Kingdom Hearts - Re:Chain of Memories

[Neo_Silverwolf]

Kingdom Hearts – Re:Chain of Memories

Introduction

Published by: Square Enix, Buena Vista Games
Developed by: Square-Enix
Release date:
NA: 12/02/2008
JP: 03/29/2007
Europe: N/A
Genre: Real-time Action\Card based RPG
Players: One
Systems available on: Playstation 2
Emulators: PCSX2 (Small chance of working)
Annoying people with weapons that overcompensate for something: Too many to count.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories is a remake of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Gameboy Advanced. Originally this was only available as a free extra in Japan for those who bought Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+. Now, it has been translated, dubbed in English and sold at a slightly lower price tag than most games.

Graphics and Music

For this remake, the graphics of Re:Chain have been significantly upgraded. Every area, enemy and character is now in full 3-Dimensional form, resembling close to the way the original Kingdom hearts was. While this upgrade is nice it’s not without a few flaws. Some of the characters seem smaller, shorter and their faces are chubbier looking, almost as if each model was compressed in a box half their size.

As for the music, it is essentially the same as you have heard before in the original Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. All music in each of the “worlds” (with the exception of Castle Oblivion) is exactly the same. The few original tracks from Chain of Memories have been slightly re-tuned. Each song sounds close to its original counterpart, but with added sounds or instruments. (Ex: Deep sounding bells during the track that’s played while you’re in between worlds)

Gameplay

If you have played KH: Chain of Memories before, then the gameplay shouldn’t be a mystery for you.

There are now the three usual difficulty settings in this game to choose from, Beginner, Normal and Proud mode.

Fighting is all about the cards, you create decks of cards that include keyblade cards, magic cards, summon cards and recovery cards. However, your deck is as limited as your CP (Card Points you perverts) and total allowed is.

Some slights both new and old (special moves done by stocking cards) now have reaction command actions added to them. (Ex: A new slight that involves Goofy requires you to press the triangle button at the correct time)

Leveling up requires a bit of thought. You have three choices when you level up, you can either add to your health, your card points or if available, learn a new slight. Also, Riku’s battle mode has been slightly improved as well.

When breaking an enemy’s card with a card of equal value, you enter “duel mode” (It basically involves you playing better cards than your opponent). If you are successful at winning the duel, you will deal a great amount of damage to your opponent.

Story

There are two sets of stories in this game, the first being Sora’s story and the second being Riku’s story (Only available after completing the game at least once).

The main story (Sora’s) is a continuation of the tale of Sora… Donald… Goofy… and marks the first appearances of the members of Organization XII. They arrive to a place called Castle Oblivion and they are told by a mysterious man in black that something dear to them is here and for them to find it… They must lose something dear that belongs to them. Sora and company believe it is Riku and King Mickey that are in the castle and so they begin their search…

The second story reveals that Riku is stuck in Castle Oblivion as well and must fight his way out while encountering a few bad memories along the way…

Most of the text in the scenes throughout the game is the same as the original. So far, all I’ve only seen minor changes to what is said.

(Ex: Axel’s line “Commit it to memory!” Is now, “Got it memorized?”)

A decent amount of scenes are now voice acted by the same people who were the voices of their characters in the previous games. (With the exception of Billy Zane)

Conclusion

While it’s disappointing that only this was brought out and sold separately instead of just selling this and KHII: Final Mix+ together, it’s still a good game to purchase or emulate (if possible) if you’ve never played it before or if you want a visual upgrade with a few extras.

Rating

Graphics - 6
Average graphics, character models look a little off.

Gameplay - 7
Pretty good gameplay, battles can get frustrating if you don’t have powerful enough cards or a well built deck

Story - 5
A decent story, it is essentially a slightly altered clip show of the first game.

Audio - 5
It is pretty much the same as the first Kingdom Hearts’ soundtrack.

Difficulty – 4
Proud mode does not really make the game that much more difficult. Reverse Rebirth mode is really the only thing that even makes this review merit a difficulty rating.

Overall – 5.4 out of 10

[darksynyster]

Awesome review man, you really nailed it. I don't have anything bad to say about it. It really does look like you put some thought into this one. Great job.

[rikuiv0]

Good job

[dragon794]

Yeah , the review is pretty good .

[MF29]

I think the reason why I hate that this game was released in America is because, I enjoyed being a part of the few Americans who were able to play the Japanese version. I'm so pissed off at Square-Enix, and it's fanboys, because they think that this game is the best game ever when it isn't. I hate that everyone considers everything that Square-Enix releases as an instant masterpiece.

I reviewed this game awhile back and no one even commented, my general views was that the game sucked because of the card system. In my eyes, it's a bad way to destroy button mashing. I would rather button mash strategically rather than evade attacks so I can find three seconds to reload my deck.

[T-Mac]

Originally Posted by MF29

my general views was that the game sucked because of the card system. In my eyes, it's a bad way to destroy button mashing. I would rather button mash strategically rather than evade attacks so I can find three seconds to reload my deck.

The game sucked because of the card system? The card system was amazing, a lot of people just don't give it a chance. Anyway the reason I liked it the most was because it was different from other KH games. It gets boring using the same system over and over again. Also IMO the card system requires a lot more strategy. You have to use the stock system if you want to be successful in that game which is fun but you have to use it right.

The mashing system is for 3 year olds. Its almost impossible to mash wrong in a KHs game. Where is the strategy in mashing buttons?

[MF29]

That's fine, and that's your opinion. I did give the system a chance, even though I hated it, I got all of the way to Twilight Town while tolerating it. The game was almost designed like it wanted to me to deal with using the Card system. I just thought it was stupid. I wanted to fight and a card break would break my attacking streak. With them, you can't just go in and own people mindlessly, the change of pace is something I did not like.

[cristian]

I thought the game was crap, you just basically relive short clips of what you did in the original kingdom hearts, and it was fine on the gba, since the different platform made it different somehow, but now it's just too similar to kh1, the same environments and graphics...