OK, role-playing fans, you can finally breathe easily. Kingdom Hearts II arrived on store shelves yesterday and it features everything you could ever wish for in a second chapter of a Disney/Square hybrid. Once again, this game will take you over a series of worlds from familiar Disney licenses, including Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean, and will also introduce you to a gathering of memorable characters, both familiar faces and newcomers. We've got a full review cooking up for you, ready to post on our site tomorrow, but, for now, we've got some brief hands-on impressions of the game.

It helps if you have some kind of familiarity to the Kingdom Hearts legacy, both the original PS2 game and the Game Boy Advance Chain of Memories chapter. That's because, during the beginning, as you're learning the basics and such, you'll be subjected to a series of cut scenes that explain events that have happened between Sora and his friends, Goofy and Donald Duck. If you're new to this series and aren't a true follower of the story, this might overwhelm a slight bit. Fortunately, Jiminy Cricket from the film Pinocchio is on hand to lend information in a virtual lexicon of sorts.

The game doesn't put you right back into the shoes of Sora when you start. Instead, you deal with Roxas, a kid who's an inhabitant of the georgeous Twilight Town, a sun-lit city with twists and turns all over. Roxas and his friends begin their adventure by discovering a robbery of sorts that's rather odd. Not only are particular objects missing, but even the terminology of the word itself can't be uttered- it's been whisked away. The mystery's quickly resolved, but as such, Roxas finds himself having a strange connection with a kid he's never met- Sora. Furthermore, he finds an interesting weapon in the Keyblade, an enlarged sword that's shaped like a key. Yes, like the main weapon in the first game.

The game's first couple of hours introduce you to little details in the plot, and also get you synchronized on the game's battle system. Some might find a slight bit of disappointment in how it seems more like a button-mashing system than a full-on RPG experience at first, but the battle system's well balanced. Not only does Roxas have access to a lock-on system and some nice aerial and ground swipes, but he can also reverse himself, rolling out of harm's way and getting the drop on his foe at hand. He can also parry attacks, and, with later boss battles, soon learns of a deeper reversal system, which puts him into prime position for causing heavy damage. The first real boss encounter, against a large squid-like creature with a deformed head dropping menace into a dream world, introduces you to this, although the fight is hardly easy. Fortunately, most of the enemies you defeat drop health orbs, so you can keep your energy mostly full.

The game has three difficulty settings, including Proud Mode, which is the hardest one and probably the one dedicated fans will want to select to get the most out of their Kingdom Hearts II experience. As you get the hang of the control scheme, which also includes a fully controllable camera, assigned to the right analog stick (this is very helpful- no more blind attacks), you'll complete a number of side jobs to earn "munny", or funding that will allow you to move ahead in a level or purchase new items crucial to your quest. These mini-games can be fun, ranging from trying to get a large piece of cargo up a hill with timed attacks or fighting someone in a tournament to collect orbs, sort of like the gem-stealing fights from Power Stone.

To top it off, the game looks to have a solid presentation thus far. The graphics look wonderful and fully detailed, especially with something as small as character animation. For instance, Goofy, when he awaits a further action, will just stand around and chill, although his ears and jaw will flop just like they did in the cartoons. Levels look great, from scavenging aound Twilight Town to moving through a dream world, with stained glass floors and endless skies. The sound seems to be in touch as well, with a delicate movie-like score and voicework true to its character. And that's just the beginning- wait until you find some of your Disney favorites in the game, like Chicken Little (voiced by Zach Braff) and good ol' Hades (James Woods).

Initial impressions are pretty high at this point, although, like I said, some might be a little let down by the game's battle system. But overall, it appears to be a very solid quest and another big entry for the year for Square Enix. Look for the full review tomorrow to break this down even further and give you the lowdown.