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. cidgrad01
    Oct 25, 2013
    2
    I played the remastered version included with the recent 1.5 HD Remix release. I love Kingdom Hearts: FM, but I’ve found Re:CoM so bad that I felt the need to give it its own review. It is still applicable since it’s the same game from the PS2 release only with sharper graphics.

    Re:CoM is miserable and tedious. I had thought the switch to a card battling system meant that battles would    I played the remastered version included with the recent 1.5 HD Remix release. I love Kingdom Hearts: FM, but I’ve found Re:CoM so bad that I felt the need to give it its own review. It is still applicable since it’s the same game from the PS2 release only with sharper graphics.

    Re:CoM is miserable and tedious. I had thought the switch to a card battling system meant that battles would be turn-based and strategic. Instead gameplay is half action RPG like the original KH and half card battler. It fails at both.

    Coming straight from KH you will feel the urge to attack like normal since it seems the same engine has been used for combat. The difference now, though, is that you have to pay attention to what card from your deck is active (displayed in the lower-left) when you hit the attack button as well as if the enemies are playing any cards (displayed lower-middle). Whoever’s card is higher carries out the attack, though everything still occurs in real time and with the same drawbacks found in KH’s combat system, like bad camera angles & hitting people with magic often being a pain.

    The key to success is choosing lots of “CP” when you level up, which allows you to carry more cards. That in turn, though, makes your deck more difficult to navigate through during battles. This means you will want to arrange your card deck in a way that keeps shuffling through it during battle to a minimum, but since you’re constantly getting new cards & more CP to expand your deck, that means you spend an inordinate amount of time editing your deck. Even then, you may have an excellent deck and plenty of cards to stop that attack the boss is about to launch, but you’re only going to have a second or two to sift through your cards and find it.

    You also have to worry about your inventory of special map cards, which are used in moving from room to room in the environment. The map cards have different properties that will be reflected in the rooms you create. It’s another thing that sounds intriguing but ends up being another level of tedium. The vast majority of map cards do nothing but present you with different layouts for grinding levels. And all but two of the worlds are the exact same areas you already went through during KH (Aladdin, Little Mermaid, etc), with the exact same music, so there’s no sense of exploration but repetition, instead. Many of the boss fights are even the same, like Guard Armor & Jafar Genie. The world areas are so redundant, in fact, that I skipped all of their text-only cutscenes after the first area b/c they add nothing to the overall plot of the game.

    Re: CoM’s only saving grace is its introduction of new characters and some pretty interesting, fully voice-acted story material. I originally went straight to KH2 from the first game back in the day and felt lost, so it was nice to finally get those gaps filled in. The problem is that you only get to see this new stuff between worlds, so to see it you need to slog through the 90% part of the game that sucks.

    I beat Sora’s story & am now having a fierce internal debate as to whether or not to play through Riku’s. I want to see what happened with him, but holy crap, I really, really don’t want to play this terrible game anymore, especially if I can’t build a Sonic Blade deck and carve through bosses with my eyes closed. Ugh.    … Expand
  4. DudeFromIceland
    Sep 20, 2014
    4
    I love KH and KH2 but this game is the most frustrating piece of garbage I have played in a long time. The card battle system takes all the fun out of fighting enemies. The story and the characters are the games only saving grace I am afraid, I this hadn't had the Kingdom Hearts name, I never would have picked this game up.
  5. pr0phacy
    Sep 17, 2015
    0
    While the first Kingdom Hearts were far from a perfect game, I had fun with the first Kingdom hearts, so I decided to try the chain of memories on the HD remix.

    This game is absolutely terrible. The game suffered some of the same problems as the first game - indicative of either low budget or lazy programming, especially the sound engineer during battles. The same audio would be looped    While the first Kingdom Hearts were far from a perfect game, I had fun with the first Kingdom hearts, so I decided to try the chain of memories on the HD remix.

    This game is absolutely terrible. The game suffered some of the same problems as the first game - indicative of either low budget or lazy programming, especially the sound engineer during battles. The same audio would be looped over and over again as the AI kept spamming the same attack, to a point that it felt better to mute the TV entirely and play the game in silence.

