KINGDOM HEARTS - CHAIN OF MEMORIES
G
AME REVIEW
Developer: Square Enix, Jupiter
Publisher: Square Enix, Nintendo
Designer: Tetsuya Nomura
Writers: Daisuke Watanabe
~~~~
Rating: G (no age restrictions)
Genre: Action RPG
Mode: Single Player
Platforms: Game Boy Advance/SP/Micro (and there is a PS2 version too)
~~~~
SCORE:
Graphics: A-
Story: B+
Gameplay: C
Sound: B
Fun: B-
OVERALL: B

GBA:COM Cover

I had doubts at first, because I couldn't imagine how they'd be able to transfer the supreme game play and atmosphere from the first 2 games for the PS to a simple game boy advance. And even though it is not up to par with the quality of the real thing, I can't say that Chain of Memories is a complete failure, quite the opposite to be honest.
For the given capabilities of the small game boy console it provided some of the best graphics I've seen so far. And I really liked the various emoticons of all featured characters while they were talking, that made the conversations a bit more enjoyable. But sadly it took way to long for a screen change (while walking through various worlds you have to collect cards by defeating heartless and other enemies in order to open doors which you have to pass to move along)
Which leads us to the troublesome card system that is resident during the whole game... you have to battle with cards, open worlds with cards, heal with cards, it's all about cards. Makes you almost believe that you're in Yu-gi-Oh! Especially the battles were tiring because in addition to all those cards your perspective changes  from aerial (/from above where you can move in all directions) to a lame worms eye (/2D) during the whole fight and as you have many enemies these things take up a lot of time.
The story itself isn't half that bad. You have to collect all character cards (of people who you forgot about) in order to get your memories back. Axel takes the role of your guide for a relatively considerable time.
All in all I think you shouldn't have very high expectations towards CoM, if you want to play through it you gotta have lots of time and nerves of steel because it can get repetitive sometimes and the small display won't make it any easier. But Kingdom Hearts fans should be able to enjoy it big time!