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Hey everyone, news has been slow lately, but some things were mentioned that I haven't already posted. A lot of the news that was already mentioned came in small bits and I thought it would be perfect to mention it all in just one update.
December [Kingdom Hearts] Ecard
The NA Square Enix blog is holding an ecard feature where you can send them to family members and freinds. Make sure that you send your holiday greetings with the Kingdom Hearts Christmas themed ecard. I believe that there are two other ecards that you can also send.
Kingdom Hearts: Play Arts [Cloud]
The new issue of Hobby Japan featured a new Play Arts from Kingdom Hearts I. The Cloud Play Arts figure has no set release date as of now. We'll keep you posted on when this changes.
VIEW SCAN: http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1746/cloudrj5.jpg
Where's the Re:Chain of Memories Trailer?
Once again Square-Enix doesn't finish the proper promotion for it's Kingdom Hearts titles in North America. The Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories trailer has still not been released. Is there anyone that's really surprised by this?
Jump Festa: Are you ready for the two day event?
Make sure that you guys keep checking back with KHV for the latest news this weekend from this year's Jump Festa. Trailers and demos will be shown for Coded, 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep and Mobile.
Mike's Note: It's going to be a long weekend. Looks like I'll be up all night updating.
Source: FF7AC Reunion
December [Kingdom Hearts] Ecard
The NA Square Enix blog is holding an ecard feature where you can send them to family members and freinds. Make sure that you send your holiday greetings with the Kingdom Hearts Christmas themed ecard. I believe that there are two other ecards that you can also send.
Kingdom Hearts: Play Arts [Cloud]
The new issue of Hobby Japan featured a new Play Arts from Kingdom Hearts I. The Cloud Play Arts figure has no set release date as of now. We'll keep you posted on when this changes.
VIEW SCAN: http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1746/cloudrj5.jpg
Where's the Re:Chain of Memories Trailer?
Once again Square-Enix doesn't finish the proper promotion for it's Kingdom Hearts titles in North America. The Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories trailer has still not been released. Is there anyone that's really surprised by this?
Jump Festa: Are you ready for the two day event?
Make sure that you guys keep checking back with KHV for the latest news this weekend from this year's Jump Festa. Trailers and demos will be shown for Coded, 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep and Mobile.
Mike's Note: It's going to be a long weekend. Looks like I'll be up all night updating.
Source: FF7AC Reunion
Hey everyone, for the past two years I've been working on voicing some Roxas dubs and I've been trying to work on a video for Kingdom Hears: 358/2 Days since it was announced. The wait has been long enough and finally I made a video from 358/2 Days. It's really short and I guess you can call it a teaser.
Anyway, the scenes in the video are mostly from the Tokyo Game show 2008. There are only a couple of lines that I added to this video with some sound effects. Please note that the video is fanmade. The lines that are used in this video by me were translated during the last video game conventions.
Also this should kill the drought of news for at least five minutes. Hope you guys enjoy it and don't forget to watch the video in high quality.
[UPDATE #2] Re:Chain of Memories - More Fan Reviews
Hey everyone, more reviews for Re:Chain of Memories has been recently submitted. Make sure you check them out below. Also make sure you view the first couple of reviews by clicking HERE.
Username: SlippingStar
When I arrived home from school to see my shiny copy of Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories propped up against the TV, I just about died. But I was too happy for that. I also own a copy of the original GBA version, and in some ways it’s easier and in others it’s harder. For example; before, I never could pay attention to both the battle and the cards. Now on this larger screen, it’s easier, ironically. But some draw-backs is that it’s harder to land an actual hit on the Heartless when on the field, and some of the controls are different. Oh yes, Marluxia’s voice (that’s MAR-LOO-SHA) = sexiness. Ha. As entertaining as it was for my ADD mind to see the little sprites running around, the 3D version has its perks too. It’s easier to dodge roll and maneuver in general. Axel’s character seems a little… off. But hey, this was before KHII, which is the only place where were heard a dubbed axel. The dubbing is a little shabby, but that’s because the animators were at their peek in this game, so all the mouths form to their Japanese counterparts. So taking that into consideration, they did a fair job. I can’t wait to get to Riku’s part and see Lexeaus! -fangirl squee- Dang you, distractions….
