Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

 PlayStation 2
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 388 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 232 out of 388
  2. Mixed: 101 out of 388
  3. Negative: 55 out of 388
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  1. SleepingLionX
    Mar 16, 2012
    6
    In the story department, Chain of Memories delivers just as much as any other Kingdom Hearts game. The gameplay is a completely different story. The card system can be difficult to understand, punish you at the worst of times, and can be infuriating at times. You'll find yourself dying more than a few times in a row to the same boss due to the card system. The second half of the story,In the story department, Chain of Memories delivers just as much as any other Kingdom Hearts game. The gameplay is a completely different story. The card system can be difficult to understand, punish you at the worst of times, and can be infuriating at times. You'll find yourself dying more than a few times in a row to the same boss due to the card system. The second half of the story, Reverse/Rebirth mode, relieves some of these frustrations due to the fact that it pre-selects your cards, but between the story bits, the repetitive grind of the fights becomes tedious. While the cutscenes and story make it somewhat worth it, I only recommend this for the dedicated Kingdom Hearts fans. For anyone else, you can look up a walkthrough on YouTube, because its better than having to suffer through the battle system.… Expand
  2. sLm
    Apr 21, 2012
    7
    It's a very good game, cannot be compared to KH 1 and 2 because this is merely a light bridge between both of them just to understand the storyline, but it's fun and entertaining. The 7 score is because they didn't even bother in releasing a PAL version, shame on them, otherwise I would give this a 9.
  3. EricHarmon
    Oct 26, 2013
    5
    sigh, this game is dissapointing and i'm a big kingdom hearts fan. the game feels linear, although you can go back to previous areas, there really is no reason to. the storyline... the only parts i enjoyed were the parts that took place in castle oblivion, the disney storylines though... oh god they are terrible! they are literally the same from kingdom hearts 1, maybe only a slightly bitsigh, this game is dissapointing and i'm a big kingdom hearts fan. the game feels linear, although you can go back to previous areas, there really is no reason to. the storyline... the only parts i enjoyed were the parts that took place in castle oblivion, the disney storylines though... oh god they are terrible! they are literally the same from kingdom hearts 1, maybe only a slightly bit different. and the gameplay is annoying because now you play with F***ing CARDS! it is especially annoying with bosses, who can easily break your cards to do their own rediculously annoying attacks. and every time you run out of cards you have to reload them, but each time you reload you lose more cards from your deck, until you're stuck with one weak attack card that can't do SH*T against bosses. the bosses on the other hand have unlimited cards, that they can use as they please while you're stuck with your weak attack card. the only part where i started enjoying the game was the last floor in castle oblivion, and the final boss fight, which i gotta say had some pretty awesome music. after you complete Sora's story you can start a new game with Riku, with a different story, and slightly different battle system, playing as riku isn't much better though, the disney worlds have no storyline now, and all you do is run through the same areas you did as sora, and you can't customize your deck, the game does it for you. i suggest just watching the cutscenes on youtube if you want to know the story, because the game isn't worth playing through.… Expand
  4. FreedomFighters
    Mar 4, 2018
    6
    After "Kingdom Hearts" became one of my favorite video games of all time, I was immediately excited to play whatever "Kingdom Hearts" adventure came next. Enter "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories," which isn't a direct sequel, but rather a spinoff that's still connected to the "Kingdom Hearts" chronology (and yes, I'm well-aware that this is a port of the Game Boy Advance title). TheAfter "Kingdom Hearts" became one of my favorite video games of all time, I was immediately excited to play whatever "Kingdom Hearts" adventure came next. Enter "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories," which isn't a direct sequel, but rather a spinoff that's still connected to the "Kingdom Hearts" chronology (and yes, I'm well-aware that this is a port of the Game Boy Advance title). The game is radically different from the first, in that it uses a card-based battle system. Making such a drastic change is pretty risky, so despite my excitement, I was admittedly a little skeptical. Turns out I had good reason to be skeptical with this one.
