During combat, spells can be cast to hasten a result. Other items are also available to buy or discover to restore health and abilities. Button mashing will suffice for many encounters, and failing to hit sensitive spots in boss encounters does not lead to overextended clashes. Scoring hits rewards players with credits to buy equipment and stock, and energy to replenish your party. The relentless barrages of Heartless provide an available, if tedious, method of increasing your character's abilities and collecting credits.

A lock-on function helps keep your character on target, and goes some way toward overcoming the stubborn camera. The camera does not move well and requires constant manual adjusting. The lack of analogue camera control options makes overcorrecting a common problem, and a low frame rate can hurt the eyes after long periods of play.

As well as assisting in battles, at other times the lock-on function allows you to select items in the environment prior to selecting from the action menu. However, this is cumbersome and is often the only way to notice an object or discover what to do with one you select. It leaves little to the intellect and requires less effort on the part of the player. Many puzzles are also illogical, and this system is often the only way to work out your options in a given situation.

Progress through the game similarly lacks an intuitive structure. Often the only way to discover the next cut scene, save point or plot twist is to give up searching where you are and leave in surrender, whereupon said next step is presented in the next room.

Rather than conjuring some magical mechanism linking the various Disney worlds, Kingdom Hearts has a less imaginative solution in the Gummi ship. This interplanetary vehicle looks remarkably like a Lego model and its design is every bit as elementary as the shooting sections that accompany your travels between each Disney world. Playing like a pre-school version of Star Wing with visuals not far ahead of the 16-bit original, these sections are a stark contrast to the rest of the game.

Other complaints are more technical than gameplay related. For instance, Donald and Goofy have a bizarre tendency to jump around from time to time. They might also continuously climb up behind you and jump off when you stand on a platform or hang from a ledge, while in other situations you may complete a platforming section alone, only to find them reinserted into your company despite not having followed you.

Square's claims of finding proper PAL conversions of their games too difficult might fall on deaf ears. However, failing to include a 60Hz mode only reinforces the perception of laziness, and in Kingdom Hearts Square has once again omitted the option.

Possibly the most compelling element of Kingdom Hearts is the opportunity to discover more of your favourite characters in the game, and it almost accomplishes an adequately rewarding experience based on this alone. This, rather than character development or other gameplay ingredients, appears to be Square's main concern, and one which Disney would presumably have no objection to.