Over all, I am enjoying my product VERY much.
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First Name: Josh
Username: :::the-real-enigma:::
Re: Chain of Memories has been rumored, for a while now, to be coming to NA. And I'm glad it finally has.
As of now I've only made it to floor 5. I've heard Marluxia's, Vexen's, Naminé's and Larxene's voice. And, I have to say that they all made me really happy to hear and the characters were portrayed amazingly. Larxene's VA probably did the best job. I was stunned. She doesn't just look and act evil, Shanelle Workman (VA for Larxene) made it really convincing. Of course, all the returning voice actor's did a really well job, i was strange at first to hear KH1 Sora with a KH2 Sora voice, but you get used to it, like you get used to the battle system. Not to mention I played KH1 directly before this game (and I'll be playing KH2 directly after).
Battle system wise, I love what they've done with it. I like how they added the reaction commands and sped everything up a little. Pooh's minigames! Those were amazing! These new minigames are probably my favorite ones yet to hit the Kingdom Hearts series. They're sorta challenging and so much fun to play. Pooh's world has always been one of those "Uggh, I don't want to do this, but I want to complete the journal and lock all keyholes" type of situations for me, but now i was sad to leave (thank god for the warp things).
If no one else had noticed, I imagine you all have, but the physics in Re: Chain Of Memories is different from KH1 or KH2. The characters move more fluently and slightly quicker. This alone made watching the smallest scenes enjoyable, (even the scene we see so often of Sora standing in front of a door and holding a card up to it). The character's fluent movements really brought out moments well.
The only thing I don't like about this game is the lack of voice acting in the worlds.
While I understand they didn't want to spend to much time/money on Voice acting for this game since it's a remake after all. But, I did miss hearing the voices for Cloud and Hades and, of course, Winnie the Pooh.
Overall, this game links KH1 and 2 together beautifully. It's true to the original for the GBA and the new things that have been added did for this game what a cherry does for the top of an ice cream sundae.
I have never rated anything before, but I believe this game easily deserves at very least a 9.5 out of 10.
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First Name: jon
Username: liljonjon94
Well I got my copy on release date, so im really happy about that. The game is a perfect remake of the original gba game. The graphics have gone from pixel graphics to 3d ps2 graphics. So thats a big +. The voice acting was a success, as the voices capture the feeling that players experience. The card system is pretty good, with multiple sleights and tons of cards. I played through the 8th floor (mine was 100 acre wood) lvl 29 54% card collection, and its already very good. The proud mode setting is difficult, compared to standard and easy but i wanted to make this playthrough really count. So far, i died 15 times from larxene #1 (she was hard!), 8 times from riku replica #1 And so far 10 failed attempts on riku #2. So hard!..
Rating:
Graphics 10/10
VA 9/10 (with a little regret)
Total: 19/20 - 95%
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Julia
Username: Axelkh765
My Review:
It's about time! Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories has finally come to North America. On Decembr 2nd I immediatly went to pick up my copy of the newest game to join the KH family. When I started playing, I realized that the game was more... challenging, than previous titles. The card battle system takes a little while to get used to on the ps2 and trying to remember which cards do what adds to the challenge. As for character voices, I loved Marluxia's voice.
Yes people, it's Mar-loo-shia. When I realized his name pronounciation, I didn't feel bad because I knew that lots of people thought it was Mar-lux-ia just as I had. Axel's voice IS a little different, I'll give people that. Some of the comments I have seen have really been degrading Quinton Flynn's VA as Axel. I don't agree with those people, but realize, if Re: CoM came out before KHII, people would be saying how different his voice is just as they are now. Quinton Flynn did an awesome job as usual! Namine's new voice has also changed because of a new VA, but it's alright. Last but not least, Sora's older voice in a younger body threw me off at first, but now I don't mind it. I own the GBA title as well and so far, I am pleased with the results of the 3D rendition of this classic game, plus, being sold with Final Mix + would make any KH gamer happy! I can't wait to see what other battles come up as I complete this game.
