Video games are like the universal entertainment currency. We’ve got board games based on video games, movies based on video games, video games based on movies, and video games based on books that got made into movies. Someone ought to develop an international exchange rate for video games, just so we can figure out how much we can get for Milla Jojovich.

Fantasy Flight Games is a leader in the video-game-as-universal-currency market. Flip through one of those (intensely awesome) little catalogs you get with a new FFG game, and you’ll see plenty of video game exchanges – Doom, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft, and now Kingdoms Hearts is turned into a CCG.

Kingdoms Hearts is, for many people, the best console RPG-style game ever made. For many others, it’s cheesy and silly. Those other people are probably not the target market for the Kingdom Hearts CCG. But all those first people who are huge fans of the game might just love to get a little more hands-on time with the game through a decent little card game.

In Kingdom Hearts, each player is a traveler. Interestingly enough, if you use the starter decks you can get, each player is the same traveler – Sora, the hero from the game. Players recruit friends like Goofy and Aladdin and go world-hopping, until Dark and/or Heartless monsters attack. Then you have to fight. The goal is to secure 13 points of world points.

There are several different types of cards in Kingdom Hearts, which should come as no surprise to veteran CCG fans. You’ve got friends who can boost your attack score and your magic, magic friends who can help out but go away in one turn, attack cards (swords, mostly) that you can use to hit harder, world cards that you play to travel worth from one to three points each, and bad guy cards you play to slow down your opponent.

The basic game play is fairly simple. This is not destined to replace Magic as the next big thing. It’s not even as complex as Duel Masters, but there is some subtlety. Friends can help you defeat dark critters and challenges from the opposing player, but only once, so you have to decide when you need them. A maximum hand size and a recycling discard deck means you want to keep moving through your deck as fast as possible, and you may end up throwing out a card just to kick yourself three turns later.

On any given turn, a player can summon as many friends as he can afford, play magic cards, play bad guys on his opponent’s world, fight bad guys at his own current world, and even start a fight with his opponent. Friends can help cast magic spells, they can help fight, and they can help recruit other friends. There are lots of options and strategies that can work to push your way to victory.

The problem is, even with all these options, the game lacks the tough decision-making that makes the big-name CCG’s sell like they were plastic-coated drugs. The best course of action with a particular hand of cards is usually fairly obvious – play the friends, play the words, play the bad guys, it doesn’t really matter because none of these are bad ideas. Players are unlikely to need to save cards from one turn to the next just hoping they’ll need them, and deck-building isn’t as much fun when there just aren’t as many strategic options.

The problems with Kingdom Hearts, however, are not a game breaker. The game is obviously not meant to be the favorite purchase made by 30-year-old CCG veterans. It’s a light CCG meant for kids. I played several games with my kids, and now they have the cards and play each other. The game is great for kids from about 9 to 14, and maybe older if they are fans of the video game. The cards boast art from the video game, and are well-designed, so they’re attractive and entertaining. The rules are simple enough that kids will grasp it after just a couple turns.

Adults are not likely to get wrapped up in Kingdom Hearts. They’ll probably find the strategy limited and the theme a little kid-friendly, and that’s fine, because the game is meant for kids. As collectible card games go, Kingdom Hearts is more serious than Neopets and lighter than Duel Masters, and fans of the universal currency on which the game is based should get a kick out of expanding their interest to a card game.

Style: 4 – CCGs don’t have a wild tendency to be works of art, but Kingdom Hearts is pretty enough

Substance: 3 – Perfect for kids, probably a disappointment for adults