    "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories" is immediately pretty interesting: where many sequels tend to forget that a character gained new powers in the previous game, "Re:Chain of Memories" has a story that revolves around Sora and friends losing their "memories" (essentially, their powers) as they go through Castle Oblivion. Thus, the game has an interesting concept from the jump. Visually, the game is still gorgeous, the controls are still solid, the game is relatively fun overall, and the music remains as lovely as ever.
    That said, the game is held back by quite a few things. For starters, the plot gets even more confusing this time around, to the point where it's occasionally hard to even follow what's going on. From there, the fact that the game has you going through the exact same worlds as the first game makes it feel in some ways like a blatant rehash of the story in the first "Kingdom Hearts" game. And while the new card-based battle system isn't a case of "they changed it, now it sucks" and it's occasionally fun, it's just pretty cumbersome to deal with. It's all too easy to run out of cards quickly, and it really limits how you approach battles with different enemies, especially in the ridiculously-difficult-even-on-Beginner-mode boss fights.
    All things told, "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories" is certainly not a bad game. It has quite a few good things going for it. Unfortunately, the things it has going against it really hard-counter it. This is one of those cases where a game takes two steps forward (in that it tries to do something unique and different) but four steps backwards (in that the big change is really frustrating to deal with). If you really enjoy the "Kingdom Hearts" games for the story, this one will be totally fine, of course. However, if you're like me and you're more interested in the gameplay, it wouldn't be the worst idea to just skip this one. All I can say is, judge with your heart if you're deciding whether or not to play this one.
    Final rating: 6 out of 10 "Decent"    … Expand
  5. BedhedEdWed
    Nov 29, 2017
    5
    For a game that was originally on the Gameboy Advance, this game sure has a lot of content. That is the problem with this game. The gameplay is so shallow and easy to manipulate that, save for a few extremely cheap and luck based boss fights, there is almost no challenge in this 25-hour adventure, making the player just wish for the game to end. The game has 2 campaigns for both Sora andFor a game that was originally on the Gameboy Advance, this game sure has a lot of content. That is the problem with this game. The gameplay is so shallow and easy to manipulate that, save for a few extremely cheap and luck based boss fights, there is almost no challenge in this 25-hour adventure, making the player just wish for the game to end. The game has 2 campaigns for both Sora and Riku. Sora's campaign is the main event, taking me 18 hrs and 15 mins to complete. His campaign has deck building elements (the only real source of strategy in the game) and moogle shops. The player has more freedom in gameplay, but they will also quickly find out that you only have to spam a couple of card combinations--called sleights--to win. Sure, you lose the first card of the sleight, but you will always be able to replenish them with a hi-potion or elixir. The value of the sleight will be so high, the enemy won't be able to break (play a card or sleight with a value higher than yours that stops what you're doing) it without a 0 card (breaks any active card, but is broken by any card once played). Most of the time they won't be able to play the 0 card because you will be hitting them so fast, and even then they don't have that many. One could argue to just not use sleights, but without cheesing the game, it's impossible to beat. I dare anyone to beat the late game fights (at a reasonable level, not 99) with Replica Riku without spamming sonic blade, lethal frame, and strike raid. Riku's campaign is more of a side story, but it still contains plot elements integral to the Kingdom Hearts story. His campaign only took me about 6 and a half hours to blaze through. There is no deck building or moogle shops, just a darkness/superpower mode and a new duel mode. Pretty much you just match an enemy card value, and then just spam the x button until you have broken all their cards and you win the duel. Once you break enough enemy cards, you go into dark mode and just spam the fire sleight until you win. I enjoyed Riku's campaign much more because you could just skip all the regular enemy encounters. I skipped every non-boss encounter after the fifth world. I thank God that most of this game is a cakewalk because the gameplay is so boring. You're pretty much going to be praying for the next cutscene to trigger. This game had potential, but it botched the landing so much it broke both of its legs.… Expand
