I got back to playing Kingdom Hearts 2 some days ago and I must say that the level design is kind of disappointing. I remember Kh1 had levels that were difficult to get through despite the combat there was platforming, places where you could fall of, small puzzles, basically more areas and ways to go...
Now in kh2 you never need to think the slightest bit. Every field in every world is perfectly guided by virtual walls, you basically go the linear main way and do the battles. Run and fight, that's the whole game.
Of course kh2 has much better combat, characters and a really cinematic feel to it that is greatly designed but just remembering how much there was to find only in traverse town and amazing levels like tarzan jungle, netherlands and the huge labyrinth that hollow bastion was endgame I'm not sure if I really prefer the 2nd one. Endgame was almos as long as the other worlds combined, on the 3h world record speedrun hollow bastion starts after 2 hours.
kh2 has no single level like this, also I liked the arena much more in kh1.
Now Im surprised what you think my friends
For me kh2 is still better because I mainly like story/chars and soundtrack much more but kh1 had a LOT of stuff I'm missing. Also the annoying oxiii battles from final mix are no near a replacement for battles like kurt zisa.