Kingdom Hearts re: Chain of Memories (PS2) Review
Posted by Ron Martin on 01.12.2009
Remember when the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II was a lot different from the ending of Kingdom Hearts I and you were left asking what the hell happened? This is what the hell happened -- a remake of a Gameboy Advanced title.
Title: Kingdom Hearts re: Chain of Memories
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Players: 1
Rated: E for Everyone
Ever wonder why the end of Kingdom Hearts and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II just don’t seem to match up? At the end of Kingdom Hearts Sora, Goofy and Donald are on the trail to find King Mickey and Rikku. At the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II, you’re controlling some Sora look-a-like named Roxas and dealing with a group called Organization XIII. Feels like something’s missing, doesn’t it?
Square Enix has filled in that gap with a remake of the 2004 Gameboy Advance game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Chain of Memories tells the story of Sora, Rikku and pals between adventures while also introducing the world to Organization XIII, Sora’s nobody Roxas and the enigmatic Nimene.
Sora and friends have entered Castle Oblivion in their attempts to find their friends. The only problem is Castle Oblivion is inhabited by Organization XIII. Members of the Organization inform Sora that everything in the castle is done by putting various cards into play. The only caveat is the further you go into the castle, the more memories you lose. This comes into play as Sora travels through some of the same Disney worlds he did in Kingdom Hearts. At first, he remembers some of the characters but as he climbs higher and higher up the castle, he seems to remember no one. The stories in each world are similar to the stories from Kingdom Hearts with slight tweaks.
Graphics
The graphics for Chain of Memories are equal to its big brother counterparts. If anything, the small wall details in each world seem more 3D in this conversion of a 2D game than in the original title and its sequel. This is especially noticeable in the Wonderland and Halloweentown levels. Some of the graphics are exact retreads from the first Kingdom Hearts, while other dungeon rooms take bits of the worlds from their previous incarnation and mashes them together. A little disturbing to me is the twitchiness of all the characters as you wait for them to take action, but that just personally creeps me out.
What’s up, dog?
Sound
Haley Joel Osment is back as Sora’s voice in the cutscenes for Chain of Memories. The only problem with this is that Haley Joel’s voice isn’t so adolescent anymore causing Sora’s voice to sound quite a bit more grown up than in Kingdom Hearts II, which when combined with the aforementioned twitching makes it creepier than usual. Voice acting in itself is a blessing in this remake as the original had none. None of the Disney characters outside of Donald and Goofy get voices. Those are reserved for the main crew and the inhabitants of Castle Oblivion.
Musically, all your favorite tunes return from Kingdom Hearts evoking, get this, memories from the first game. There is a new tune during scenes that we learn more about the main plot that sounds hauntingly similar to Finding Nemo’s “Big Blue World.” All this adds up to a soundtrack that comforts the player by putting the player in the right mood for the level without the player even realizing the music is there. That’s the best kind of soundtrack.
Gameplay
This is where Chain of Memories takes a drastic turn from its brethren. Battles are still in real time and the patently awful Kingdom Hearts camera is still in play, but precisely how the battles are fought is completely different. The player travels from dungeon to dungeon, but with a twist. As you play cards (remember – everything is cards) to open doors, you can control what happens in each room. Want a room where all the enemies are sleeping? If you have the right card, you can make that happen. Need a reprieve from battling for minute? Create a room with a save point or a Moogle card trading room. This is a great system that allows the player to somewhat personalize what can be a tedious, open a door and fight people over and over system.
Tranquil? Yes, I think I will.
Onto the battles themselves. Chain of Memories abandons the real time see and destroy battles in favor of the old school Final Fantasy systems where the player runs into an enemy on the battlefield and is then transferred to a battleground battle with any number of enemies.
