Definitely the better choice, I think. Pay attention to battle levels, because it’s possible to be a bit overrun. Also, I just found out there are post-ending bosses that are tough as nails, so the game has legs. Just ignore the plot.

- I didn’t realise that I could send them to different locations, I shall also do that going forward.

Oh right, the drop system. It was so inconsequential to me that I didn’t even mention it in my review. It didn’t add or take away at any point to me. It was a nothing system. I’d say the game is in the middle of the two numbered games visually and aurally, and along with BbS, it is superior mechanically. It continues to be that much fun to play.

I also love Traverse Town, I was also annoyed at the no-shops, but that seems to be a handheld thing. The remixed theme was awesome.

The environmental interaction is better than KHII’s garbage, but certainly not better than KHI’s level design.

I staggered the levels (sent Riku to Tron, Sora to City of Clocks), so the settings never felt too drawn over. Especially because there usually is not a lot of level overlap. Sometimes that truth is taken to the extreme.

The backstory stuff is really nice, but I think that’s to – understandably – alleviate confusion. I would bet a LOT of money on KHIII not being on the 3DS. KH games have always looked excellent for the system they were on at the time.

The drop system and Dream Eater management system are twin annoyances which regularly break the flow of the game.

Aside from that, mechanically, visually, and aurally the game is (thus far) easily the equal of numbered entries (my feeling is that it slightly exceeds them). It has thus far been fun to play, and feels very slick in my minute to minute experience of it (and I was very impressed with Riku’s escape sequence from that dragon thing).

Traverse Town is one of my two favourite locations in the KH universe (the other being Destiny Islands), so I was absolutely delighted to return there and see all of the spectacular renovations that the KH3D team have made to the location. That said, I was bitterly disappointed not to be able to enter the shops, houses, factory, and hotel which featured in the first game – it would seem that SE’s “we can’t render towns in 3D” game design philosophy has penetrated the SD arena now.

I have played nowhere near enough of KH3D to judge it on its narrative merits, but my initial sense is that both story sequences and environmental interaction feel very cut down in comparison to numbered entries in the series. Disney story arcs in KH I&II were already necessarily truncated affairs, but here they feel positively emaciated (probably due to the fact that the drop system demands that two sets of extremely similar story sequences be created for both characters).

Also, the fact that each world must be played out concurrently by both characters means that each setting is made to feel overlong, while at the same time leaving the impression that you haven’t really covered much ground (both literally and in terms of the story that unfolds).

The only narrative element, thus far, which seems to have received the development team’s A-game is in the game’s attempts to explain the KH series history thus far – which is perhaps an indication that KH III will be developed for the 3DS. This hunch is strengthened by the fact that SE have bothered to get their KH engine looking so good on Nintendo’s handheld.

All this being said, I have only played through Traverse Town and City of Cloches, so there is still plenty of scope for the game’s narrative to pick up steam.

Yeah, I wish I could take the Disney worlds in Dumber Name (the best since the first game, I feel) and place them in Birth by Sleep.

As for BbS, its writing was an extremely shallow knock-off of the already vapid Star Wars prequels, and much of its acting (especially fake Zack (I forget his name)) felt amateurish. The game itself was a rather rote hack ‘n slash action RPG, as indeed are most Kingdom Hearts games, but its levels tended toward the bland, and it didn’t really have anything of narrative merit to hold my attention.

Both are ultimately missed opportunities and mediocre experiences. I was hoping that the return of Sora and Rikku might have righted the ship, but it sounds as though it is cut from the same cloth…

And the emperor comparison is certainly there for Xehanort (as well as a name comparison to Voldemort), but calling BbS an “awful game” because of that comparison when the game borrows little else is just as absurd.

Tangentially, I’d argue that nothing is worse writing than the prequels. “I hate sand”? Or Padme’s “I deeply truly love you”? The latter is the prime example of “tell not show”. Kingdom Hearts is very cheesy, but it invokes emotion. The Star Wars prequels didn’t do that.