Old Review: Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories (PS2)

My Review- Kingdom Hearts: RE:Chain of Memories (PS2)

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was a Game Boy Advance game that served to bridge Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. The original game is largely known for it’s card-based battle system, a departure from the pure action-RPG style of the other games in the series. Square decided in 2006 to remake Chain of Memories for the PS2 and bundle it with Kingdom Hearts II- Final Mix +. For some reason, they decided to only localize Re:Chain of Memories as a stand-alone game, instead of the whole KH2-FM+ package, which I am definitely NOT bitter over at all, but RE:CoM is still a fun, if slightly strange, addition to the Kingdom Hearts series.

STORY

RE:Chain of Memories’ story takes place in Castle Oblivion, a mysterious place run by Organization XIII. Series protagonist Sora ends up wandering inside the castle and is told by one of the Organization members that something dear to him is inside, but in order to find it, he must give up something in return. Using the mysterious powers of the castle, Sora must navigate the various Disney worlds from the first game in order to re-discover his memories. Sora and his friends discover that the further they go into the castle, the more memories they lose, while other memories are remembered. However, the Organization has sinister plans for Sora, and he may not be able to trust his newfound memories.

RE:CoM does provide a few interesting twists in it’s story, as well as introducing fan-favorite characters such as Namine and Axel. However, the majority of the plot is spent going through recycled Disney worlds, which are at this point rather done-to-death. The main story is kind of stretched thin by this; with absolutely nothing relevant to the overall plot being served in the Disney worlds, the one or two cutscenes between every hour of gameplay makes up the majority of the main plot. It does serve it’s purpose of setting up KH2, but that’s really the only interesting thing about Sora’s story.

RE:CoM also has a second story mode, unlocked after beating Sora’s, in which you play as Riku. Called Reverse/Rebirth, the Riku storyline is rather shorter than Sora’s, but provides a much more interesting story than Sora’s. Riku coming to terms with his actions in the original game, and confronting his inner darkness, provides an actual character arc that manages to be interesting (unlike Sora, who hasn’t grown as a character in four games). It’s worth slogging through Sora’s storyline just to get to Riku’s, and Reverse/Rebirth provides the best moments of RE:CoM’s story.

GAMEPLAY

The idea of a card-based Kingdom Hearts game sounds pretty strange, but RE:CoM actually makes it work. Unlike the original version, the combat here seems very much like a mainline Kingdom Hearts title, only with cards in the place of the command deck. Sora can build a deck with various cards, and cycle through them with the shoulder buttons while in combat. Pressing X selects a card to attack with, and multiple cards form a combo. Three cards can also be combined to form a sleight, a more powerful attack. When Sora runs out of cards, he must reload his deck of cards, a process which takes longer the more times he does it. Cards can also be combined into sleights, a more powerful attack, but one card from the sleight won’t return to the deck upon reloading, so if one relies on these powerful attacks, they’ll eventually run out of cards. Sora’s not the only one who has cards, though- all of the enemies do, too, and in battle, if the enemy plays a card with a higher number than yours, your card is ‘broken’ and the enemy’s attack goes through. Of course, Sora can break enemy cards too, meaning you must pay attention to the cards your opponent is playing. This is a lot to keep track of, and combat can get hectic at times trying to dodge enemy attacks while also setting up your cards. Sora gains experience from enemies, and with every level up, he can increase his HP, increase the capacity of his card deck, or learn a new sleight. The game also has a fair difficulty level as well- some bosses can be rather cheap, but skillful cardplay can get you through most fights.

World travel is also different in RE:CoM. Basically, every world is a randomly generated dungeon, giving the game a small roguelike element. Each dungeon is a set number of rooms, with certain rooms containing story events or boss fights. In order to advance to the next room, Sora uses Map cards won in combat. Each map card affects the properties of the next room- a Sleeping Darkness card will create a small room where all the enemies are asleep, for instance. However, each door has a cost, but you’ll always have the cards needed to meet the cost, so you’ll never need to hunt down extra Map cards. This method is exploration is quite fun, and adds plenty of variation to each new area.

Riku’s storyline has a few different gameplay elements than Sora’s. For instance, Riku cannot change the cards in his deck, but he reloads instantly. Riku’s dark powers come into play here, as well- by breaking enough enemy cards, Riku enters ‘Dark Mode’, a superpowered state in which he can perform powerful sleights and has increased attack power. Dark Mode is limited by Riku’s Dark Points, which decrease whenever he takes damage or has a card broken. Whenever Riku levels up, he can increase his HP, his attack power, or his Dark Points. Riku can also enter a one-on-one 'duel' with an enemy by playin a card equal to theirs, and by breaking enough of the enemies cards within a time limit, he'll perform a powerful attack. Playing as Riku is easily the best thing about this game, although unfortunately, Riku’s storyline takes him through the same worlds as Sora’s, and fights largely the same bosses. A huge recurring problem with the game in general is how often some bosses (particularly the Riku Replica) are recycled.

Re:CoM ends up feeling very familiar when you get into the swing of things, but the changes made here help the game stand out from the largely formulaic Kingdom Hearts series.

PRESENTATION

Late PS2-era games usually look great, and RE:CoM is no exception. Using the same engine as Kingdom Hearts II, the game’s character models animate smoothly and the backgrounds look great. It would be nice to see some more variety in the worlds (no matter what world you’re in, every type of Map card creates the same layout), but that’s not too big an issue. The music is, as usual, great, but the voice acting here is rather inconsistent. A noticeable problem is that the Disney characters have no voices at all, and that the only voice acting is in the between-world scenes. The returning character voices sound fine, but some of the minor characters are stinkers.

CONCLUSION

While it may initially come across as a huge departure, RE:CoM sticks rather close to Kingdom Hearts tradition, while at the same time creating a unique gameplay experience. While the game’s story can be of a rather inconsistent quality, RE:CoM is still a very enjoyable game.

SCORE- B+