Kingdom Hearts II.(Product/service evaluation)

Bryan: Mickey Mouse, Cloud, Simba, Sephiroth--sounds more like a terrifying cosplay session than a winning videogame combination. While the first Kingdom Hearts proved that pairing Disney with Final Fantasy wasn't completely crazy, this action-role-playing console sequel proves the duo has a lot of staying power.

It's been almost four years since Sora and his animated pals Donald and Goofy traversed various Disney-themed worlds on your PS2 (in 2004, the trio also had a quick GBA pit stop in the card-filled Chain of Memories), but this return trip to find pals Riku and Kairi--as cliched as it may sound--was definitely worth the wait. And it starts with the Disney-based areas; simply put, this game's environments are way more appealing than the original installment's collection. It has worlds based on Tron, The Lion King, and Pirates of the Caribbean, just to name a few--only the Pixar-made Disney films are missing here (gotta leave something for KH3, right?). But more importantly, each world is impeccably designed. Take, for example, the Steamboat Willie level, where everything--from Sora's character design to the background noise of a running film projector--reflects the area's simplistic …