![]() However, the game is still essentially linear, and each zone features a number of special doors which can only be opened with specific cards - which boils down to you having to pass through each of these doors in the correct order, as behind each one lies a key section of plot.Īn entirely different set of cards form the basis of the combat system, which takes the slightly unusual approach of being real-time but still based on cards. You pick up these cards from battle, and every time you reach a door, you select a card to decide the nature of the room that lies on the other side. That may sound complex, but it's not really - all these cards do is determine whether the largely pre-set rooms you move through are full of weak enemies, strong enemies, shops or even save points. Firstly, you use "world cards" to effectively construct the world that you move through. The biggest change to the game is the introduction of cards, which are important for two reasons. This is a little disappointing, in ways, but it would have been quite hard for the developers to do otherwise given the way the plot of the game is developed. Donald and Goofy are your constant companions (although oddly, not in battle - more about that in a moment), while exactly the same rogue's gallery of Final Fantasy and Disney characters as were found in KH also appear in Chain of Memories. The characters will also feel familiar, as with the exception of some rather mysterious new arrivals (who also seem to feature heavily in Kingdom Hearts II, judging from the trailers), you'll mostly be encountering people you met before in the first game. There's even some video thrown in, including a lengthy and quite impressive FMV intro sequence, which is quite unusual to see in a GBA game. Everything is rendered in 2D isometric style, with sprite characters overlaid, but it all still looks great, with really nice backgrounds (aside from the occasional awful section, like the inside of the whale) and well-animated characters and attacks. The areas you travel through are broadly the same, in art style terms, as those in the PS2 game - at least until you start hitting original dungeons later in the game. Beginning literally at the very second where the first game ended, it takes the slightly odd approach of leading you through many of the areas which you visited in the original game, each reconstructed from Sora's memories as he searches the mysterious Castle Oblivion in the hope of finding a lost friend.Īs a result, many aspects of the game feel quite familiar. Once again, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories sees you taking direct control of Sora, the likeable and gutsy central character from the first game. A GBA title was more surprising, and what's even more surprising still is that the GBA game ties in intricately with the storyline of both the original Kingdom Hearts and its forthcoming PS2 sequel, leading the player from the very end of the first game through to the beginning of the second. There were obvious flaws, like the somewhat repetitive combat, temperamental camera and downright awful Gummi Ship mini-games, but it was easy to gloss over those given the level of quality which dripped from every other aspect of the game.Ī sequel was inevitable. Quite a few people probably didn't, and in the process missed out on an intelligent, well-written, superbly produced and hugely entertaining action RPG. I certainly wasn't innocent of turning up my nose at Kingdom Hearts initially, and it was only watching the fantastic intro video - a surprisingly dark and interesting teaser set to the melodic tones of Japanese pop goddess Hikaru Utada - that convinced me to give the game a try. ![]() ![]() Being entirely honest, how wrong we were. Fanboys spat their derision on web forums the world over before the first screenshots had even appeared. A tame, bland, kiddy-focused RPG seemed inevitable. Disney, after all, has a fairly unimpressive track record in videogames, and the company is noted for being incredibly precious about how its franchises are used. Few fans could help groaning when the company announced that it was to create an action RPG mixing up characters from across the Final Fantasy series with environments and characters from Disney movies. Out of all of Square Enix' impressive catalogue of RPGs, Kingdom Hearts ranks as perhaps the most surprising. ![]()
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