Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Review

For those of you who envy the Playstation 2's popular game involving a boy, Goofy, and Donald Duck from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse cartoons, here's a break from Sony, as the series has come to the Game Boy Advance for a little fun. If you hate this game or series, don't read this. I LOVED it, and you'll probably share my opinion after playing.

Card Game? Dang! No, it's not a turn-based card game. You use cards to attack with your Keyblade, a giant key. You also summon allies from all of Walt Disney’s best creations, from cards. It's a little disappointing that everything revolves around cards, especially your very own melee attacks. However, it's not turn-based, and the cards have great attacks and effects on you and your enemies. You roll around and dodge attacks while using the shoulder buttons to cycle through cards and using them. You can do great combos, but I won't get into that.

Story was the best ever on the Game Boy Advance, meeting all the characters, and trying to get your memory back. It starts off in a 3D cut scene, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy wake up in front of a weird castle, where they enter and meet a strange hooded man who riddles them. They soon find out the deeper they go into the castle, the more of their memory they lose. Each floor of the castle is a place from Sora's memory, many of which you'll recognize from the PS2 version. You have different World Cards, so you can select which levels you want to do in whatever order. The enemies are always about as strong as you, as long as you've been leveling up. Each room in the "world" is fake, as are all the characters in it. It's all in one big castle, and Sora and friends are being tricked illusion after illusion into their best memories with all their friends in them. Nothing is real, so naturally, instead of running out of the castle, they want to find the truth. You get Map Cards by defeating enemies, which you use to alter different rooms on the current floor. Make a Save Room, a room with many enemies, or a room with no enemies. It's all up to you, and you'll find special cards that help you get into rooms to progress through the level's story. Then, you'll face a boss. It may get old, knowing what you must do in each level, but the solid story keeps you going.

Audio was the best on the GBA I've ever heard. There weren't any voices, but the music made up for that.

Visually, the best on GBA.

I'm giving it a 10/10, perfect score.

This review was added on 12th November 2005 by Joey Cusimano.