Voices:
10/10 All of the voice actors did a great job.
Gameplay:
9/10- the card battle system takes some getting used to.
Entertainment Factor:
11/10! It's a great buy and worth the $30.00 you paid for it.
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Username: KHEnigmatic+
Well, the remake that every KH fan has been waiting fro is finally here. Originally for the GBA, this game brings a fresh new remake edition to the PS2 console, which brings back the adventures of Sora and Riku's, both different, original stories in Castle Oblivion. Now, to start off:
Voice Acting: The voice acting, I have to say, is remarkable. But besides there being only one voice actor replaced, quite a few have been replaced in this game. Hayden Panettiere, Brittany Snow, and Christopher Lee have all been replaced by new voice actors, which whom I will talk about later on. To start off, the voice actors of Goofy, Donald, and Mickey are back, again doing a remarkable job. Haley Joel Osment is back, and he did a remarkable job voice acting Sora once again, and I can understand why Haley has voiced Sora in his KH2 voice(puberty, people!). David Gallagher does an astounding job also as Riku and Repliku. Now, for the newly replacements. Let me say, Meghan Jette Martin(if that's her name spelled correctly >_>) did an absolutely amazing job with Namine, and captured her low, shy, voice correctly. Alyson Stoner (Kairi) did actually pretty good as she got the voice of KH1 Kairi perfectly, which reminded of the scene in KH1 when Sora mistook Yuffie for Kairi. Corey Burton, on the other hand, did a disappointing job with DiZ, and I want Christopher Lee's voice back, now! The only reasons why I think they replaced all these actors, especially Hayden, was:
A. They needed younger voices since this game was set one year before KH2
B. The voice actors were too busy in their time
or C. The team was low on budget for dubbing, so they couldn't bring the voice actors, whom were all much more famous than the replacements.
and Finally, is the voices of the Organization. Marluxia's voice actor captured his voice perfectly, giving him that since of beauty, leadership, and power that Marluxia should have. Axel does sound different, but he did show more of his soft side in KH2, and now he shows his more sly, tricky, and somewhat-crazy personality, so well done, Quinton Flynn. Larxene's voice actor also did a good job, capturing her self-adolescence, playfulness, and anger. Vexen's voice actor, Derek Stephen Prince, also did a great job voicing him, comparing him to the mad, old scientist that he is meant to be. Lexeaus' voice actor, I must say, was the overall best new voice of the Organization, as Dave Boat made Lexeaus sound perfectly, capturing his tough complex, wiseness, and sinister tone; Astounding job, Dave Boat. Finally, Zexion's voice actor also did a good job, capturing him as the perfect schemer who stays mostly in the shadows. Overall, great voice acting but I do hope for the greatness of KH that Hayden Panettire comes back.
Graphics: Graphics are well done once again, bringing the PS2's graphics to their fullness. Amazing, S-E.
Gameplay/New Features: The gameplay is even more enjoyable than the original, now with the 3-D environment and the Reaction Commands for sleights. The new features of the gameplay also, as I've seen playing, affects some battles differently than the original. This makes some boss battle more difficult and some more easier. Maybe they should've tone down on some of the reaction commands and raise the AIs of some bosses a bit(I have beaten both stories in Proud Mode btw). The new features of this game feature new boss battles, such as Zexion and a 2nd part of Marluxia's final boss battle, and a theater mode. I have not tried out theater mode, but from the screenshots, I believe that they also show the events that happen in the card worlds, and I mean EVERY card world. The new boss battles are remarkable and challenging at the same time, both of which I was satisfied. Overall, the Gamplay and new features were great.
