Kingdom Hearts: Chain of
Memories was released for the GBA in 2004 and received mixed reviews.
Four years later, the remake for the Playstation 2 has finally been
released in the United States. The story picks up right after Kingdom
Hearts 1 with Sora finding a mysterious castle. A person confronts them
and tells Sora about Cards and how they are used in Castle Oblivion. So
Sora must travel to most of the worlds from Kingdom Hearts 1 and help
the character there with any conflicts they have. Text sequences are
kept at a minimum and there is only one time when characters say things
like "Who are you?" "You don't remember?" " Well, kind of, you seem
like a nice person," etc. Every cut scene in the game can be skipped
also. The gameplay is the same thing as the GBA version with a few
enhancements. In case you didn't play the GBA version, the value on
each card represents how powerful that card is. When a card with a
higher value is played, it cancels out your card. A "0" card cancels
all other cards when played second. A lock-on has been added since the
battlefield has been enlarged, the camera also revolves around Sora
like the other games. There are factors in the world that can affect
you. Some of these mess up your controls like in the GBA version and
other make you take damage. The music has been enhanced from the GBA
version and sounds great on the TV. Just like other Kingdom Hearts
games, the music picks up during a boss battle, it is really well done.
The voice acting is saved for
important boss battles and cut scenes, so text based dialogue is used
in the worlds you go to as you are talking to the Disney characters.
The graphics look the same as the other two Playstation 2 entries.
Reverse Rebirth mode as made a return once you beat the game. Once
here, you'll find predetermined decks as well as a few other changes.
So overall, RE COM is a good addition to any gamer's library, but if
you didn't like the original Chain of Memories, then I recommend
holding out until 358/2 Days is released.-Brandon
BSG
Breakdown
Story - 8.5, Fills the gab in between KH 1 and 2. The stories within
each Disney world are not very good, but the Organization XIII side is
nice
Gameplay - 9.2, Very original, but the same thing as the GBA version
with small enhancements like the lock-on feature
Replay Value - 8.9, Reverse/Rebirth Mode is cool, but it doesn't offer
many new things that weren't in Sora's story
Overall Score - 9
