Developer: Square-Enix Publisher: Square-Enix
So, what’s next?
Reviewed by Vansau on 2/1/05

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I have determined that androgynous teenage boys are destined to constantly save the world. I’m pretty sure that it’s a part of their DNA, wedged in next to the protein chains which turn their spiky hair purple and give them the strength to carry weapons so huge that the Incredible Hulk couldn’t budge. Square-Enix, bless their quirky little hearts, realized this long ago and adopted an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude towards their protagonists. Usually, this works really well for the RPG giant, especially when it comes to entries in the Final Fantasy franchise. Occasionally it backfires, not because the character isn’t fun, but because he’s been put into a lame duck game like Drakengard.

Sora, the manchild dominating the Kingdom Hearts storyline, continues this trend to an extreme. Not only is he barely into his teen years, but he is also extremely slender and effeminate. If that boy ever finds it necessary to shave then I’ll give up video games forever. Thank God for the fact that he’s got such a strong series backing him up. When the first Kingdom Hearts game arrived on the PS2, it was considered to be a masterpiece from the newly merged Square-Enix, as well as an indication that not every game featuring Disney characters was doomed to mediocrity. It featured a highly unusual but entertaining scenario (Final Fantasy and Disney meet, literally), awesome real-time combat, lush graphics, beautiful music, and quality voice-acting. When a lucky few of us were allowed to watch trailers for the upcoming sequels at E3 last year, all of us were drooling.

Chain of Memories serves as a sort of in-between story, picking up immediately where the first game left off and setting up the story for the second PS2 title (which is due out this Fall). It begins with an opening movie that can only be described as “stunning” (I don’t know of any other GBA titles that have full-motion video sequences, do you?) and it quickly becomes apparent that this is a game with a high level of polish over everything. The story follows Sora and his friends as he goes through a castle that is literally playing with his mind: gradually stealing his memories while it brings them to life around him.

Graphics:

For a GameBoy Advance title, Chain of memories has the most impressive visuals I’ve ever seen in a handheld console. For starters, it has the first full-motion videos that I’ve ever seen on the GBA, with cut-scenes of equal quality to anything found on the original Playstation.

Just about everything else in the game looks great, as well. Character models are very detailed and nicely animated, even when they’re standing around idly. Even the Heartless (the legion of faceless enemies that Sora battles throughout the adventure) look great when you face off against them. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.

Chain of Memories’ environments are also nicely rendered, though they are a little tiny. Still, each room in the castle is differently mapped, so they never grow repetitious and dull.

Sound/Music:

Let’s be honest here, this is a GameBoy Advance title. Music and sound don’t usually take priority when it comes to the production of such titles. However, even this area of Chain of Memories was lovingly polished. The music, while not as diverse as in the PS2 title, is presented in what seems to be a MIDI file format. This works really well for the GBA’s tiny speakers, and it still sounds good even when listened to with headphones. On the Nintendo DS, the sound is fantastic due to superior speakers. Of course, there isn’t any spoken dialogue, but characters do utter a couple of words in combat that sound great. Finally, sound effects are really nicely done both in and out of battle.

Gameplay:

This is the part of Chain of Memories which will either endear players or make them physically violent. The entire game is dominated by a card-play method. When I say, “the entire game”, I mean it. Even though combat is in real time your attacks are controlled by a deck of cards which dictate the strength of your attacks, summons, magic, and items. Each of these cards has a point value, which in turn limits how many can be put into players’ decks. As time goes on and Sora keeps on leveling up, players are given the choice of increasing his attack power, his health, or the amount of points the deck can hold. While this sounds like an interesting idea, it can be more than a little frustrating to use in combat because each time you go through all of your cards, you must “reshuffle” the deck in order to access them again. Unfortunately, you will lose a card for the rest of the battle sequence each time you do this. The same thing happens to boss opponents, which means that you can just wait them out until they’re reduced to a few minor attacks and then let them have it. Most likely, this was meant to encourage players to spend a little more time leveling up in each world, thus making the experience last a little longer. However, this instead feels more like a flawed gimmick to make players run around and level up more and more.

Also, every time you go into a different room, you must also play a different kind of card which will influence what kind of environment you’re wandering into. This is actually a fairly nifty idea, since you can access save points, empower or weaken enemies, increase experience and treasure rewards, etc. with this system.

Lots. For me, this was a continuation of a story that I fell in love with 2 years ago. There is a certain magic, I suppose, to getting to interact with characters from my childhood like Aladdin, Peter Pan, Jack Skellington, as well as members from the Final Fantasy series whom I had come to love during my geeky teenaged years.

There is a quite a bit of replay value, since an entirely new story starring Riku (Sora’s rival from the first Kingdom Hearts) is unlocked after you beat the game for the first time. This isn’t some cheesy little tacked on extra mode with a different character going through the same scenarios; it’s instead a completely different storyline complete with unique dialogue and events.

Believe it or not, there actually is a multiplayer “versus” mode that can be unlocked after the game has been beaten and “Riku’s Story” is accessible. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone else who had progressed this far and thus couldn’t try it out. So, I’m afraid we’re gonna have to skip this section and you’ll have to find out about it for yourself.

Sora has been one of my favorite characters to appear in a game, from the moment I bought Kingdom Hearts for the PS2. Just looking at the game’s cover, I knew he was different from so many other effeminate heroes. Maybe it was the fact that he was hanging out with Donald and Goofy, but I think it was because of the way he was looking up at a starry sky with an expression of innocent interest on his face. As opposed to so many other heroes who look like they are ready to meet whatever comes their way with angry defiance, Sora was just waiting there with a calm expression on his face… sort of like he was just curious to see what destiny was going to bring his way. With that look, he was asking, “So, what’s next? I’d really like to know.” Like so many other things about the game, I found it to be refreshing and endearing. Chain of Memories has repeated this effect: Sora is as endearing as ever, perhaps even moreso because the entire point of this game is to develop his character. Even though this is a well put-together title, its story and characters are what take priority. For the most part, this game is a joy to play, even when the ending clearly shows that Sora’s adventure is far from over. Yes, the combat system can become a little irritating, but that isn’t why we’re playing Chain of Memories. We’re playing it because we want to know, “So, what’s next?”

Square-Enix has usually been pretty good at creating games that appeal to women because of their plots and character designs, and Disney wouldn’t really let something offensive onto the market if it features a lot of their beloved characters. That said, though, I was disappointed to see that Kairi (Sora’s love interest) has once again been relegated to the obscurity of “that random chick who doesn’t do much other than stand around a look pretty… but, um, she’s all pure and stuff”. Excuse me while I yawn. To be honest, it would have been lovely to have had the chance to have Kairi as a part of my party and see her prove that she’s just as capable of saving the world as Sora… but perhaps that’s something we’ll see in the Fall when Kingdom Hearts 2 makes its way into my hot little hands. For the moment, I can only idly speculate and hope. Besides, I can’t really blame Square-Enix for making me ask (once again), “So, what’s next?”

Web sites of interest:

http://www.kingdomhearts.com