Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

When I first saw that there was a Kingdom Hearts game for Gameboy Advanced, I said "Oh that's cool" and went about my business, thinking it was some random unnecessary game that Square had pumped out to earn a few extra bucks. Then I learned that the plot to it is actually rather essential to the second game, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try.

Wow. That's all I can say. I was blown away by the intelligence of the plot I was witnessing. There were so many twists and turns, and it really kept me guessing up until the spectacular conclusion (both of them). What's even more impressive is how well developed all the characters are. The members of the Organization each have their own distinct personalities and cease to be mere stereotypes that are all too often the villains of gameboy games. You truly cared about their existence, and it was always a major accomplishment if you took one of them down.

The gameplay itself is fairly creative, and a great adaptation to the GameBoy system. The card system allows one to pull off a plethora of attacks, and building your deck really takes quite a bit of strategy to do correctly. The only negative that I really see is that all the rooms you travel through really have more or less the same layout, so that can get a little repetitive. But, being the movie buff that I am, plot line matters more to me than anything. I more than got what I was looking for - it's a shame Kingdom Hearts II didn't have plot and character development this good...

A must play for all Kingdom Hearts fans.

Kindgom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a good game. It's a prequel from the PS2 versions. This one is an action RPG.

After the opening presentation (with surprisingly good graphics) you get to the main game.

It's a hack-and-slash game, except with one thing: cards. Cards decide your attack, and are measured on the number in the corner. This number tells how good your card will do in battle. When you are playing a card, your opponent can use a different card. Depending on the number, either card will break. You can also choose which cards you want, for strategy. Cards with higher numbers (Zero can break anything when coming out, but can be broken by anything else.) have less of a chance of being broken. You can also use custom attacks by putting cards together, and making sleights. However all this becomes difficult because you have to worry about your opponent attacking you, while you are changing cards.

You can also explore too. They will only change depending on what card you use to open the door.

Well, to sum it all up, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has a unique style of game play, but you soon fight too many enemies with a crowded screen. It's hard to fight with so much stuff crowding the screen. You can't sort through your cards without a chance of getting hit. The worlds seem all similar with no puzzles of any sort. The only real variation in the worlds depends on what cards you use to open the doors.

6/10

Good: Unique game play. It's fun to customize decks.

Bad: crowded screen, you fight way too many enemies, levels are kind of similar Feel free to send me a Private Message regarding this comment.

Feel free to send me a Private Message regarding this comment.

Unless you're a fan of the original Kingdom Hearts on the PS2 then I would probably stay away from this game. You'll be totally lost and confused and won't know who the hell any of the characters are aside from the recognizable Disney ones. Plus, they are all suffering from amnesia and their long, too frequent, cut-scenes have an enigmatic feel to them so you'll still not really ever be sure what is going on no matter how far you get into the game.

I think the card-based strategy of fighting and evolving is a horrible, badly conceived misfire of an idea. This kind of thing may be fine in a Beyblade video-game but in a Disney/Final Fantasy game it's just inappropriate. The whole concept is scatterbrained and random and has no real skill involved. It takes ages to build up a decent combat deck and even when you do the fighting is endless, tedious and boring. You'll fight the same villains in every level and while in appearance the levels may look different (taking their inspiration from many different Disney films) they are essentially all the same.

The fun comes from spotting popular Disney characters and trying to get into the story that involves them. But the plot is so incomprehensible and alienating that I just didn't care after a while.

I did stick with the game for a good few months and found advancing through each level to be an exhilarating and thankless chore. Nothing changed and I never really felt like I was getting anywhere. I've played better RPGs than this and so have you. As RPGs on the GBA go, I've yet to see one that truly works.

Skip this unless you're a die-hard fan of either franchise.

Graphics A Sound C Gameplay C+ Lasting Appeal C+