  6. Doomworks
    Feb 14, 2014
    7
    its a good game it adds to the story its kinda good to play through old worlds.The main thing of this game is the card system that adds a lot of strategy to combat. In my opinion its average i like it
  7. SuperkenGaming
    Jan 5, 2017
    7
    Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    De Ja Vu
    Chain of memories is a direct sequel to kingdom hearts… This time your search for king Mickie takes you to the castle of oblivion… Your objective of the game is to make it up this castle 1 floor at a time… And conveniently each of these floors revisits your memories as the higher you go the more you forget and remember at the same time..    Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    De Ja Vu
    Chain of memories is a direct sequel to kingdom hearts…
    This time your search for king Mickie takes you to the castle of oblivion…
    Your objective of the game is to make it up this castle 1 floor at a time…
    And conveniently each of these floors revisits your memories as the higher you go the more you forget and remember at the same time..
    Perfect opportunity for developers to get lazy and just recycle… and that’s exactly what they did…
    Chain of Memories is Just the original kingdom hearts put into a card combat format with the excuse of memory loss…
    There’s nothing new to see here other than a few characters in the kingdom hearts lore…
    But as for Disney characters and worlds.. its revisiting the exact same places in the original… this is one of those rare instances where you’re better off watching all of the cut scenes for the story on YouTube than actually spending 20 hours of your life playing through.. which is a shame because the game is actually really good and has potential to be addictive…
    Unlike the hack and slash meets 3d platformer style of the original, chain of memories is more of a dungeon crawler meets hack and slash card game… you go into a room.. kill some heartless for xp and at the end of the fight they also drop a card… you use these cards to open new doors in these dungeons…
    And what’s in these rooms are dependent on the card you play…
    The only rules to the cards you can use on the door is that the number has to match or be higher.. And rarely you’ll need to match or be lower for the card value... and each card has its own perk such as more heartless, treasure room, a shop to buy cards for combat among many other things…
    and for combat you attack with these cards in real time…
    The highest value gets the hit.. It’s very fast paced and rarely requires any thinking... but definitely requires bit of strategy… but it’s all very accessible preventing you from raging during battles…
    You build up your deck with attack, summon, and magic cards you get throughout the world in breakable items, shops, and story progression… but your deck does have a max amount of cp.. so it’s going to be a while until your deck is full of 5 plus value… and as you level up you get to choose if you increase this cap, your hp, or learn a new slight move which is pulled off by stacking 3 weaker cards together for a more powerful attack… which gives reason to not just toss the weak cards to the side or sell them.. And you do have allies by your side, but you have to catch their cards mid battle to call them in to do an attack much like a summon… they aren’t there fighting with you the whole time like in kingom hearts 1.. which is fine as the battles are miles easier here…
    It’s a great concept but again... the worlds and the story....even the boss fights, theyre just compact versions of the real thing..… it’s all recycled from kingdom hearts 1…..which kills this game…
    Kingdom hearts 1 is the superior game.. If you want to experience these Disney world’s play that one instead... you do play as someone else in the final chunk of the game that I’m not going to say for spoilers... But even they are revisiting the same spots too…
    Chain of Memories is included in the collection and is definitely worth at least checking out... But don’t be surprised when boredom kicks in as you never see anything new…
    I give Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    a 7/10    … Expand
  8. eternalpwnz
    Feb 19, 2015
    5
    i give the game a 4 i am a huge fan of kingdom hearts but this games gameplay just does not okay with the cards im okay with games trying something new like dream drop distance added flowmotion but this is isn't the kind that i need for such a good series its decent but not as good as the other ones
  9. artificeprime
    Apr 14, 2018
    5
    While the story is actually pretty good, the gameplay is linear, repetitive and joyless.

