arts // no. 6

The wait was worth it

>» ‘Kingdom Hearts III’
video game review

Lauren Kelly
Graphics Manager

 

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F's of the Kingdom Hearts series had
a lot of expectations for Kingdom
Hearts III leading up to its January 2019
release. Kingdom Hearts IT came out in
2005, and the first trailer for the third
major instalment was shown at E3 in 2013.
Fans have been waiting 14 year's to see the
story continued in a major console release,
although they have been fed a slow trickle
of handheld games and HD rereleases.

Luckily for fans, this new game
delivers. The game looks gorgeous.
The graphics are of course a massive
improvement from the PS2-exclusive
KH and KHa, but the visuals hold up on
their own as well. The Disney worlds Sora,
Goofy, and Donald visit are vibrant and
fun, with the time spent in worlds like Toy
Story, Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and
Big Hero 6 being immensely enjoyable.
Particularly notable is the Pirates world
where you can sail in your own pirate ship,
fight other ships, and hunt for treasure a la
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The Frozen
world is impressive as well, with the scene
of the movie's huge hit song “Let It Go”
fully recreated in-game.

The combat is over-the-top and
fun but sometimes a bit too simple. It is
spiced up with frequent group attacks

and upgraded weapon segments that are
all very flashy but can break up the flow

of battles. A lot of these special moves
cutely reference Disneyland rides, which
is fun for the player but a little nonsensical
in-universe. The Keyblades you get after
beating different worlds have unique move
sets and abilities, letting you personalize
your fighting style.

Asad exclusion from this latest game
is the presence of characters from the Final
Fantasy universe. In KHi Sora interacted
with many characters from the franchise,

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—_

 

and the game truly felt like a mix of Disney
and Square Enix properties. However, this
instalment is nearly devoid of familiar
faces from Final Fantasy, save Moogle
shopkeepers; instead KH3 derives any Final
Fantasy feeling from the original Kingdom
Hearts characters’ styles.

The few small issues take little away
from how vast and enjoyable this game
is. With tons of worlds to visit, plenty of
post-game content, many collectables, and
a whole lot of Star Fox-esque flying, you
won't be putting this down fora long time.

oy
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theotherpress.ca

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Screenshot from 'KINGDOM HEARTS III - Opening Movie Trailer’ on YouTube

I would recommend this to any Kingdom
Hearts or Disney fan, but anyone could
enjoy it. Just make sure to do some research
first so you know what's happening in
those weird cutscenes between all the

fun gameplay. The Kingdom Hearts story

is famously hard to follow, so I would
recommend watching some plot synopses
before booting it up even if you have played
all the games. KH3 creators have also just
announced that free and paid DLC will be
on its way, so fans awaiting more content
should be very satisfied.

Grande sings the avant-garde blues

> ‘thank u, next’ album review

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

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he past few years have been very tough
for Ariana Grande. Not long after the

terrorist attack that took place during
a concert that she held in Manchester
in 2017, one of her ex-boyfriends, Mac
Miller, passed away from a drug overdose
in September 2018. She also ended her
engagement with Saturday Night Live’s
Pete Davidson in October of that year.

During that time, Grande was working
on her album thank u, next, which was
released a few months after her previous
album Sweetener. She released thank u,
next earlier than I was expecting. The
album explores the major events that
Grande has gone through recently.

Initially, I thought that Sweetener
would be rereleased with additional
tracks when Grande performed the songs.
Because the album was announced not
long before it came out, it felt more like
a digital release than a CD release. It
debuted as the number one album on the
US Billboard 200 and took the top spot in
many other countries’ sales rankings.

Some of the songs on the album are
about sex and needing someone, including
the first song “imagine.” Musically, it
sounds great. In “fake smile,” Grande talks
about how sad she is after what she had

to go through. After the track “make up,”
which is another song about sex, she talks
about Miller and how she misses him a lot
in “ghostin.” Next, she imagines her dream
man in “in my head.”

The album’s hit singles so far are its
last three songs, beginning with “7 rings”,
which is controversial because some
have alleged that it sounds like a copy of

Princess Nokia’s “Mine” and also like Soulja

Boy’s “Pretty Boy Swag.” My favourite song
on the album, “thank u, next”, references
all her ex-boyfriends and is about Grande
loving herself.

At the last minute—on January
13—Grande announced on Twitter that
she was taking out one song that she
decided against releasing and replacing
it with another track. This replacement
song turned out to be “break up with your
girlfriend, i’m bored.’

I’m personally not a fan of the lyrics
for most of the songs on the album,
and I feel that it shows that the album
was rushed. The subject matter fits the
album though, and if its producers had
spent more time making it then thank u,
next would be more impactful. Still, the
avant-garde sounds throughout the album
enhance the songs and show what Grande
is going through.

While the album presents the
recent events that Grande experienced in
music form, in my opinion it is her most
underwhelming album. What is next for
Ariana Grande? We will wait and see.

Ma
i

 

Screenshot from ‘thank u, next' on YouTube