Pros: Beautiful graphics/sound, interesting way to continue plot
Cons: Card battling repetitive, haven't we seen this before?
The bottom line: It has a wonderful game play and replay value -- but I feel like I am experiencing some sort of deja vu.
It all started back in 2002, when the unlikely pair of Square and Disney created Kingdom Hearts. With the idea engraved within the minds of many that it would be a ‘kiddy’ roleplaying experience, thanks to it’s Disney half, who would have thought that it would’ve lasted this long – or even gotten a sequel? Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories proves that this series isn’t something that can be thrown aside – and it will remain forever locked in my memory.

While newer members to the Kingdom Hearts games might love this add-on, those who have beaten the original over and over again will find it repetitive [such as myself]. In fact, during the first hour of the game, I found myself commenting, “Wait a second – haven’t I done this, before?” Although the plot was different, thanks to the cards and Sora slowly losing his memory, I couldn’t help but stare blankly at the screen as we traveled all the way back to Traverse Town, and battled everyone’s ‘favorite’ Guard Armor, yet again.

But, like I mentioned, the plot isn’t something that you’re immediately going to recognize. As the story begins, we see our heroic trio chasing after the King’s dog, Pluto (the first five, or ten seconds of this movie happens to be the same one from the ending of Kingdom Hearts). But then, night falls. Sora wakes up in the middle of a field, with no sign of Pluto around them. He is stationed at a crossroad, and while he ponders which direction he is fated to go, a mysterious cloaked figure begins to talk from behind him:

“Ahead lies something you need – but to claim it, you muse lose something dear.”

Sora then arrives at a strange, rather eerie castle (interestingly with 13 floors), named ‘Castle Oblivion.’ He soon finds out that, while he gains memories of another girl who once lived on their island (she seems to have left a long time ago), he is being forced to forget his other memories, such as those with Kairi. While all of this is happening, ‘The Organization’ works in the background, with a plan similar to what once was Ansem’s – to make the Keyblade Wielder their puppet to the darkness.

There are four basic kinds of cards that you’re going to use while in battle. These include Attack Cards, Magic Cards, Items Cards, and Enemy Cards. Each card (except for the Enemy Cards) is going to have a number from zero to nine on the bottom right corner. This shows you the value of the card. While you’re in a battle, this is very important. Let’s say you decide to use an Attack Card with the value of one – if your opponent uses a card with a higher value (anything from two to nine, in this case), they’re going to ‘break’ your card. By breaking it, they stop your attack, and you are left vulnerable for a moment, allowing others to attack you. This can get extremely annoying when battling a large number of Heartless, or a major boss in the game.

But there’s more. Zero cards can break any card your opponent throws at you (and this is very handy when your enemy is using sleights; explained later). This proves that, once you get farther in the game, it will be anything but a button-mashing competition. You have to be sure that you have your deck of cards well organized (and, in some cases, memorized), so that you can grab a certain card at any time.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, you can perform powerful attacks called ‘sleights’ while in battle. By doing this, you are, basically, adding the values of up to three cards together. The value is going to choose what sleight you perform – the higher, the better. This is also a better, more powerful way to use Magic Cards. For example: if you use one fire card, you’re going to cast ‘Fire.’ If you use two fire cards (using the sleight routine), you’re going to cast ‘Fira.’ If you get the chance to use three, you will cast the highest fire spell, ‘Firaga.’ This works for all magic spells, and even ‘Summons.’

Item Cards are used, mainly, to restock your deck of cards during battle without powering up. Enemy Cards are going to be used to raise something of yours for a limited time – such as HP, or attack power. Enemy Cards are dropped by bosses (after defeated), and sometimes, after a wave Heartless.

While you’re wandering a world, you’re going to run into a great number of Heartless. However, instead of running up to them and slashing away, when you touch one, you are sent to a different screen. Here is where you fight the Heartless – your cards pop up at the bottom of the screen, and in most cases, Heartless come forward in multiple waves. This is also the only way to gain experience (besides bosses), and without the proper amount of experience, you won’t be able to gain levels. Every time you defeat one Heartless, a certain amount of experience is, literally, dropped. This is a slightly annoying part of the game – if you’re in the center of a group of Heartless, but the experience you have just gained (shaped as blue, red, or white jewels) is in a completely impossible place to reach. After a certain amount of time, the experience is going to disappear – most of the time, in those situations, you’re not going to be able to get to it.

When you gain a level, you get three choices: to gain HP, gain CP (Card Points), or to learn a new sleight.

Card Points are going to be just as important, if not more, as HP. You’re going to have to constantly customize your card deck to get through worlds, and to put a card into your deck, it’s going to cost you Card Points. If you only have 300 Card Points, then the amount of cards you have in your deck cannot go over the value of 300. Although it seems simple enough, if you haven’t paid attention to it in the beginning, you’re going to find it to be very hard to keep high-valued cards in your deck.

Just to add to the never-ending list of card types, there is another group called ‘Map Cards.’ After you have finished off a wave of Heartless, they will drop a Map Card. You will need these to get anywhere in the game. To get to the next room in a world, you will need to have a card with the same value (or lower/higher, depending on the symbol next to the number) as printed on the door. In some cases, you will need a certain color, or to combine different cards. And, just like the battle cards, a card with a ‘zero’ value will open any door.

But, if we break away from the game play for a moment – the rest of the game deserves recognition, as well. Let’s face it, the Gameboy has never been known for it’s amazing graphics. However, Chain of Memories might just change that. During certain parts of the story, it has ‘Full Motion Video’ cut scenes (movies that are just a notch below Play Station 2 quality). This is the first Gameboy game that I’ve played with such a thing. Even the graphics within the game itself aren’t all that bad – although slightly pixelized, it holds some of the boldest Gameboy graphics you’re ever going to see. The music and sound is, also, recognizable, and some of the best yet.

The replay value is, in my case, very high. Just like the original, there are little secrets that you’re never going to find your first time through. If you’re one of those people who wants to unlock every single thing within the game before calling it officially finished, you can beat that it won’t be put down for a long time. With many different sleights to learn, levels to rise, ‘prize doors’ to unlock, and more, there’s little chance that even the best gamer can complete it within a few hours. There’s even a special mode at the end, once you’ve beaten Sora’s side of the story…

Overall, this has been, and still is a wonderful game. It will get four stars from me, because of it’s wonderful game play and replay value. The only reason that it doesn’t get that last star is because of the worlds that we’ve already seen, and the things we’ve already done in them. We could’ve all used a little bit more of a taste of Kingdom Hearts 2 before it comes out… right?