Even for those who aren't exactly Square Enix or Walt Disney "purists," the notion of mixing characters from such disparate entertainment universes in a single video game might seem a little, well, strange. It seemed stranger four years ago -- but it paid off big-time in the form of the original Kingdom Hearts, a worldwide hit which saw Square and Disney heroes facing off against the Heartless across a range of Disney-inspired locales. The sequel was not a question of if, but when. The "how" of it, however, is both good and bad.

The good news is that the fundamental, inventive charm and variety of the original is intact. Young hero Sora wields the Keyblade, a powerful magic weapon that is, literally, the Key to the Kingdom -- or Kingdoms, this case, as players will fight their way through meticulously-recreated locales (and alongside a myriad of characters) on all fronts, from many a Disney mythos.

These fantasy otherworlds include Winnie the Pooh's 100-Acre Wood, Beast's Castle (of Beauty and fame), The Land of Dragons (from Mulan), Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean), Halloween Town (The Nightmare before Christmas), the Timeless River (neatly rendering both the environs and game-characters in the black & white style circa Steamboat Willie), and even the fry-toy glowy realms of Space Paranoid (Tron all the way, with trippy fluorescent outlines for all).

The Disney and Square characters are a perfect artistic fit with the various realms and with each other, while the superb voice-acting comes courtesy of an ensemble, real-deal cast (James Woods, Jodi Benson), either freshly-recorded or taken directly from the source animated films.

The less-good news: In an apparent effort to make the game as widely "accessible" as possible, the combat has been scaled back excessively; Sora's single-button combos, reactive moves, and reliance on general button-mashing are simply too undemanding for all but the most novice gamers. Surely the game designers meant well, but as the Disney-fied saying goes, the road to Heck is paved with good intentions.

Additionally, Kingdom Hearts II is woefully presumptive in its assumption that you're intimately familiar with the fairly sprawling storyline of both the first Kingdom Hearts game and the follow-up title found only on the Game Boy Advance, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. If you're not, if you jump into Hearts II totally cold, expect to be thoroughly confused in terms of overall plot. It doesn't take away from the game's mechanics but, golly willickers, it sure would be nice to know what's going on most of the time.

Fortunately, the Coles Notes version should suffice and it goes like this: King Mickey needs your help. Go to a new world, find some candy-colored butts and wail on them in the name of all that is pure and animated. Donald and Goofy will be there, the Gummi ship challenges are worth the extra effort, and even Mulan will turn up, at some point. You'll be fine.

• TIP: Unless you're totally new to the Kindgom Hearts waters or RPG gaming in general, just set the game to its hardest difficulty level right off the bat and gameplay will be modestly challenging.