When going through the Kingdom Hearts series for the first time, I knew about the various spinoffs that add additional plot points. I was told to skip this entry and go straight to KH2, so I watched a cutscene compilation to get up to speed. It wasn't until a year later that I gave the game a shot, and after playing it I don't think it's too bad!
The game takes place right after the events of the first game; Sora, Donald, and Goofy continue to look for Mickey, when they end up at a mysterious castle. This castle is run by a group called Organization XIII, a group of Nobodies (entities created when a strong hearted person becomes a heartless). The castle takes away all of Sora's abilities, replacing them with cards that tie into the gameplay.
The gameplay has this weird card mechanic: your attacks, spells, etc. take the form of cards. The same applies to your enemies attacks. You have to use these cards to attack, but the number of the card has to be higher than the enemies. You can create different combos and spells by combining 3 similar cards. The card gameplay seems incredibly confusing at first, but after a while you get the hang of it and it's quite fun to play.
The worlds in the game are the exact same as the first game (except the Tarzan world which is absent) although they take the form of randomly generated dungeons. You open doors in the dungeon with door cards that determine the layout of the next room. Going through these dungeons gets a little repetitive after a while, but I understand why it's like this as the game is on an inferior handheld.
The music of this game is of slightly lower quality compared to the first game, but they did the best they could in adapting them for the GBA's sound system. There's also some new songs in the castle that are pretty good.
Once you beat the main story, you unlock Riku's campaign. It's mostly the same as Sora's, but it's a neat little bonus that gives the game good replay value.
Overall, Chain of Memories is a fun handheld adventure that's a strange but welcome addition to the Kingdom Hearts series.
The game takes place right after the events of the first game; Sora, Donald, and Goofy continue to look for Mickey, when they end up at a mysterious castle. This castle is run by a group called Organization XIII, a group of Nobodies (entities created when a strong hearted person becomes a heartless). The castle takes away all of Sora's abilities, replacing them with cards that tie into the gameplay.
The gameplay has this weird card mechanic: your attacks, spells, etc. take the form of cards. The same applies to your enemies attacks. You have to use these cards to attack, but the number of the card has to be higher than the enemies. You can create different combos and spells by combining 3 similar cards. The card gameplay seems incredibly confusing at first, but after a while you get the hang of it and it's quite fun to play.
The worlds in the game are the exact same as the first game (except the Tarzan world which is absent) although they take the form of randomly generated dungeons. You open doors in the dungeon with door cards that determine the layout of the next room. Going through these dungeons gets a little repetitive after a while, but I understand why it's like this as the game is on an inferior handheld.
The music of this game is of slightly lower quality compared to the first game, but they did the best they could in adapting them for the GBA's sound system. There's also some new songs in the castle that are pretty good.
Once you beat the main story, you unlock Riku's campaign. It's mostly the same as Sora's, but it's a neat little bonus that gives the game good replay value.
Overall, Chain of Memories is a fun handheld adventure that's a strange but welcome addition to the Kingdom Hearts series.