Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts Chains of Memories

Going into this game i figured i would be playing a Kingdom Hearts game that takes place in between KH1 and 2... while this is true, there are some BIG differences... The main and most important one being the game play...

Instead of the normal free roaming slash and smash game play the game uses an interesting card based fighting system... rather than being able to attack any enemy at any time, and heal yourself at any time (assuming you have enough mana or potions) you are forced to use a card that represents that action... and when you run out of cards ( because your cards are gone after you use them) you must replenish your deck by holding the X button while the recharge card is selected... the more times you run out of cards, the longer it takes to get them back.. It is EXTREMELY confusing at first, but after about an hour or so you begin to accept the new game play and it becomes second nature...

The camera is completely manual, which is very annoying because you have enough to worry about without first having to find your enemies... i dont remember if the original KH had an automatic camera but it seemed like it was at least partially computer controlled..

After spending a few months playing nothing but XBOX 360 on my HDTV anything less just looks terrible.. which may explain why the games visuals appear to be ugly... so basically, understand that it IS a PS2 game and will NOT support HD so if you have an SDTV you may want to play it there...

The controls are what we have come to expect from square, so despite the complex gameplay, it is relatively easy to control...

In conclusion, the game is innovative, but i would definitely recommend renting or borrowing the game before you buy it... its not for everyone as it forces you to be more strategic with you battles... its a fun game if you like strategy, but the learning curve is a little sharper than it should be... and with PS2 visuals, its not exactly GORGEOUS...

Castles, Cards, and a mysterious Organization. What more can you ask for? Oh yeah, good English dubbing would be one.

Another remake from Square Enix (they seem to be addicted remaking games now) and none to soon, helping ease the Kingdom Hearts drought that is currently infesting the world (save for Japan, with the release of Coded). Now to the review...I am running out of witty introductions.
Story: What you expect from a Kingdom Hearts game. Plenty of Disneys "friendship and love and memories conquer evil." But actually, this story is one of the darker ones of the series. Plenty of death and betrayals to keep you wanting more from it. While you will probably select Scene Skip during the Disney world scenes (due to the lack of voice acting and otherwise boring plot in those worlds), you will just want to see more of the events of Castle Oblivion and the Organization. And the story doesn't end with Sora either, since there is another part of the game unlocked when you beat the main one, which shows the events under the castle and how they affect Soras journey.
Gameplay: This games best asset is its innovative concept of card-combat and its use of it. While I am not going to go into the complicated deal of explaining attacking, sleights, magic and the like, its very simple once you try it yourself. But you will undoubtedly notice that a bit more strategy is thrown into the mix with this game, such as planning your next move in comparison with your opponents deck or sleight and how to make sure you have the appropriate card in any event. However, you will get very much annoyed at the enemies AI and how it just spams certain sleights and 9/0 cards to defeat you (which it will, with Riku and Axel the biggest offenders). But all in all, you will probably enjoy the combat, and a fresh relief from the button mashing (though its still kind of there).
Audio/Visual: Another place the game shines...rather lack-luster, but it shines. The music is top notch with the music (most of which is old tunes, but they are still great). Voice acting, on the other hand, inspires a neutral feeling. While the Voice Actors for same are great (such as the ones for Riku, Namine, Marluxia, Larxene, and Vexen) others inspire complete hatred at that character for having a terrible voice ( Axel, Ansem, DiZ, and especially Zexion). And the dubbing for the game didn't help. Instead of changing the lip movements to match the voicing, they instead had the actors match the Japanese lip syncs, which hinders the flow of sentences with awkward pauses and strangely phrased sentences. As for the graphics, its Kingdom Hearts I on the Kingdom Hearts II engine, so nothing surprising. But the facial movements during the voice acted scenes are really great and give the story some extra spice in the emotion area.
Conclusion: A great to pick up if you never played the original Chain of Memories or if you are a Kingdom Hearts fan in general. The game does really well with extra content in searching for hidden cards and sleights once you beat the game. But on the other hand, once you beat the game, you will probably have no desire to play through it again, due to Theater mode (which shows all the scenes scenes in the game) being accessible. Though the game suffers from shoddy and rushed English dubbing, and somewhat hard boss battles, the game is a gem for any Kingdom Hearts fan, and could be worth the price of $29.99. Though it is hard to not laugh that Sora sounds like his older self in his younger selfs body.