So, now that you've read that, Kingdom Hearts Re:CoM is a great game. Tetsuya Nomura deserves his thanks for taking time to make this game and sharing it to both NA and Europe. I hope to see more games of the KH series, and wish for some voice actors to return (Bring Hayden back!). So now, my overall score of this game is: 8.9/10
--------------------------------------------
Username: EvilMan_89
The Culmination of All the Kingdom Hearts games
Kingdom Hearts RE: COM is the game that takes the best of all the previous games (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II) all together in one package. This game uses the stuff that worked in the previous games, from Kingdom Hearts with it's attacks, settings, and animations. From Kingdom Hearts 2's Reaction Command System, the menus, and best of all: the camera system. And Chain of Memories' card system and story.
This is a must have game for all Kingdom Hearts fans and here's why.
STORY (10/10)
The storyline of the game takes place directly after the first Kingdom Hearts game and before Kingdom Hearts 2. It takes place in Castle Oblivion and the storyline revolves around the mysteries of the inhabitants of Caste Oblivion. There is a lot of narrative elements in this game such as mystery, suspense, and plot twists. Without revealing anything, the storyline IS the most dramatic of the whole series.
GAMEPLAY (8/10)
This game takes the battle systems from all three games. It uses the first game's attacks in the form of sleights, while also working in the Reaction Command system for players to use follow up attacks with certain sleights, and best of all: it maintains the card system from Chain of Memories. While the original game had it's flaws such as the needless hunting for a specific card to open a door, or the long time it takes a player to change Riku into his Dark Mode; these minor annoyances have been solved by adding in fixes such as a new Map card that allows Players to have more control of what cards they will get and the Rapid Break system that allows Riku to gain more Dark Points.
The game's card system allows players to have great freedom in the fighting style of Sora. You can use whichever cards you want to use the sleights you want. You can focus on using only Attack Sleights or use Magic Sleights. It's all up to you.
The card system also allows players the freedom to go to certain rooms while exploring the worlds. If a player doesn't want to get into a fight, they can simply use a card that will avoid spawning heartless like the Calm Bounty card. Or they could cause more enemies to spawn if they wish.
As for the difficulty of the game, this game is HARD. You have to constantly monitor your card, the numbers on the card, while avoiding enemy attacks and coming up with a strategy to fight back. It's a lot to do at once but it's fun. However, the game seriously lacks difficulty in Riku's side of the story (even in Proud Mode). That is simply because of the Card Duel system that is exclusive to Riku's story. Most, if not all enemies can easily be overcome with this one attack and the game sometimes seems to encourage the overusage of these attacks that result from the Card Duel.
GRAPHICS (10/10)
This game is pure eye candy, with all the colorful surroundings one would expect from a Kingdom Hearts game. It uses many of the settings from the previous game while implementing the much improved camera system from Kingdom Hearts II. All the maps are nice looking. The attacks are very beautiful and you have to see it to believe it. The game's cinematics are very appealing as well due to it's having more action in the scenes than the previous games.
SOUND (9/10)
The soundtracks are all from the previous games. Nothing new but some of them remixed. All in all, it sounds nice. However, some of the dialouge that is spoken in the game's cinematics are a bit choppy and awkward. This seems to be due to the pre-recorded scenes that were made for the Japanese version but it IS noticeable at times. I believe that Square has done the best they could with what they had but that doesn't change the awkward sentences at times.
OVERALL (9/10)
This game scores 9/10 because while it is not perfect, it is pretty close to it. However there are some negatives that prevent the score from reaching a perfect one. One issue is that the game can be a little predictable at times. After a few hours into the game, players will catch on to the whole system in the worlds of: Opening Sequence, Drama stuff, Turning Point, Boss fight, and then conclusion. Those things happen in every world in that order, in a matter of 3 rooms in most cases. It can be predictable. Also, another thing that dragged the score down was the delivery of the lines spoken during cutscenes. The lip synching is noticeably off at times and the dialouge just sounds awkward at times. Despite those negatives, this is a good game, and should at least be rented if not bought. It is a must have for Kingdom Hearts fans but gamers who are new to the series might be a little confused when playing this game.
