A Kingdom Hearts sequel seemed like a no-brainer. After all, the game was a tremendous success, shipping more than 4 million units worldwide, including 2 million in the United States. The GBA game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories also did quite well in its own field, shipping more than one million worldwide. The series sales totals were recently put in excess of 7 million units. The Kingdom Hearts franchise also has the distinction of being more popular in North America than in Japan, which is unheard of for Square Enix titles.

But how did this spin off series become such a phenomenal hit? What are the composite parts that make the whole game more appealing? GameDaily BIZ takes the magnifying glass to Kingdom Hearts II.

The first benefit that Kingdom Hearts II has is obvious: the appeal of its myriad of Disney and Final Fantasy characters. Fans of both will profess deep emotional connection to the productions by either company, usually made during their childhood. I can count the number of women I know that were middle-school aged during the '90s that now have Aladdin on DVD.

A less obvious reason for its appeal is Square Enix's "unusual" choice of worlds for the game. If you ask gamers who've played the original Kingdom Hearts what their favorite world was, chances are good that they'll say "Halloween Town." Based on the twisted fairy tale The Nightmare Before Christmas, it stood out and made an indelible impression to those playing the game [Not to mention that Jack Skellington is 'the man' - Ed.]. Kingdom Hearts II has its own curious choices contrasting with the pastel landscapes of the other Disney worlds in "Port Royale" and "Space Paranoids" based on the movies Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron. Fans of both movies (especially the cult favorite Tron) have been vocal in expressing their joy over these inclusions.

Part of preserving the atmosphere so intrinsic to these Disney movies comes from the voices of the characters. While it was a risk for Disney to shell out for such quality voice acting work in the first game, it meant that they had to live up to those same expectations in the sequel. Once again, Kingdom Hearts II does not disappoint. All of the major characters from the movies have been brought back to reprise their roles from the movies (like Bruce Boxleitner as Tron) or from the previous game (Haley Joel Osment reprises his leading role as Sora). Also, some veteran actors were brought in to fill in the characters new to the series (Christopher Lee plays the mysterious DiZ).

Disney and Square - like chocolate and peanut butter, mmmm...

Before Kingdom Hearts II even shipped in the U.S. it had already sold over 1 million units in Japan since releasing late last year. Square Enix, however, had even bigger plans in the U.S., making an initial shipment of 1.2 million units in the U.S. And it was a hit right off the bat; despite its shipping at the end of March (the 28th to be exact) the game was easily the best selling title for the month. According to the NPD Group, life-to-date Kingdom Hearts II has sold 614,400 copies. That's an impressive $30.4 million dollars worth of sales.

No small part of this success has been the TV ads. No expense has been spared in the campaign, and chances are you've seen the ad for Kingdom Hearts II a couple times in the past month. The ad features a montage of shots from the game, showing off some of the characters new to the series and previews of some of the Disney worlds while Hikaru Utada's Sanctuary plays in the background. There are also a couple of tantalizing teasers, including Final Fantasy X-2's Yuna, Rikku and Paine in kid form, Final Fantasy VII's Cloud and Sephiroth clashing swords, King Mickey and an apparently resurrected Ansem. While it's difficult to really get any bearings with the speed that the various scenes change out, it does give a good feeling of what the game will include and has visuals entirely composed of in-game action... thumbs up.

The critical reaction to Kingdom Hearts II has been just as positive as the commercial success. Most have praised the game for its high production values and expanded gameplay modes compared to the first game, giving it a 89% on GameRankings.com. At the same time, many critics have brought up the game's relatively easy difficulty level. While this might appeal to the more casual and younger fan base of Square and Disney properties, GameDaily Senior Editor Bryan Dawson made it the focus of his review.

"Kingdom Hearts is back, but it's not quite better than ever," said Dawson in his review. "As an Action-RPG the storyline is outstanding, but the gameplay falls a bit short. This is primarily due to how overly easy the game is. You can run through the entire game using nothing more than the basic attack button, and your assistant characters suffer from poor AI. If you're a younger gamer, KH2 is a very nice title that should offer hours upon hours of fun. However, old gamers may want to give this one a rental before committing $40 to it."