And so begins Kingdom Hearts's foray into befuddling names. Admittedly, Re:Chain of Memories is hardly as ridiculous and pretentious as the goofy titles we'll become acquainted with down the road; if anything, I'll grant the "Re:" here actually makes sense -- the involved prefix meaning it's another attempt at a previous title -- but its sudden intrusion before the subtitle has always irked me. Still, it's of little consequence.
Really, what I find more fascinating is the brisk turnover between the original Game Boy Advance game and this remake for PlayStation 2: for those not aware of the dates involved, the original Chain of Memories launched at the very end of 2004, while this 3D remake -- a bonus game packaged alongside the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix re-release in Japan -- released in Spring of 2007 (it received a standalone American release at 2008's end). I struggle to think of any game redone in such a short span of time, and I am never not impressed by this probable record and at Square-Enix's brilliant marketing strategy (what, KH2 with additional features isn't enough for you? Okay, then here's a GODDAMN 3D REMAKE OF A GAME BOY GAME)
For the record, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories has replaced its progenitor in series canon, right down to being featured in PS3's Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX. For the purposes of maintaining consistency in 3D presentation, this should come as no surprise, and yet I still consider it a a tragedy considering its obvious inferiority to the original. Okay, "obvious" might be a little obtuse, but I speak from the perspective of having played both versions to completion, and from there is only one clear winner: the one designed around the original mechanics.
Let us recall that Chain of Memories is a game centering around cards -- Sora's Keyblade unleashes cards chosen from his deck, all meticulously chosen by the player to consider type effectiveness, card breaks, sleights, and number values. As we craft the game's facsimile Disney worlds from map cards of our choosing, we engage in battles on a 2D plane, real-time combat supplemented by on-the-dot strategy I've elaborated my love for here. It is fast yet calculating, operating on constant, satisfying risk-taking and elaborate, self-made progression that, to my mind, composes the best playing Kingdom Hearts.
The "2D plane" bit is what's important here: Chain of Memories' combat system is designed around precise calculation, aiming and combining our attack cards via sleight combos, targeting our friend summons to smash through our enemies, and carefully utilizing our 0 cards to break deadly enemy combos. With only one perspective to keep track of, it was manageable enough to operate such quick-thinking naturally. In other words, anyone well-versed in gaming would probably recognize this system loses such precision in the transition to 3D, and that is a problem. Unlike the sole plane of 2D, there's a whole lot more going on in three-dimensional movement; yes, the fights are still reserved in flat, non-intrusive arenas, but the ensuing crowding and higher bar for proper input hardly preserve such fast-paced meticulousness. Here, it's more clumsy, a fight for both supremacy and against the very mechanics necessary for victory.
This is not to say Re:Chain of Memories is not without merit, nor does one not get used to the combat's newfound foibles. Indeed, there is an undeniable novelty in witnessing Chain of Memories's upgrade into a familiar presentation featuring voice-acting and 3D-animated cutscenes, and at the very least the extra touches to the illusion worlds' card-crafting progression are appreciated alongside largely preserving said progression to an engaging degree. But alas, it's that pesky combat -- alongside a couple other quirks -- that stumbles an otherwise solid product.
However, let us not dismiss the concessions and additions made for this version's combat. Being that this was packaged alongside Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, it was only natural it'd be based on that game's engine, and so here we have Reaction Commands. While there's hardly anything enemy-specific -- to cut down on dev time, I imagine, not to mention letting the card system take focus -- their use for sleight combos new and old are designed with precision in mind, and successfully build upon what were already the game's most satisfying maneuvers. Certain boss fights are also renovated to accommodate the new playing fields -- generally involving anything towering over Sora -- and even several duds become more tolerable in the process; at the very least, the Darkside Heartless isn't nearly as much a tedious, elongated exercise.
Unfortunately, it's not enough to salvage the general chaos of combat. While the use of Kingdom Hearts II's camera allows for gradual familiarization in attacking, situating yourself to aim and fire becomes a more arduous task. The friend summons are by the best example: Goofy, Donald and the other Disney cameos often leave themselves to their own devices as opposed being strategically-placed projectiles, and only in Sleight combos are they of any use. Above all, it's a tragedy what happened to Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, as what was once the strongest, most effective, and downright coolest summon becomes the most useless, the heavy swings of his sword often missing its target (that's not even getting into the actual hits lacking any impact -- whereas the GBA's perspective allowed for zoom-in effects highlighting every slice, the impossibility of that for PS2 bars any acceptable substitute).