    On top of this is the terrible battle system Square decided to tag into the game. Not only did you have to pay attention to a real time battle on screen (running around, dodging, and attacking the right targets.) You must also pay attention to a separate card system, making sure your attack cards is a higher number than your enemies - imagine doing math while you're getting shot at on a battlefield.    … Expand
  6. gm101
    Oct 18, 2010
    10
    I may be giving this a 10 because I'm biased due to the fact this is a Kingdom Hearts game, and I am a huge fan of the series. But once you get used to the cards, the rest will be smooth sailing.
  7. Broseph14
    Mar 13, 2015
    3
    I really don't like this game. But the really sad thing is if the presentation and battle system were better this would easily be in my top 3 of the franchise. The story is quite slow but picks up and the ending is quite good since it explains what happens to the trio after kh 1. BUT the battle system is garbage. You use cards instead of commands or the regular battle system and they makeI really don't like this game. But the really sad thing is if the presentation and battle system were better this would easily be in my top 3 of the franchise. The story is quite slow but picks up and the ending is quite good since it explains what happens to the trio after kh 1. BUT the battle system is garbage. You use cards instead of commands or the regular battle system and they make battles that I can deal with on Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 final mix really hard. The two main problems are: 1 you can run out of cards and have to waste time to "reload" them and 2: You cant use the conventional block and since the dodge roll is nearly useless, unless you can organize your thoughts in a stressful situation to use "card breaks" which can be annoying to organize when the boss is using their desperation move. Also presentation sucks and I USUALLY don't care about presentation in a game but the level design is in excusable. The game uses cards to generate your next area which may sound small but is a big issue! I.E if you use a "calm bounty" card in atlantica and then in twilight town the area minus the textures is exactly the SAME!!!
    and finally there is barely any voice acting which makes the events in your boring bleak adventure even more drawn out. Even as a massive fan of the series and usually defend the games with my life, this is unacceptable even by my standards SE if you remake the game WITHOUT the cards I will change my view but 3 remakes later I dont think this will happen    … Expand
  8. AngelB
    Jan 16, 2018
    0
    This game is garbage. The Card Mechanic literally doesn't work. The enemy has way too much of an advantage. Youtube it or play it on Easy mode if you must. Trust me. This game is exactly like having a conversation where you keep getting interrupted and can't get a single word in.
  9. tacticalcraptic
    Dec 9, 2012
    9
    This is an interesting game. I played it when it first came out on GBA several times and just finished playing through this PS2 version. I love this game because I think it has the single best combat system in any Action-RPG. Period. However, I can understand the polar opposites in terms of reviews. There is an enormous amount of depth to the combat system. The game requires you to thinkThis is an interesting game. I played it when it first came out on GBA several times and just finished playing through this PS2 version. I love this game because I think it has the single best combat system in any Action-RPG. Period. However, I can understand the polar opposites in terms of reviews. There is an enormous amount of depth to the combat system. The game requires you to think om a wide range of strategic levels very quickly. The PS2 version even more so because it requires more spacial thinking due to the fact that it is in 3D and, unlike the GBA version, you cannot always see everything that is occurring at once, forcing you to predict and anticipate enemy movements (whom you cannot always see if they are behind or above you) on the fly, while also card counting, adding card values, dodging, attacking, blocking, keeping track of your HP and more. On top of it all, the combat difficulty forces you to grasp all concepts and use them or you will die. It is not forgiving in any way. The strategy and customization goes far beyond the standard swing swing block, shoot shoot roll of even some of the greatest Action-RPG (in terms of challenge and strategy it out does even Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls) This depth is what may turn a lot of would be fans away though. It is several times more complex than what Kingdom Hearts folks are used to.
