"Here we go again... AGAIN!"

Awhile back, Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix + was announced for Japan. It was a 2 disc set containing a version of Kingdom Hearts 2 with several new boss fights and extra scenes, as well as a fully 3D remake of the GBA between-story, Chain of Memories. For whatever reason, Japan decided we had not saved up enough “cool points” here in the states and decided to only give us a localization of the second disc containing Re: Chain of Memories.

This is, by and large, the same game you played (or didn’t) on the GBA. If I had actually beaten the original, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered picking it up. I had quit about 3 quarters of the way through on the GBA version because the proper sequel was about to release. I ended up reading the game script for that last quarter of the game and considered myself ready for the release of Kingdom Hearts 2. I was pleasantly surprised when I did finally pop in Re: Chain, though. Adding a third dimension did more than just improve the aesthetic; it actually made it both more accessible and more fun to play.

Chain of Memories always felt like it had a “convenient” story to me. Taking place directly after the first game, you wind up in Castle Oblivion. In this castle, each floor is a representation of your memory, meaning you spend about 90% of the game in areas you’ve already seen before, fighting enemies you’ve already fought before. I can never shake the feeling that this part of the story was written for the purpose of pumping out a cheap pseudo-sequel. Despite that, I find the story itself to be quite engaging and a much needed bridge to Kingdom Hearts 2.

All of the cut-screens between floors are now fully voiced and the 3D models and cinematography breathe new life into the story. Unfortunately, all cut-screens within the Disney worlds are not voiced. This is most likely due to the fact that re-hiring all those Disney voice actors would be too expensive for a budget title.

Unlike the numbered Kingdom Hearts games, battles take place in an enclosed area, separate from the map you do your exploring in. All combat is card based. Each card has a numerical value ranging 0 to 9. This has no bearing on how much damage the card will do. When you place an attack card down you will perform that attack. However, if an enemy places down a card of the same value, the cards will cancel each other out and your attack will be stopped in its tracks. If the enemy uses a card with a value higher than yours, only your card will be canceled and they will counter with the card they placed down. 0 (zero) cards can break anything, but also be broken by anything.

In order to increase your value, you can stack up to three cards at a time to use simultaneously. The enemy would then have to use a card (or cards) that equaled or exceeded the value of the 2-3 cards you placed down. In addition to this, various card combination can create “sleights”. Sleights are special moves. For example, 3 fire cards combined would cause “Firaga”. A fire card and 2 attack cards would cause “Fire Raid”; a move in which you hurl your flame covered weapon at the enemy like a boomerang. Some of these sleights must be earned while others are usable from the start. If your 3 cards don’t make a sleight, you will simply do the action of each of the cards individually in the order you stacked them.

So why wouldn’t you just stack cards all the time? When you run out of cards, you must hold down the action button to fill up a bar in order to reload your deck. Every time you stack cards you lose the first card in the stack for the rest of the battle. To make matters worse, each time you reload your deck in a battle, you have to fill one extra bar, though it will max out at 3 bars.

Fortunately, you and your enemy are not sitting at a table playing a CCG. This game is still very action oriented. During the battle you will be able to run around, jump, and even dodge roll in addition to using your cards. Each time you level up you will be given the choice of increasing your HP, your CP, or learning a new sleight. CP stands for card points. Each card takes a certain amount of CP to have in your deck. This number is different than the in-play value of the card. More powerful cards take up more space. It’s that simple. As you progress and earn more CP, deck building can be a lot of fun, especially if you are building a deck in order to take advantage of sleights.

One of the oddest things about this game is the way the maps are laid out. Each time you go through a new door to enter the next room, you will have to use a map card. Each of these map cards has a modifier. These can be anything from “enemies move slower” to “magic attacks are more powerful”. What’s interesting about this, though, is that depending on the card you use, the room itself will be completely different. Each combination of map card and Disney world seems to have its own, uniquely modeled room. It almost gives the random vibe of a dungeon crawler, but it isn’t actually random. If you were to use the same map card twice on the same Disney world, you would actually create 2 identical rooms. I’ve done it before. It is quite strange.

All in all, I think this is the kind of game you already have to be a Kingdom Hearts fan to enjoy. Though the card system can be interesting, the game can quickly feel very repetative and formulaic. Anybody who has not yet played a Kingdom Hearts game should stick with one of the numbered entries. But if you ARE a fan and have yet to play either version of this game, the story will intrigue you, and you’ll want to finish it to find out what happens next. It’s a very well done remake of an “OK” game.

Tags: budget titles, Cool Points, gba, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, ps2, remakes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.