SCORE: 9/10
--------------------------------------------
First Name: Scott
Username: Sith Scott
Gameplay: I say the hardest thing is Riku always using zeroes and doing quick moves but I beat him the 4th time (super close the 1st time) He was the only guy I had to redo boss battles. I’m only in sora’s story in castle oblivion the last floor. I wish I would of chosen easy mode so I could go directly to Reverse rebirth mode but I like challenges. Man was the 10th and above floor difficult. I didn’t die from the bosses but I had 10 hp the whole time.(Dodge roll is the best maneuver ever). I am still at the 3rd room and the neo-shadows are incredibly powerful with a handful of cards with 8’s and down. Only able to use 9’s Best way to run is diagonal. Down or sideways gets you pelted. (CURSE YOU RIKU REPLICA)
Voice Overs: The voice overs worked better than I Thought. Even with Haley Joel Osment’s voice deeper it still fits sora’s character. Riku was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. Made him sound darker. I didn’t know what to expect with marluxia or Larxene but I thought they fit the parts.
Overall I give it 9.5/10
Hey everyone, more reviews for Re:Chain of Memories has been recently submitted. Make sure you check them out below. Also make sure you view the first couple of reviews by clicking HERE.
Username: SlippingStar
When I arrived home from school to see my shiny copy of Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories propped up against the TV, I just about died. But I was too happy for that. I also own a copy of the original GBA version, and in some ways it’s easier and in others it’s harder. For example; before, I never could pay attention to both the battle and the cards. Now on this larger screen, it’s easier, ironically. But some draw-backs is that it’s harder to land an actual hit on the Heartless when on the field, and some of the controls are different. Oh yes, Marluxia’s voice (that’s MAR-LOO-SHA) = sexiness. Ha. As entertaining as it was for my ADD mind to see the little sprites running around, the 3D version has its perks too. It’s easier to dodge roll and maneuver in general. Axel’s character seems a little… off. But hey, this was before KHII, which is the only place where were heard a dubbed axel. The dubbing is a little shabby, but that’s because the animators were at their peek in this game, so all the mouths form to their Japanese counterparts. So taking that into consideration, they did a fair job. I can’t wait to get to Riku’s part and see Lexeaus! -fangirl squee- Dang you, distractions….
Over all, I am enjoying my product VERY much.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
First Name: Josh
Username: :::the-real-enigma:::
Re: Chain of Memories has been rumored, for a while now, to be coming to NA. And I'm glad it finally has.
As of now I've only made it to floor 5. I've heard Marluxia's, Vexen's, Naminé's and Larxene's voice. And, I have to say that they all made me really happy to hear and the characters were portrayed amazingly. Larxene's VA probably did the best job. I was stunned. She doesn't just look and act evil, Shanelle Workman (VA for Larxene) made it really convincing. Of course, all the returning voice actor's did a really well job, i was strange at first to hear KH1 Sora with a KH2 Sora voice, but you get used to it, like you get used to the battle system. Not to mention I played KH1 directly before this game (and I'll be playing KH2 directly after).
Battle system wise, I love what they've done with it. I like how they added the reaction commands and sped everything up a little. Pooh's minigames! Those were amazing! These new minigames are probably my favorite ones yet to hit the Kingdom Hearts series. They're sorta challenging and so much fun to play. Pooh's world has always been one of those "Uggh, I don't want to do this, but I want to complete the journal and lock all keyholes" type of situations for me, but now i was sad to leave (thank god for the warp things).
If no one else had noticed, I imagine you all have, but the physics in Re: Chain Of Memories is different from KH1 or KH2. The characters move more fluently and slightly quicker. This alone made watching the smallest scenes enjoyable, (even the scene we see so often of Sora standing in front of a door and holding a card up to it). The character's fluent movements really brought out moments well.
The only thing I don't like about this game is the lack of voice acting in the worlds.