    The gameplay is such a huge departure from Kingdom Hearts 1 that it is extremely jarring. The card system isn't terrible, in combat, it does work but I found it far less fun an immersive than the more natural combat of Kingdom Hearts. Outside of combat each area basically involves jumping up    While the story is actually pretty good, the gameplay is linear, repetitive and joyless.

    The gameplay is such a huge departure from Kingdom Hearts 1 that it is extremely jarring. The card system isn't terrible, in combat, it does work but I found it far less fun an immersive than the more natural combat of Kingdom Hearts. Outside of combat each area basically involves jumping up platforms and opening doors. Opening the doors with cards is so repetitive and boring that it just feels like a chore. There is very little in the way of fun interactive puzzles or the diverse gameplay elements that kept Kingdom Hearts fresh. There are a few decent boss fights but a lot are just recycled. For people who really like card based combat games, this might be great. Personally I didn't find it fun at all. I found myself spending more time looking at my cards than actually paying attention to the movements of my character. The mix of real time 3D combat with card based moves just felt awkward.

    The story is really the best thing about the game but it is also quite confusing. It involves Sora having his memories altered and that actually leads to to really interesting drama between the characters. There is more development among the characters but it can also be frustrating to play as Sora who is progressively less rational as the plot moves forward. This story plays an important part in the series as a whole, so it is worth watching. I would say it is better to watch the story than play the game though.

    The characters are pretty well developed, more so than in KH1. I liked a lot of the new additions and that was one of the few elements that kept me interested in the game.

    The world is extremely boring and repetitive. Castle oblivion is just a big series of white hallways. Its appearance makes some sense within the story but it is boring to explore. Each world basically just reused small parts of KH1 worlds. They were all very straight forward and annoyingly joined together by locked doors. Half of exploration just involves opening doors and it rarely felt rewarding.

    There is a decent amount of content but I actually found myself wishing the game was shorter because so much of the gameplay was repetitive and/or boring.

    The visuals and sound were good but it mainly just reuses KH1 assets. There were very few new designs. The new characters all looked pretty good though and there were some iconic shot choices. In terms of visuals and sound it is pretty much a watered down KH1.

    Overall I really did not enjoy playing the game but I did like the story and I think the game is worth experiencing for that reason. If you just want to see the story though you are probably better off just watching a video version.    … Expand
  10. likevin96
    Mar 27, 2017
    7
    Completion:
    - Sora: Standard Mode
    - Riku: Beginner Mode (just wanted to finish the game by that point) Pros: - Card battle system is interesting and without a doubt unique - Many classic KH/Disney tunes return - Voice acting is solid for the most part, especially for a 2008 game - A lot of content - Bosses are fun, difficult, and creative - The two protagonists play very    Completion:
    - Sora: Standard Mode
    - Riku: Beginner Mode (just wanted to finish the game by that point)

    Pros:
    - Card battle system is interesting and without a doubt unique
    - Many classic KH/Disney tunes return
    - Voice acting is solid for the most part, especially for a 2008 game
    - A lot of content
    - Bosses are fun, difficult, and creative
    - The two protagonists play very differently from one another

    Cons:
    - Battle system can be abused to the point where you're more or less mashing triangle for every non--boss battle (at least up to standard mode). Essentially, random battles feel like an immense chore.
    - Deck-making can be a chore, which should never be said about a card game
    - Incredibly boring and boxy environments
    - Lack of voice work from the Disney character s
    - Many assets and even storylines are copy/pasted from the original game
    - Very little story for such a long game. Even what is there seems mostly nonsensical without knowledge of 358/2 Days and KH2. Hard to imagine how someone could care about the non-returning characters without experiencing those games.
    - The duel mechanic is clunky and unfun