    Other parts of the game don't quite live up to the one of a kind battle system, however. The main overall story is pretty interesting and well done but has many of the trappings of a JRPG which is not necessarily bad but tends to push away some. The small plots in each of the worlds are kind of a throw away though. The world exploration, while very unique, is not it's strongest point. I understand that it is a carry-over from the GBA which had it's technical limitations. What I would like to see happen is for Square to take combat system of Chain of Memories and apply to a Action-RPG with a bigger scope. Something with a larger and more open world to explore. There is a lot Square could do in terms of evolving the gameplay concepts they started with Chain of Memories and I would love to see it happen (I don't care if is within the Kingdom Hearts franchise or not) It seems any people couldn't quite grasp the game. This is apparent by the fact that there are many people on here rating this game a "0" because they don't like the fact that enemies can defend themselves and counter-attack any attack made by the player that is not thought out. Due to the fact that the general attitude of big game developers is that they must appeal to as many people as possible, the chances of Square picking a concept back up that was so divisive is slim to none.    … Expand
  10. KimyKun
    Sep 16, 2009
    10
    I think that this game is great... i don't like the cards battle... but the graphic is great. I don't know why didn't he came out in ITALY to,i hope some day that this fantastic game will arive in ITALY soo i can play the game...I think that this game is great... i don't like the cards battle... but the graphic is great. I don't know why didn't he came out in ITALY to,i hope some day that this fantastic game will arive in ITALY soo i can play the game... XOXO… Expand
  11. BasilZero
    Nov 18, 2011
    9
    Squareenix re-makes Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories from the 2D realm to the 3D Realm, if you played the original, there isnt much difference as the gameplay and storyline is pretty much the same. The only difference is the plane is 3D and that can be a good thing. Alot of the problems with positioning and aiming in the original has been fixed due to the graphic interface completelySquareenix re-makes Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories from the 2D realm to the 3D Realm, if you played the original, there isnt much difference as the gameplay and storyline is pretty much the same. The only difference is the plane is 3D and that can be a good thing. Alot of the problems with positioning and aiming in the original has been fixed due to the graphic interface completely changing. The game feels like Part 1 but with less freedom as expected in its card based battle system.… Expand
  12. 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
  13. Greenicey
    Dec 14, 2013
    8
    First, let me just say, do NOT compare this any other game in the franchise. This game is the black sheep of Kingdom Hearts, but that doesn't have to be bad. The story of Castle Oblivion is ultimately an intriguing one and will be what keeps you going forward. Graphically the game looks good, despite that fact that everything is reused and room layouts don't change dramatically. The reasonFirst, let me just say, do NOT compare this any other game in the franchise. This game is the black sheep of Kingdom Hearts, but that doesn't have to be bad. The story of Castle Oblivion is ultimately an intriguing one and will be what keeps you going forward. Graphically the game looks good, despite that fact that everything is reused and room layouts don't change dramatically. The reason the game is sometimes disliked is due to it's radically different card-based combat. It's handled way differently than any other thing you've seen. You have to manage your deck while fighting in real-time, keep track of numbers, and use sleights to the best effect. It can get extremely chaotic and difficult if you can't keep up. Now the system isn't bad, if you know exactly what you're doing you can have a lot of fun. If you don't think you'll be able to manage it, play it on beginner mode.… Expand
  14. Connorcox1997
    Feb 15, 2019
    10
    I honestly don't know why people hate this game, I though this was a fantastic game. I might be a little bit biased, but I think KH Re:Chain of Memories is the fourth best game in the series to date in my
    opinion. This game has great stages, great story, and great combat with the card system. Even the bosses in this game is fun to face against in this game. I totally enjoyed playing this    I honestly don't know why people hate this game, I though this was a fantastic game. I might be a little bit biased, but I think KH Re:Chain of Memories is the fourth best game in the series to date in my
    opinion. This game has great stages, great story, and great combat with the card system. Even the bosses in this game is fun to face against in this game. I totally enjoyed playing this game from start to finish. I highly recommend it.    … Expand
  15. kingdomhearts
    Aug 25, 2009
    1
    This game was horrible. When I first heard about the remake coming out on ps2, I thought it would be great, but I was wrong. In the game, you start off not knowing anything, but you get a little better, but then you start seeing constant card breaks when you are fighting, and just when you try to unleash your most powerful combo...*chink*card break...The reason a rated higher than a zero This game was horrible. When I first heard about the remake coming out on ps2, I thought it would be great, but I was wrong. In the game, you start off not knowing anything, but you get a little better, but then you start seeing constant card breaks when you are fighting, and just when you try to unleash your most powerful combo...*chink*card break...The reason a rated higher than a zero (and i wasn't inclined to at first) is because it kept me occupied for about 3 hours before i realized that if it is going to take three hours or more of button mashing with cards in each world, this would be an incredibly boring game.… Expand
