The game opens with a full rendered video that continues upon the end of the first
Kingdom Hearts. Even though the video lacks spoken dialogue, I have to admit that it’s one of the most impressive things I’ve seen on the GBA. It’s amazingly crisp and there are no corruption or compression issues to speak of. Throughout the course of the game you’ll be treated to minor sprinkles of FMV that fits in well with the game without taking you out of the world. Speaking of the world, this game looks gorgeous, and the Final Fantasy characters that appear in the game are so detailed that we wonder why Square has decided to port one of its new-age classics to the GBA. All of the characters that you encounter, both from the Disney and Square side, look excellent and are instantly recognizable.
Up until now I haven’t encountered a GBA game worth pulling out the headphones for, but Chain of Memories has changed that. It features some superb audio, especially the musical samples that accompany you throughout the game world. I got a nice kick out of hearing “Under the Sea” as I was helping Ariel in Atlantica. All of the conversations appear in text form but there is a wide assortment of digital samples that play during combat. They're generally one liners that signify what's happening, like when Sora yells "Goofy" and Goofy hops onto the screen to do his thing. It's not amazing but the sound quality is definitely solid throughout the entire experience.
I was able to beat the game in around 10 hours but it’s doubtful you’ll want to put the game down that soon. Beating the game once unlocks a special surprise that will make hardcore fans want to play through the game all over again. If that’s not enough, you can hook up with another player and engage in a little bit of one-on-one combat.
It would be fair to call Chain of Memories a rehash of the original KH, but in another respect it would be selling it short as well. Yes, you’re essentially playing through the events of Kingdom Hearts in portable form, but there’s enough content here to make the experience seem new and fresh again. If you’re craving an RPG for your GBA but don’t want something too heavy or serious, you should pick up a copy of Chain of Memories.
B
Have you ever wondered what became of King Mickey and Riku after the closing moments of Kingdom Hearts? Well now you can find out thanks to Square Enix's excellent GBA title that bridges the gap between the two Kingdom Hearts games. It's an amazing game that really shows the world how good a portable RPG really can be.
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