Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

I really enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts game and then I looked forward to the second game in the series; however, when I began playing it, there seemed to be something off. Like I was missing what was going on. Come to find out, this game, which is not part two, but at the same time is, has things that happen within that are essential to understanding just what the heck is going on in part two. I simply quit playing part two because of this and never really found this entry until it was released on the PS4 along with the first two games. Suffice to say, it does fill me in on what is going on and the story is somewhat interesting, but the combat system is a big old pain to learn and figure out.

The story picks up where the first game left off as Sora, Donald and Goofy are trying to get Pluto. They end up at a castle and enter and soon find themselves back in Traverse Town, only something is not quite right. Seems the castle they are in rearranges memories and thus, as you go forward, your mind begins to forget a lot of things. Soon, the gang find themselves revisiting many of the worlds they entered and sealed on a quest to figure out what is going on, who are the mysterious figures clad in black robes and to figure out the relationship between Sora and a strange girl named Namine.

The main problem with the game is the game play itself. A bit tedious as all you do is go through this room to that and go through very brief storyboards. The combat is a strange mix of real time fighting and card battling and it is very annoying. I am guessing I am not the only one who disliked this portion of the game, because as far as I know, this is the only Kingdom Hearts game that uses this messed up battling system. It is just really annoying trying to pick cards while simultaneously trying to avoid the enemy and sometimes having to jump and hit certain points on the enemy. Just an all around annoying combat system that really brings this game down a notch or two.

So, it was not all bad as it did fill in the gaps, but the game play is not really all that great. Very tedious, very monotonous and at times a bit frustrating too. So far the best game I have played in the series is the first one, I did manage to get far in the second game, but did not win it. Going to give it another go shortly and see if maybe it will be a bit more fun with some of the strange plot points covered now that I have played this game. Just wish they would stick to keeping the story within the main series of game and stop making all these in between games.