    True Score: 6.9    … Expand
  11. frederik1478
    Apr 27, 2020
    7
    I wouldn't call it bad but it's not good I would say it straight in the middle . I would recommend watching YouTube video while playing it
  12. DylanJHamilton
    May 7, 2018
    7
    Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Re: Chain of Memories was a very different game in terms to the gameplay with the card structure. I do think Square Enix was very genius with the concept with the platform. I felt that however, due to this card system, losing can be very easy if you do not get yourself situated with that. It can get irritating, but the amount of content is a lot for oneKingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Re: Chain of Memories was a very different game in terms to the gameplay with the card structure. I do think Square Enix was very genius with the concept with the platform. I felt that however, due to this card system, losing can be very easy if you do not get yourself situated with that. It can get irritating, but the amount of content is a lot for one game. Sora and Riku mode can be very long if you do not learn sleights or understand the card system. I feel like this one stands out as a game that not a lot of casual gamers will go through and play and may just watch the cutscenes to understand the story. But diehards will push their way through the game. Rather tedious, the game stands out and with it being remastered with PS2 graphics at the time was very refreshing and gives me hope for other titles to get the same treatment.… Expand
  13. maturene
    Dec 22, 2018
    6
    Luego escribo una review desas que ahora mismo me da pereza y tal. me cagoento
  14. Miguelinform123
    Jan 12, 2019
    5
    Overrated, for me it wasn't fun at all. The story is good, but it has a lot of problems at the time to tell that story. It's not an awful game, but it's not so good as people say.
  15. DarkBlastLP
    Jun 10, 2019
    7
    This game is a hit or miss. People seem to love it a lot or hate it a lot. However, if you get behind the games' mechanics it can be a really fun experience and it's definitely worth playing if you've got the hd remix. The cards are well thought out for battle and creating your deck is fun. What isn't fun is the room generation. It's always the same! You get cards to generate rooms andThis game is a hit or miss. People seem to love it a lot or hate it a lot. However, if you get behind the games' mechanics it can be a really fun experience and it's definitely worth playing if you've got the hd remix. The cards are well thought out for battle and creating your deck is fun. What isn't fun is the room generation. It's always the same! You get cards to generate rooms and chances are the only thing to change is the theme of each world carries over. Play it to get the most out of your kingdom hearts II experience.… Expand
  16. PokeProX
    Feb 3, 2020
    7
    Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Review (in a nutshell)
    P.S: My review was originally long, but my review was all deleted and gone. Now, I’m kinda frustrated so I putting this review in a nutshell.
    Re: Chain of Memories is a continuation of Kingdom Hearts and the story is pretty good. The card gameplay is kinda controversial. Fighting against enemies feels like a chore and fighting    Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Review (in a nutshell)
    P.S: My review was originally long, but my review was all deleted and gone. Now, I’m kinda frustrated so I putting this review in a nutshell.

    Re: Chain of Memories is a continuation of Kingdom Hearts and the story is pretty good. The card gameplay is kinda controversial. Fighting against enemies feels like a chore and fighting against bosses feels really tough and annoying. The graphics are only just PS2 graphics and the music is nothing special. The cast of characters are really good and interesting. And there’s voice acting.