While I understand they didn't want to spend to much time/money on Voice acting for this game since it's a remake after all. But, I did miss hearing the voices for Cloud and Hades and, of course, Winnie the Pooh.
Overall, this game links KH1 and 2 together beautifully. It's true to the original for the GBA and the new things that have been added did for this game what a cherry does for the top of an ice cream sundae.
I have never rated anything before, but I believe this game easily deserves at very least a 9.5 out of 10.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
First Name: jon
Username: liljonjon94
Well I got my copy on release date, so im really happy about that. The game is a perfect remake of the original gba game. The graphics have gone from pixel graphics to 3d ps2 graphics. So thats a big +. The voice acting was a success, as the voices capture the feeling that players experience. The card system is pretty good, with multiple sleights and tons of cards. I played through the 8th floor (mine was 100 acre wood) lvl 29 54% card collection, and its already very good. The proud mode setting is difficult, compared to standard and easy but i wanted to make this playthrough really count. So far, i died 15 times from larxene #1 (she was hard!), 8 times from riku replica #1 And so far 10 failed attempts on riku #2. So hard!..
Rating:
Graphics 10/10
VA 9/10 (with a little regret)
Total: 19/20 - 95%
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Julia
Username: Axelkh765
My Review:
It's about time! Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories has finally come to North America. On Decembr 2nd I immediatly went to pick up my copy of the newest game to join the KH family. When I started playing, I realized that the game was more... challenging, than previous titles. The card battle system takes a little while to get used to on the ps2 and trying to remember which cards do what adds to the challenge. As for character voices, I loved Marluxia's voice.
Yes people, it's Mar-loo-shia. When I realized his name pronounciation, I didn't feel bad because I knew that lots of people thought it was Mar-lux-ia just as I had. Axel's voice IS a little different, I'll give people that. Some of the comments I have seen have really been degrading Quinton Flynn's VA as Axel. I don't agree with those people, but realize, if Re: CoM came out before KHII, people would be saying how different his voice is just as they are now. Quinton Flynn did an awesome job as usual! Namine's new voice has also changed because of a new VA, but it's alright. Last but not least, Sora's older voice in a younger body threw me off at first, but now I don't mind it. I own the GBA title as well and so far, I am pleased with the results of the 3D rendition of this classic game, plus, being sold with Final Mix + would make any KH gamer happy! I can't wait to see what other battles come up as I complete this game.
Voices:
10/10 All of the voice actors did a great job.
Gameplay:
9/10- the card battle system takes some getting used to.
Entertainment Factor:
11/10! It's a great buy and worth the $30.00 you paid for it.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Username: KHEnigmatic+
Well, the remake that every KH fan has been waiting fro is finally here. Originally for the GBA, this game brings a fresh new remake edition to the PS2 console, which brings back the adventures of Sora and Riku's, both different, original stories in Castle Oblivion. Now, to start off:
Voice Acting: The voice acting, I have to say, is remarkable. But besides there being only one voice actor replaced, quite a few have been replaced in this game. Hayden Panettiere, Brittany Snow, and Christopher Lee have all been replaced by new voice actors, which whom I will talk about later on. To start off, the voice actors of Goofy, Donald, and Mickey are back, again doing a remarkable job. Haley Joel Osment is back, and he did a remarkable job voice acting Sora once again, and I can understand why Haley has voiced Sora in his KH2 voice(puberty, people!). David Gallagher does an astounding job also as Riku and Repliku. Now, for the newly replacements. Let me say, Meghan Jette Martin(if that's her name spelled correctly >_>) did an absolutely amazing job with Namine, and captured her low, shy, voice correctly. Alyson Stoner (Kairi) did actually pretty good as she got the voice of KH1 Kairi perfectly, which reminded of the scene in KH1 when Sora mistook Yuffie for Kairi. Corey Burton, on the other hand, did a disappointing job with DiZ, and I want Christopher Lee's voice back, now! The only reasons why I think they replaced all these actors, especially Hayden, was:
A. They needed younger voices since this game was set one year before KH2
B. The voice actors were too busy in their time
or C. The team was low on budget for dubbing, so they couldn't bring the voice actors, whom were all much more famous than the replacements.
