Disregarding spinoffs, which are all canon, fans have been waiting thirteen years to see the three pop up. When it finally does it's not until four hours in. That's right; Square Enix has the nerve to begin the game by showing Kingdom Hearts 2.9 on screen. It was some master troll work, truly. The beginning was slow and Olympia, while a new takes on Hercules, was not wowing me. Thankfully this cold spell doesn’t last long.

25 Best: Theater Mode

screenshots

Thank you so much, Square Enix, for including a theater mode to re-watch all of the game's cutscenes. It stinks you can't capture footage natively on the PS4 be it video, or screenshots as they are blocked. Thankfully I have a separate capture device and this shouldn't affect non-press people anyway.

I'm going to start Mystery Kingdom Hearts Science 3000.

My point is more games should add in these modes. Do you want people to keep your games so that they can re-watch stories easily, or do you want them to watch on YouTube? Your choice, game companies.

24 Worst: Aqua And Riku Gameplay

screenshots

The first time I got to play as Riku in the dark world I was so excited. Finally, a secret they kept out of their trailers. It was only a boss battle, but it gave me hope he would be playable later on in a larger capacity. Nope. You fight Aqua in the same place for a brief period before Sora takes over. After that, you get to fight Vanitas as Aqua, but that also gets interrupted. They were such a wasted opportunity.

23 Worst: Sora, The Chosen One

screenshots

Going back to the subject of Aqua and Riku, everyone in the game is nerfed compared to Sora. The game built up all of these side characters like those two, Kairi, Lea, and so on, and none of them did anything of importance in the final battle. They were tossed aside like tumbleweeds. Sora was basically Goku, spiked hair and all. It just didn't feel right to me. Everyone should have had their triumphant moment and instead Sora, aka the deus ex machina, had to step in every time.

22 Best: The Caribbean

screenshots

Every Disney world was different in some gameplay fashion. The most ambitious area was The Caribbean based off of Pirates of the Caribbean, duh. Since it was in the second game, I was initially bummed it was returning, but it turned into my favorite Disney world.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of Paopu Juice.

It's like a mini version of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. You can sail around, dive into the water, loot islands, and more. It’s so big! Donald and Goofy still stick out awkwardly though.

21 Worst: Unresolved Plots

screenshots

This is basically a chance for me to promote my unresolved plot lines article. I loved the story in Kingdom Hearts III even though it was incredibly congested. There was so much going on and for every thread that ended, another began. Right now it's a complaint, but in the future, it might not be. That is to say, all of the lost stories could be answered in the next game, or DLC. Hopefully, we won't have to wait as long.

20 Worst: The Ending

screenshots

Unresolved plots aside, I do want to talk about the ending specifically. On one hand, it was great to see everyone have a happy ending. Well, all except for Sora and Kairi. Somehow, off-screen, Sora brings Kairi back, who is devastated. She even imagines him being there. It's so gut-wrenching. Fans, myself included, have waited almost two decades for them to finally settle down and just enjoy some time together, but nope. Sora can't do that because otherwise, the series would stop, or something.

19 Best: Bigger Areas

screenshots

I've teased it a few times now in other entries, but it bears repeating. I love how much bigger the worlds are! It’s a blast watching Sora fly up walls like he's Spider-Man every time.

If only the map were visible…

I think the first world that really made my jaw drop was Toy Story's. Going from Andy's room to the street was amazing followed by an incredibly detailed store with tons of boxes and giant floors. It's a real evolution for the series.

18 Worst: Cooking

screenshots

Remy, the rat from Ratatouille, helps run a restaurant for Scrooge McDuck in Twilight Town. Making food is a great way to beef up your party before a big battle, but it's pretty cumbersome. You can visit Remy from any save point, but it has to load in. To do that every time for a mini-game that literally lasts five-seconds at most is such a waste of time. Couldn't they make you do it once and then auto create batches from then on out? You know, like most games.

17 Worst: Classic Kingdom

screenshots

Another mini-game collection you get introduced to in Twilight Town is the Game and Watch style retro games. They feature Sora and Mickey going through classic cartoons, but in video game form. At first, they were cute, admittedly, but there are so many of them and they get boring fast. That's the thing with Nintendo's Game and Watch series. They were amazing for the time, but they are not fun now even with a Kingdom Hearts skin. Kudos on capturing that look, I guess.

16 Best: Multiple Party Members

screenshots

Another feature that shocked me was that new party members join your adventure automatically. That means you're no longer limited to just three members. Not only does this cut down on spending time in the menus, but also it creates impressive mini battles happening all around you.

On that note, your team's A.I. is a lot smarter this time around. Just for the fun of it I often sat out bouts to view battles through my Gummi Phone.

15 Worst: Post Game Content

screenshots

Not only was the ending dissatisfying, but also the post-game content was also severely lacking. There are blue, spiked orbs that pop up on every world, sometimes two, which are mini challenges. They basically have you face off against a boss or a horde of normal enemies. This is a great way to level up and or grind for materials. Here's the downside though. Having to go around every world to find them is not fun. I know it's tired, but couldn't they just bring back the Coliseum in Olympia? It sure would save time.

14 Worst: Monster’s Inc. Linearity

screenshots

Initially, I wasn't jazzed about Olympia, but that's because it gave the game a cold open. In hindsight, it was a fun world to explore. My least favorite area was actually Monster's Inc. It was pretty much a linear corridor adventure akin to the previous entries albeit with slightly wider hallways. Because of this, it was also incredibly short since everything was go go go from the start! It's not truly terrible, but it was disappointing if that makes sense.

13 Best: Music

screenshots

I know two Japanese video game composers off the top of my head. The first is Nobuo Uematsu who worked on a good majority of the Final Fantasy series. The second is Yoko Shimomura, the artist behind every Kingdom Hearts game.

And baby, she does not disappoint with the score for this one. I almost put this on a worst entry for one reason: the soundtrack didn't launch with the game. What gives? I need it!

12 Worst: Truncated Twilight Town

screenshots

Olympia isn't the only retread at the beginning of the game. The second place you visit, albeit much more briefly, is Twilight Town. In this circumstance though, I was pretty enthralled when I returned. Not only did it look prettier, but also seeing NPCs populate the area was incredible. Plus the entirety of that world is connected. There are no loads except when entering the bistro. As cool as all these additions were, they also deleted a lot from the town, which was disappointing.

11 Worst: Saving Issues

screenshots

One of my favorite things to do in RPGs is to create multiple saves. Since I'm a writer and content creator now, you never know when I might have to go back and replay a segment for a feature, or something and having a save point at, or near, said segment is very crucial to my existence. It saves times, duh. Most of the Kingdom Hearts games have loads of saves, the first and second, for example, have over ninety! What do we have here? There are only nine slots. That is criminal!