This is the game where Kingdom Hearts gets kooky. To jump from a fairly straightfoward plot about Square-Enix OCs fighting dark Disney bad guys over to a plot about the main character being gaslit by modifying his memories in real-time is... Actually shockingly refreshing, though its not enough to make the game any better.
Chain of Memories is compact to a fault. I appreciate how much of the game is tailored to the GBA, right down to the great spritework, animations and the loving re-creations of Yoko Shimomura's KH1 music on the GBA sound chip. Even still, the gameplay wears thin over how much of this game consists of an extremely basic loop of exploring the same dungeons over and over in different layouts and coats of paint. Its scope is too limited for its own good, and the more you play, the more you begin to see the cracks in its balance and design. It can be a frustrating game to play until you find the one combination of cards that lets you breeze through every fight.
Even if you decide not to exploit the game, other issues come into play, like the cumbersome UI design and some of the more frustratingly gimmicky bosses. All of these issues are paramount in the extra "Dark" Riku campaign, which forces you into pre-made decks which often seem designed to inconvenience you more than to challenge you.
So far as "homework before playing KH2" goes, Chain of Memories could be worse, but it could've also been better. I would say I'd have trouble recommending it, but you're probably gonna play it or its remake no matter what to understand the plot of KH2 anyways.
Chain of Memories is compact to a fault. I appreciate how much of the game is tailored to the GBA, right down to the great spritework, animations and the loving re-creations of Yoko Shimomura's KH1 music on the GBA sound chip. Even still, the gameplay wears thin over how much of this game consists of an extremely basic loop of exploring the same dungeons over and over in different layouts and coats of paint. Its scope is too limited for its own good, and the more you play, the more you begin to see the cracks in its balance and design. It can be a frustrating game to play until you find the one combination of cards that lets you breeze through every fight.
Even if you decide not to exploit the game, other issues come into play, like the cumbersome UI design and some of the more frustratingly gimmicky bosses. All of these issues are paramount in the extra "Dark" Riku campaign, which forces you into pre-made decks which often seem designed to inconvenience you more than to challenge you.
So far as "homework before playing KH2" goes, Chain of Memories could be worse, but it could've also been better. I would say I'd have trouble recommending it, but you're probably gonna play it or its remake no matter what to understand the plot of KH2 anyways.