Review - Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004) & 358/2 Days (2009)

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and how awesome is it that we're celebrating one hundred years of Disney just a year after celebrating twenty years of Kingdom Hearts? It's just nuts to think that Disney, which has influenced many childhoods across many generations for the past hundred years, is also responsible for co-creating a game series that has had a longevity of twenty years. So, as we continue to celebrate one hundred years of Disney, we also should celebrate the continued success of Kingdom Hearts. Now, there are a few games in the franchise that are, shall we say, below average. And believe me, as a Kingdom Hearts fan, that's being polite. Anyway, let's start off by talking about the 2004 spinoff game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. 

       Originally released on the GameBoy Advance, and later remade for the PlayStation 2, Chain of Memories is a bridge game set between the events of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Now, several worlds featured in Chain of Memories are holdovers from the first game...with one exception. You see, around this time, Disney and Square Enix no longer held licensing for the Tarzan characters, and thus the world of Deep Jungle from the original Kingdom Hearts could no longer be included in the franchise, as the rights had reverted to the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. Instead, an entirely new world was created for the game, but we'll get to that in a moment. 

       So, picking up where the first Kingdom Hearts ended, Chain of Memories starts off with Sora, Donald, and Goofy traversing along a big field. There, Sora is set onto a path by a cloaked figure that leads to the mysterious Castle Oblivion. Within the castle, Sora is given a series of cards based on his memories, which allow him to revisit worlds he visited before. Now, the order you choose doesn't matter, but the following worlds are visited in Chain of Memories: Traverse Town, Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah, Atlantica, Monstro, Halloween Town, Neverland, and Hollow Bastion. Within each world is a truncated story that really doesn't play into the main game. For example, in Hollow Bastion, Belle tries to distance herself from Beast to prevent both herself and the Beast from having their hearts taken by Maleficent. However, her true feelings come out, and she sacrifices herself to Maleficent to save Beast, whom Sora teams up with to defeat Maleficent and restore Belle's heart to her. Also, Hundred Acre Wood returns as well, but merely as mini game filler. 

        The main plot, however, involves the cloaked man, who is revealed to be Marluxia of Organization XIII. Alongside Organization members Vexen, Axel, and Larxene, Marluxia's plan is to use a girl named Naminé to manipulate Sora's memories. Sora ends up fighting not only Axel, Vexen, and Larxene, but a twisted replica of Riku, who himself is manipulated into a desire to protect Naminé and keep Sora from doing the same. Furthering his story include cards for two worlds: Destiny Islands, where Sora is from, and Twilight Town, which we haven't explored before. In Twilight Town, after Sora defeats Vexen, Axel shows up and eliminates Vexen. After Replica Riku's nature is revealed, Larxene fights and is defeated by Sora, leaving only Marluxia. Sora defeats him, and Naminé offers to restore Sora's memories to before he entered Castle Oblivion, but it would mean sleeping for the duration of her work in restoring his memories, and removing his memory of her and his adventure through Castle Oblivion. He agrees, and goes to sleep in a stasis pod. 

        After completing Sora's story, we have Reverse/Rebirth, where we play as Riku, who is dealing with his own struggles within the lower floors of Castle Oblivion, and where he faces Vexen and Replica Riku, along with Organization XIII members Lexaeus and Zexion. It's also during his journey, where he is aided by King Mickey, where Riku meets Naminé, as well as the mysterious DiZ. Ultimately, Riku's journey in Castle Oblivion ends with him and Mickey defeating the essence of Anselm still haunting Riku. The two then leave the castle and begin walking the road between light and darkness: "The road to dawn." 

        Now, as both Sora and Riku, Chain of Memories' primary combat system is card based. Attack, Magic, Summon, and Item cards are used throughout the game. In addition, enemies can easily break a card you play with one of a higher numeric value. The card-based combat really requires strategy and critical thinking. In addition, Sora can customize his Card Deck based on points each card has. Riku, however, has an automatically updating Card Deck. Ultimately, I'm not a fan of the card-based combat system, as it really requires a lot of patience and strategy that I, unfortunately, don't have much of. However, I do appreciate the game for introducing elements of the series that play a pivotal role in Kingdom Hearts II, such as DiZ, Naminé, and Organization XIII. Overall, I only recommend it for hardcore Kingdom Hearts fans, and that's it. Rating wise, I can only really give Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories a rating of 1.45/5. 

      Okay, so jumping ahead a bit, we get the 2009 title Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. So, to clarify the title, it's pronounced "Three-Five-Eight Days Over Two." But, to keep it simple, we'll just refer to it as Days. Anyway, Days was part of a trio of games announced at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, and it was announced as a title for the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, the graphics for the game on DS are pretty shoddy, and I never got to actually play the game. However, the story was reworked into a cinematic feature film included as part of Kingdom Hearts I.5 HD Remix, so I got to see the story play out that way. 

       Okay, so Days is set between the events of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, also happening congruently with the events of Chain of Memories. Days centers on Roxas, a character introduced in Chain of Memories, but gets more focus both here and in Kingdom Hearts II. Roxas is a Keyblade wielding member of Organization XIII with close ties to Sora. I'll get more into that in my review of Kingdom Hearts II later on down the road. Anyway, we also meet Xion (pronounced Shee-ohn), who also wields the Keyblade and is part of Organization XIII. As the story goes on, Roxas and Xion, along with Axel, go from world to world hunting down Heartless to collect hearts to form a version of Kingdom Hearts above the stronghold of Organization XIII. DiZ, meanwhile, is working with Naminé and Riku to restore Sora's memories, but Naminé finds the process stalled because of both Roxas and Xion. 

        So, Riku goes after Xion, and it's here where we learn her true nature: Xion is an imperfect Replica designed to be a failsafe for the Organization in case both Sora and Roxas are unable to help the Organization meet their goals. Ultimately, Xion chooses to have her existence ended, and thus she can return to Sora. Roxas then decides to abandon the Organization, and thus leaving Axel behind as well. Fighting a duel with Riku, Roxas is defeated and taken to a virtual simulation of Twilight Town created by DiZ, setting up his start in the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II. 

       So, while I haven't actually played Days on the DS, I can honestly say that's probably for the best, as those that have played it were, apparently, disappointed with it. Admittedly, just watching the cinematic version of the game is, in and of itself, just okay. The voice acting by the likes of Jesse McCartney as Roxas and Alyson Stoner as Xion is fine, the rest of the Organization XIII members are portrayed well, and the seeing the different bits that needed to be addressed from questions fans had during Kingdom Hearts II was alright. However, watching it, or playing it if you can, before Kingdom Hearts II probably creates more plot holes, if I'm being honest. So, I suggest just playing Kingdom Hearts II first, and then going back and checking out Days afterwards. So, I'm going to give Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days a rating of 2.05/5. 

        Alrighty guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back on Sunday for my review of Disney's original animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.