Kingdom Hearts
RE: Chain of Memories
R E V I E W
If you have read some of my
other blog posts or follow me on twitter, you may know that I am a HUGE Kingdom
Hearts fan. You might want to prepare for a longer post than usual. Chain of
Memories was the second installment in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but didn’t
do as well as hoped because it was actually released on the Game Boy Advance
instead of the PlayStation 2 like its predecessor. Well RE: Chain of Memories
is really just a reboot of what Chain of Memories was. None of the core
gameplay or storyline was changed. It was just remade for the PS2 with more
voice actors, better graphics; all the good stuff KH1 had. Now, do not let the
titles confuse you when you see Kingdom Hearts 2. This has confused many people
into thinking that RE: Chain of memories is the third installment since it was
released after Kingdom Hearts 2, yet they don’t take into account that it is
just a reboot of the original Chain of Memories made for the Game Boy Advance
which was released Before Kingdom Hearts 2. My theory on why these 3 games are
named this way is because Chain of Memories picks up right where Kingdom Hearts
left off. The opening cutscene is really just the ending cutscene of Kingdom
Hearts 1, then the next part happens which draws you into Chain of Memories. So
I think that Chain of Memories is basically a continuation to Kingdom Hearts 1
instead of a sequel, or else there would have been no reason to not call it
Kingdom Hearts 2. This may seem a bit confusing, but trust me, it all makes
sense when you really think about it.
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| Battling on RE: Chain of Memories |
G A M E P L A Y --- Yes lets talk about this fantastic gameplay in RE:
Chain of Memories. (which we will be calling RE:CoM through the rest of this
review) The core gameplay is thought of much like the Super Mario Bros. 2 of
the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It was a whole different world of gameplay, and
the people didn’t exactly care for it. Since you are in Castle Oblivion and
Castle Oblivion is run entirely by cards, your attacks, magic, and items are
controlled by cards as well. (Which I must say was a brilliant idea of the
developers) This offered a whole new style of gameplay than the original
Kingdom Hearts. Most people did not like the battle system. It’s more like a
JRPG than what Kingdom Hearts really is. When you touch an enemy you go into a
battle sequence. Instead of the turn based gameplay that is of JRPG’s though, you
are actually free to run around, roll, glide, do whatever in the battle area.
The only thing is you can’t just attack with all your button mashing skill. It
takes strategy to know what cards to use and when. There are many different
cards and many different ways to use them. So, the graphics in RE:CoM is pretty
much the second best on the PS2. (The best is Kingdom Hearts 2) There is a lot
of detail and animation in it. Surely the graphics alone are a work of art,
especially when you compare them to CoM for the Game Boy Advance. The controls
are easier than Kingdom Hearts 1’s controls. You actually do get to rotate the
camera with the left analog stick instead of the L2 and R2 buttons which made
camera angles pretty limited. Most everything else is the same as KH1 though
despite the different combat system. The musical score in RE:CoM, as is the
case with all Kingdom Hearts games, is mind blowing. Yoko Shimomura is truly
one of the best composers to ever walk the face of the earth and Utada Hikaru
can certainly inflict much passion in her songs. And the sound effects couldn’t
be more spot-on. One very awesome thing about RE:CoM though, is you get to play
as Riku! After you beat Sora’s story you unlock Reverse/Rebirth mode in the
game which allows you to play though Riku’s story instead of just Sora’s which
makes for a very enjoyable time! Riku’s story took me just under 10 hours (9
hours 59 minutes) to complete which is a bit shorter than it took me for Sora’s
which was 22 hours but it still can be just as enjoyable. You don’t have to
worry about your card deck because that is automatically edited for you. Riku’s
story is a bit different, but still just as fun as Sora’s. And with tens more
hours to spend on both of their story’s completing the game 100% there is
certainly a lot to keep you busy!
O F F E N S I V E M A T E R I A L --- Another thing that makes
the Kingdom Hearts franchise the greatest if video games is there is little to
no offensive material in any of the games! The worst it gets is in CoM for Game
Boy Advance Axel says “Give me a h*** of a show!” This line is tamed down,
though, in RE:CoM to “Try to make it enjoyable, Sora.” The only other things
that may be mildly offensive is the use of magic and Jasmine from the Disney
movie Aladdin and Ariel from The Little Mermaid both wear revealing clothing,
but its nothing too bad.
O V E R A L L --- Overall I give this an A++ on the JMRS. It is a game
anyone can have fun with, although older players will be able to understand the
storyline better. The gameplay is at the top of the scale along with the rest
of the Kingdom Hearts games. I recommend this game particularly to ages 8+
because of the complex storyline and only to people who have either played or
read through the story of Kingdom Hearts 1. I can not stress enough about how
good this game is! At the very modest price of $20 or less there is no excuse
for you to miss out on this awesome experience. Go pick it up now!
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