Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has you starting off where the original from the PS2 left you. The new battle system consisting of cards adds a new twist to the game play. If your someone like me and you can't stand old fashioned RPG's then you may hate this game with a passion, but if you are a fan of the series then I highly recommend picking this title up.

Even though this was put on the GBA the graphics are surprisingly good, and the storyline is unique and will probably take you the same amount of time to finish as the original did. The game lacked side missions, unless you count the board of 100 acre woods as a side mission, and the only draw back I saw was the fact of every room looked exactly the same. Another unique function in the game is the simple fact that you don't have to fight the heartless, if you want you can always just run from them until you cleared the board, and even though that may be an easy way out it may not be the smartest thing to do. Because like ever other RPG, the higher your level the easier the game is in the end, and the only way to level up is to fight. You can customize three different decks, but only carry one. When you level up, the game gives you an option on how you want to level up. You can choose to have higher health, the ability to carry more cards in your deck or to learn more sleights. There are few different ways to do battle, 1. you can just go at random and whatever card you come up to first is the one you use, 2. you can try to counter act your enemies card but this involves a lot of time and patience because if your enemy draws first and attacks before you can counter it then your pretty much just going to take damage, and 3. you can use three cards at the same time for an almost impossible to deflect attack but the only draw back is the three cards you used to attack will no longer be in your deck until the battle ends. Each time you run out of cards you have to hold the A button to replenish them and the more you run out of cards the longer it takes to gain them back.

Bottom line, if you are a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series then you may enjoy this. If you are looking for a quick easy game then this game is not for you, some of the bosses are so incredible hard you may have to level up a good bit just to have a chance at beating them. The story does have a purpose and this time around in order to beat the game fully you have to play as Riku. I still think this game would have been best suited for the PS2.

Pros
-Graphics are very good to be on a GBA
-Story links well with the original
-Unique battle system

Cons
-Can be very frustrating at some points
-Even though the battle system is unique it gets old very quickly and that is not such a good thing when it comes to a long game.
-Every board in a level looks almost exactly the same, so navigation may be a problem but you do have a map.

Rating
3.5 out of 5