As for gameplay during the battles – this is the biggest negative of the game. While the card playing system works for customizing dungeons, it doesn’t work quite as well in battles. The player can’t do anything without playing a card. The cards dictate the attacks, healing, magics summoning and even when friends like Donald, Goofy and Aladdin can help you. While the enemies have been customized to not be as difficult as their Kingdom Hearts counterparts, it can still get very frustrating. Sitting their helplessly trying to reload your deck and searching for a cure card as your enemy pounds away on you does not make for a good gaming experience. To make matters worse. when casting spells or calling friends/summons, if you get hit in the process, the whole turn is cancelled out. During real time battles (sometimes fighting as many as 12 enemies at once) and especially during boss battles, players just don’t have the time to stock cards or search for the right play. The card battle system renders the game maddingly frustrating at times and at best, is unnecessary.
Freakin’ Cloud, always breaking my cards
The storyline is simple, but fits in with other Kingdom Hearts titles. Memories contained in your heart are memories you can never lose is the overriding them. As mentioned before, the gameplay is pretty linear and storylines similar to the first title with minor differences to adhere to the cardplaying and originally the Gameboy limitations of the system.
Fun Factor
For fans of the series, with no Kingdom Hearts III, anytime soon, it is fun to revisit some of our favorite worlds like Halloweentown, Agrabah and Olympus. The overriding storyline involving Castle Oblivion, Organization XII, Namine and Roxas is interesting. The card system, as mentioned, just seems unnecessary and forced. It certainly affects the fun factor as the frustration upon hearing the “Card Break” noise over and over or being unable to heal just because you can’t find the right card just before you die can be unnerving. Setting down the controller to regain composure may be necessary. Switching to a battle ground for battles and shortened world storylines mixed with limited graphics in the worlds give the game the feeling of being a few steps below both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II.
Lasting Appeal
Honestly, this game has no replayability. It’s only appeal is for fans of the series looking for a bridge between Kingdom Hearts and it’s sequel. Once played, if one is jonesing for a little Kingdom Hearts action, they’d be a fool to choose this one again over the previous two titles. While it can be fun while playing, Chain of Memories has one time play written all over it. The card system assures it of that.
Graphics
8.0
Nothing too terrible to downgrade the graphics too much, but not enough for a great score either. The graphics, while highly upgraded from the original Chain of Memories title, is status quo for the series as a whole. Nothing new and exciting, but
Gameplay
6.0
The storyline is fun, the characters are well rounded and the Disney/Final Fantasy factor is always a plus. The card strategy system is flawed in real time battle and while it's not impossible to overcome, it's more frustrating than it needs to be. If thi
Sound
9.0
The music from the first game carries over for each world here, combined with remixed versions of Disney classics. If nothing else, the music promotes familiarity and brings a personalized chain of memoriesof its own. Other than Haley Joel's grown up voi
Lasting Appeal
5.0
This is the games major weakness. With superior titles in the series, after a one time play, there is no reason to ever play this game with its challenging battle system ever again. There's nothing truly memorable about the game and that makes it easy t
Fun Factor
7.0
This is not a boring game to play. It can be fun to play and I enjoyed the ability to create my own dungeons. The game could be a lot more fun without the card system that works against you as another enemy while you are in battle. Plus, in we're not bre
Posted By: David (Guest) on January 14, 2009 at 08:26 AM
I don't mean to be a nitpicker, but the "Gameboy Advance" has NEVER been called the "Gameboy Advanced".
Posted By: Captain Durpoff (Guest) on January 14, 2009 at 08:23 PM
I liked the game it required strategy, when making your deck it is important to consider what the bad guy is going to do. Generally this has the player dying once or twice and tweaking his deck to be successful. I used a great deck that allowed me to continually break the enemies cards as well as run massive combos. The game was actually ease once I figured out to relax and properly build my deck. Riku's story is alot of fun as well, it is nice seeing the action from his POV.
Posted By: Gabe (Guest) on January 22, 2009 at 08:12 PM
Ugh. I despise Kingdom Hearts. It's not just because of the Disney content. It's also because it has gotten way too much praise then it deserves. KH has gotten so grossly overrated that other game series (which are better in my opinion) are becoming more forgotten as time passes like no one cares for them anymore. So sad. I miss the old games from the 90s, for instance, even poor Bubsy.
Posted By: Fox (Guest) on January 30, 2009 at 01:50 AM
