It’s an eerily quiet night in Traverse Town as you stroll down the dimly lit streets. Taking a right and entering the Fifth District, something catches your eye. In the distance you see an oddly shaped object glinting from the other side of the street. Cautiously, you make your way towards it, but the closer you get, more unease piles into your stomach. Just a few more strides until you reach it. Closer, closer, until a black cloud swirls before you, a menacing creature hissing aggressively. Glancing around, you realize that you’re surrounded by similar creatures all crouched and ready to strike. Assuming a fighting stance, your weapon materializes in your hands, a Keyblade you’re used for while. Your movements are fluid and experienced from countless battles. Soon the last enemy screeched and disappeared. Confirming that there are no more enemies, you continue to advance toward the object that diverted your attention. But you stop, your vision blurs, and you drop.
     

Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios published their seventh game following the Kingdom Hearts series. After Kingdom Hearts: Re-Coded, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (KH3D) made its appearance in 2012. The game is an action RPG (role-playing game) that follows the traditional theme of previous games. The two protagonists, Sora and Riku, embark on a journey to become Keyblade Masters. Their instructor sends them off to prove themselves worthy by taking a test: to awaken seven “sleeping worlds” plagued by nightmares, such as previously encountered worlds and new additions including La Cité  des Cloches (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame), The Grid (from Tron: Legacy), Prankster’s Paradise (from Pinocchio), and more. Little had they known, however, that failing the the test meant failing to maintain peace throughout all the worlds. As the boys continue to successfully awaken each world, they come closer to unmasking the culprit responsible for the darkness and ultimately, the truth behind their exam.
     

One of the many things that makes KH3D so beautiful is the colorful variety of characters. You play as Sora and Riku, two boys that sailed away from their homeland. Sora is a happy-go-lucky kind of person, making friends and tending to solve problems peacefully. Riku, on the other hand, is the exact opposite; he’s serious, mature, and favors action over words. Both characters have been protagonists (and antagonists) of previous games in the series. There are other characters, however, that most gamers probably wouldn’t expect to appear in such a game, including Disney characters that adorn a child’s room, namely Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Disney participated in the making of the games and the audience was meant for younger children, but the characters in the game are portrayed much differently than in movies. Throughout the game and series, the trio are a king and his sergeants who fight just as viciously as you do. King Mickey maintains his peaceful demeanor, Donald is arrogant and naive, and Goofy is just as ditzy as he always was. There are also Nightmares and Spirits, which you get to fight against and fight alongside with.
     

What sets KH3D apart from all other games, however, is its “dropping” sequence. On a Nintendo 3DS console, it’s impossible to play as both protagonists at the same time. Square Enix decided to implement the dropping sequence to allow players to use both characters while still maintaining the storyline. Players are introduced to this feature when the characters find out that they are separated by some unknown paradox in the sleeping worlds, forcing them to individually awaken each world themselves in their version of that particular world. In order to use both characters, there is a drop gauge that slowly diminishes in three stages: blue, green, and pink. Once the last gauge is drained, a bonus of thirty seconds will elapse before you automatically stop, and your character “drops,” falling into a dreamlike state while you transition to the other protagonist. Regardless of where you were with the previous character, once you “drop” back to that character you will resume what you were doing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to boss battles - you restart the battle when you return. There are items that slow and reset the drop gauge, but there are also status ailments such as “sleep” that drain the gauge quicker.
     

The game is playable on the Nintendo 3DS and the 3DS XL, which was decided after Square Enix took note of the smooth controls and graphics of the console. The sounds of attacks and interactions are amplified with the special effects that glide on the screen. The game also has a large variety of background music for different situations, which presents a classic RPG feel to the gameplay. Before you start the game, you are given the option to use the Circle Pad Pro, which is a cradle that holds your console while adding an analog Circle Pad on the right side including the additional shoulder buttons to give the attachment the familiar feel of traditional controllers. Throughout the game, the 3D option is available in cutscenes and battles for enhanced effects. In KH3D, Flowmotion (Freeflow motion) allows Sora and Riku to easily traverse their surroundings when they interact with certain environmental elements. With Flowmotion, players can kick off walls, slide along rails, and access special moves available only when you do Flowmotion activity such as “kick dive” and “buzz saw.” the game also has the traditional attack system that utilizes the A, B, X, and Y buttons as well as the Right/Left triggers, offering players to put together their own devastating combos to execute enemies.
     

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is by far one of the most enjoyable games in the series and a masterpiece among other games published by Square Enix. The gameplay and graphics are hardly flawed and the music outlines emotions of situations clearly. This game, I assure you, is something you won’t stop playing until you Drop.