  16. Arez
    Aug 13, 2016
    1
    I played the remastered version included with the recent 1.5 HD Remix release. I love Kingdom Hearts: FM, but I’ve found Re:CoM so bad that I felt the need to give it its own review. It is still applicable since it’s the same game from the PS2 release only with sharper graphics.
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. NicoCC
    Aug 1, 2021
    1
    Who was the degenerate that decided this was a good game to make and a valuable addition to people's entertainment "bank"? Seriously, go and swat flies in the kitchen, I promise it will be more interesting and you'll also have more fun.
  20. Zetastein
    Jan 20, 2020
    0
    Its mostly a retelling of the first game and made a lot of unnecessary bad decisions and changes. Ignore the fan boys that rate based on nostalgia.
    All it does it lead up to the best kingdom hearts game and it doesnt have much more to be worth playing.
  21. ASSASSIN_TRISTA
    Apr 4, 2022
    0
    where do i start........ KINGDOM HEARTS 1 RESKIN WITH NEW CUTSCENES IN BETWEEN WORLDS. THE CARD SYSTEM IS ASS BECAUSE MARLUXIA BLOCKS ALL YOUR **** CARDS AND THEN STUN-LOCKS YOU INTO A CORNER AND DESTROYS YOU OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THIS GAME IS **** NOMURA YOU HAVE DIISAPOINTED ME SEVERELY I'M DONE SO MUCH KINGODM HEARTS 4 BETTER BE A LOT BETTER AND YOU FFVII PART 2 BETTER NOT BEwhere do i start........ KINGDOM HEARTS 1 RESKIN WITH NEW CUTSCENES IN BETWEEN WORLDS. THE CARD SYSTEM IS ASS BECAUSE MARLUXIA BLOCKS ALL YOUR **** CARDS AND THEN STUN-LOCKS YOU INTO A CORNER AND DESTROYS YOU OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THIS GAME IS **** NOMURA YOU HAVE DIISAPOINTED ME SEVERELY I'M DONE SO MUCH KINGODM HEARTS 4 BETTER BE A LOT BETTER AND YOU FFVII PART 2 BETTER NOT BE SCREWED UP.… Expand
  22. 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
  23. msmythe365
    Mar 2, 2014
    2
    The main combat system was glorious in the other Kingdom Hearts games, and this one was an unfortunate change. The combat is based on cards, and I couldn't get the hang of it enough to enjoy playing.
  24. Kai82
    Feb 27, 2020
    4
    It enters the list of great games that had a serious flaw like Epic Mickey (Camera), Kid Icarus Uprising (Controls) or Mass Effect 3 (Ending). To be fair it is an 8-9/10 game for me but the horrible battle system destroyed the experience. Here they use a card style battle system in real time battles. It takes a lot of time to get used to it (If you can even get used to it). I had to pushIt enters the list of great games that had a serious flaw like Epic Mickey (Camera), Kid Icarus Uprising (Controls) or Mass Effect 3 (Ending). To be fair it is an 8-9/10 game for me but the horrible battle system destroyed the experience. Here they use a card style battle system in real time battles. It takes a lot of time to get used to it (If you can even get used to it). I had to push myself to play the game and was always annoyed by this. It is a shame because the rest is really good. The graphic and sound are good as always. The story is Kingdom Hearts like. That means it is good for me (fans) but can annoy others. Side-note: Have you ever explained the story of Kingdom Hearts to your friends that don't have played the games? It is an interesting experience and can turn awkward really fast;-). Back to the game. Like I said the story is really good for me as are the characters. You learn something about the Organization and it plays with the concept of memories. I will also praise that they tried something new or different. Overall this is my least favorite Kingdom Hearts game because of the battle system. If you don't agree that's fine for me. I was also on the other end of this type of conversation and admit that this is a thing about preferences. I prefer better systems.… Expand
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. Empyrea
    Nov 12, 2019
    4
    I played this game for 5 hours (1/3 of the game) until I got stuck and I was playing it in easy mode. This game has the worst battle system that I've ever played. They tried to do a mix between turn-based and real time gamplay and they didn't succeed. Plus, it's a game that doesn't have much new things. It feels repetitive. I just watch some videos on youtube about the argument and watchedI played this game for 5 hours (1/3 of the game) until I got stuck and I was playing it in easy mode. This game has the worst battle system that I've ever played. They tried to do a mix between turn-based and real time gamplay and they didn't succeed. Plus, it's a game that doesn't have much new things. It feels repetitive. I just watch some videos on youtube about the argument and watched the ending and I went on. If you have KH 1.5 do the same as I did: try this game in easy mode but skip it if you have troubles.… Expand
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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
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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

All reviews »
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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