    Story, really good. Gameplay, controversial and annoying. Graphics & music, nothing special. Characters, really good and interesting. There, it’s done! Well, the score is... 7.6 (7)!    … Expand
  17. neko555
    Dec 2, 2020
    5
    Después de haber jugado al 1, que me encantó, este juego creo que sobraba completamente. En todo caso debería haber quedado sólo en GBA.
    Absolutamente todos los gráficos son reciclados del 1, y en las versiones para PS3 y PS4 ni si quiera se han molestado en remasterizar las escenas de vídeo.
    En cuanto a la jugabilidad, repetitivo hasta el infinito con el sistema de habitaciones. Y lo    Después de haber jugado al 1, que me encantó, este juego creo que sobraba completamente. En todo caso debería haber quedado sólo en GBA.
    Absolutamente todos los gráficos son reciclados del 1, y en las versiones para PS3 y PS4 ni si quiera se han molestado en remasterizar las escenas de vídeo.
    En cuanto a la jugabilidad, repetitivo hasta el infinito con el sistema de habitaciones. Y lo peor de todo, las batallas con cartas parecen son un quiero y no puedo. En la primera parte del juego, aun así, funciona, pero en la segunda parte cambia bastante el sistema, le quitan muchas de las posibilidades que tenía y se vuelve increíblemente más engorroso.
    Sinceramente, lo estoy jugando y lo terminaré por saber de la historia, pero de haberlo sabido inicialmente habría visto algún resumen por youtube para continuar con el siguiente juego directamente.    … Expand
  18. SWFan523
    Jun 21, 2020
    5
    Just an "ugh" of a game. Love the KH franchise but this entry doesn't do it for me. LOVE the story and it's place in the canon, but repetitive and frustrating gameplay bog down the experience. Completed the first KH game in 3 days while this one took me about 2 weeks to sit down and complete. Gameplay. ruins it.
  19. Dantheman707
    Jun 29, 2020
    7
    Great game with a fantastic story and decent combat that is different from the rest of the series
  20. Raado-san
    Jul 26, 2020
    6
    The card system is good idea but it was great when the game was 2D on the GameBoy but the PS2 remake didn't deliver the idea that well but overall is acceptable.
  21. Frosstype
    Oct 28, 2021
    5
    I'm a huge KH fan but this game is very rough. I ended up just spamming Sonic Blade the entire time with, fortunately, no mechanics that would tilt me off the planet. Played this one just to get the story out of it. One thing I can say is good about this game is the atmosphere and the new music they added it gives a different vibe to the franchise which is refreshing. Unique gameplayI'm a huge KH fan but this game is very rough. I ended up just spamming Sonic Blade the entire time with, fortunately, no mechanics that would tilt me off the planet. Played this one just to get the story out of it. One thing I can say is good about this game is the atmosphere and the new music they added it gives a different vibe to the franchise which is refreshing. Unique gameplay nothing really annoying imo and not for everyone.… Expand
  22. MacArron23
    May 19, 2023
    7
    Interesting combat system, it will not appear again in the franchise, it just get a little bit repetitive to advance defeating heartless again and again
  23. KnuffleBunny180
    Jul 24, 2023
    7
    *Flawed, but fun*
    Originally, I didn't play this game and watched the story cinematics because I just couldn't play it. However, I decided to give it a shot. Needless to say, I found some enjoyment out of it. It takes time to learn, but when you do, it feels great. However, if you're looking for a standard Kingdom Hearts experience, or just wanna get to Kingdom Hearts 2, just watch the    *Flawed, but fun*
    Originally, I didn't play this game and watched the story cinematics because I just couldn't play it. However, I decided to give it a shot. Needless to say, I found some enjoyment out of it. It takes time to learn, but when you do, it feels great. However, if you're looking for a standard Kingdom Hearts experience, or just wanna get to Kingdom Hearts 2, just watch the story scenes on YouTube. This game has Gameplay>Story which makes sense because it was originally a GBA game, but it still feels empty in some spots. The bosses were the best part of the game because they actually provided challenge, and Riku's campaign provided challenge as well. What I liked a lot about this game is the deck building and how you could approach it however you want. But, it's not for everyone. 7/10, didn't expect it to be as good as it was.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PS2 Game of 2008
3
#3 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2008
3
#3 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 20
  3. Negative: 2 out of 20
  1. 1UP
    67
    Seriously, though -- for Kingdom Hearts fans who missed out on COM the first time, this is definitely the best way to play it. While the new stuff is small (a few so-so minigames in Hundred Acre Wood, additional voice acting from the Sixth Sense kid, etc.), my memory of Chain of Memories hasn't changed: It's a pleasant little title that reminds me how much I want Kingdom Hearts 3.
    Read full review
  2. IGN
    84
    An impressive remake that improves the presentation of the original GBA version by leaps and bounds while simultaneously streamlining the battle system.
    Read full review
  3. GamePro
    80
    Even though it's not a wholly fresh experience, Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories is definitely worth a try, especially if you didn't play the original GBA release.
    Read full review
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