It's not as if the game is completely unplayable: one does get used to this awkwardness after a while, and it's not as if the world-crafting doesn't remain a compelling endeavor. Given that the original maps were already three-dimensional in nature, the jump from eight-directional movement to 3D poses no obstacles, and Square took the time to add extra smashable objects for us to sweep up some sweet, sweet Moogle points. Most notably, the 100 Acre Wood has been completely revamped, Winnie the Pooh's woods no longer being a vertical lane of unintuitive prompts but a series of entertaining mini-games. While the original's identity as a skippable section may have echoed the optional nature of the first game's Pooh sidequest, I've always seen it as them not having full confidence in their first take, and it's the one element I hail over the original.
Really, the main draw here is witnessing the transition of what remains Kingdom Hearts' most compelling story into 3D with full voice-acting and flashy choreography and whatnot. This transition isn't without its pratfalls -- the choice to leave the Disney segments text-only, while sensible, does have some consequences, but we'll get into that later -- but to witness a 16-bit RPG be applied with the same production values of the first two mainline games is indeed a pleasant novelty. Now that Axel speaks and acts within a story respecting his presence, Quinton Flynn's saucier take on the character is a lot easier to digest (and it's not as if the character's original localization wasn't a work-in-progress, anyway: "Got it memorized?" may not be as cool as "Commit it to memory," but it's a hell lot more catchy), and there's even the odd improvement here and there: Zexion is no longer snubbed, being finally granted his own unique boss fight.
Still, the evidence of a low-budget localization is clear: Disney mainstay Corey Burton replaces the venerable Christopher Lee as the enigmatic DiZ, Richard Epcar is here to stay as Billy Zane's replacement for the evil Ansem, and little effort was put into lip-synching. Surprisingly, none are nearly as distracting as Haley Joel Osment's awkward puberty -- in a way, I regret harping on this given it's the fault of no one, but the convolution of future entries ensures this isn't the first time we'll be hearing the obvious mismatch of Sora (Miyu Irino's dubbing in the Japanese version always hued more closer to his younger version).
(Speaking of dead actors, it's a sober realization knowing this is the last time Wayne Allwine and Eddie Carroll had full speaking roles as Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket, respectively, for Kingdom Hearts. While the former's true last performance would be providing battle grunts for 358/2 Days -- a role the game would be dedicated to -- King Mickey would never quite be the same afterwards, and it's saddening knowing this is the only time Carroll's performance would be of any relevance as the Royal Chronicler -- other actors would take over for the uselessness that is Re:Coded -- but those are stories for another time)
Let us also not readily shove in-game limitations under the rug, either; specifically, the aforementioned absence of voiced scenes in the Disney worlds. Again, this is an understandable decision: as a bonus game complementing the expansion pack re-release of a mainline entry, the resources weren't there to fully reanimate what are admittedly irrelevant scenarios to the story. Really, that's not the problem -- the problem is the only other alternative were the text sequences using the stilted "texture mouth" character models, sequences and sights already woefully awkward in the other games, and they simply cannot hold a candle to the immaculate 2D mugshots of the original Chain of Memories. Compare and contrast 100 Acre Wood's finale within both versions, and you'll notice it's not just the music's baffling disappearance that renders the remake inferior: both character's blank stares render any emotional impact null, and we're just left with awkwardness on top of awkwardness.
And...yeah, the music. If there is any evidence Re:Chain of Memories was built upon finite resources, I can think of no better example than what's easily Yoko Shimomura's weakest contribution to the series. Perhaps born from the cynicism of arranging the Agrabah and Halloween Town themes for the fourth time in a row, the soundtrack is obviously constructed from very low-quality MIDI, and most anything that isn't new is offensively cheap-sounding. Just listen to Sinister Sundown: what was once a nebulous confrontation with adolescent nostalgia is reduced to xylophone nonsense, accompanied by an insistent tuba muddying one of the original's (and by extension, Kingdom Hearts II's) best themes into parody.
This isn't to say every song is so dismal -- Namine's Theme returns unscathed lovely as ever with a more pronounced harp solo, and the new final boss theme Lord of the Castle is about the only successfully elaborate piece in the entire thing -- but that so many tracks consist of such poor quality undermines the scenario more than a little. If it weren't for the Sinister Sundown example above, La Pace would by far be the most striking offender: what was once an endearing, subdued music box is now supplemented by instruments so goofy it reaches a level of bleak comedy. and it's easily the most disappointing factor given Yoko Shimomura's talent; thankfully, she would emerge from her Kingdom Hearts slump soon, but that's a story for another day.
Again, I am being harsher on a Kingdom Hearts game than it deserves -- at the very least, it is not nearly as disappointing as Kingdom Hearts II's descent into lightweight bloat, and I wish not to dismiss it merely for taking on any incongruities and impossibilities in succession. Indeed, Re:Chain of Memories is a graphical novelty, but that's all this remake is: a novelty to watch and engage in before being discarded for the next piece of entertainment waiting in line.
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