and Finally, is the voices of the Organization. Marluxia's voice actor captured his voice perfectly, giving him that since of beauty, leadership, and power that Marluxia should have. Axel does sound different, but he did show more of his soft side in KH2, and now he shows his more sly, tricky, and somewhat-crazy personality, so well done, Quinton Flynn. Larxene's voice actor also did a good job, capturing her self-adolescence, playfulness, and anger. Vexen's voice actor, Derek Stephen Prince, also did a great job voicing him, comparing him to the mad, old scientist that he is meant to be. Lexeaus' voice actor, I must say, was the overall best new voice of the Organization, as Dave Boat made Lexeaus sound perfectly, capturing his tough complex, wiseness, and sinister tone; Astounding job, Dave Boat. Finally, Zexion's voice actor also did a good job, capturing him as the perfect schemer who stays mostly in the shadows. Overall, great voice acting but I do hope for the greatness of KH that Hayden Panettire comes back.
Graphics: Graphics are well done once again, bringing the PS2's graphics to their fullness. Amazing, S-E.
Gameplay/New Features: The gameplay is even more enjoyable than the original, now with the 3-D environment and the Reaction Commands for sleights. The new features of the gameplay also, as I've seen playing, affects some battles differently than the original. This makes some boss battle more difficult and some more easier. Maybe they should've tone down on some of the reaction commands and raise the AIs of some bosses a bit(I have beaten both stories in Proud Mode btw). The new features of this game feature new boss battles, such as Zexion and a 2nd part of Marluxia's final boss battle, and a theater mode. I have not tried out theater mode, but from the screenshots, I believe that they also show the events that happen in the card worlds, and I mean EVERY card world. The new boss battles are remarkable and challenging at the same time, both of which I was satisfied. Overall, the Gamplay and new features were great.
So, now that you've read that, Kingdom Hearts Re:CoM is a great game. Tetsuya Nomura deserves his thanks for taking time to make this game and sharing it to both NA and Europe. I hope to see more games of the KH series, and wish for some voice actors to return (Bring Hayden back!). So now, my overall score of this game is: 8.9/10
--------------------------------------------
Username: EvilMan_89
The Culmination of All the Kingdom Hearts games
Kingdom Hearts RE: COM is the game that takes the best of all the previous games (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II) all together in one package. This game uses the stuff that worked in the previous games, from Kingdom Hearts with it's attacks, settings, and animations. From Kingdom Hearts 2's Reaction Command System, the menus, and best of all: the camera system. And Chain of Memories' card system and story.
This is a must have game for all Kingdom Hearts fans and here's why.
STORY (10/10)
The storyline of the game takes place directly after the first Kingdom Hearts game and before Kingdom Hearts 2. It takes place in Castle Oblivion and the storyline revolves around the mysteries of the inhabitants of Caste Oblivion. There is a lot of narrative elements in this game such as mystery, suspense, and plot twists. Without revealing anything, the storyline IS the most dramatic of the whole series.
GAMEPLAY (8/10)
This game takes the battle systems from all three games. It uses the first game's attacks in the form of sleights, while also working in the Reaction Command system for players to use follow up attacks with certain sleights, and best of all: it maintains the card system from Chain of Memories. While the original game had it's flaws such as the needless hunting for a specific card to open a door, or the long time it takes a player to change Riku into his Dark Mode; these minor annoyances have been solved by adding in fixes such as a new Map card that allows Players to have more control of what cards they will get and the Rapid Break system that allows Riku to gain more Dark Points.
The game's card system allows players to have great freedom in the fighting style of Sora. You can use whichever cards you want to use the sleights you want. You can focus on using only Attack Sleights or use Magic Sleights. It's all up to you.
The card system also allows players the freedom to go to certain rooms while exploring the worlds. If a player doesn't want to get into a fight, they can simply use a card that will avoid spawning heartless like the Calm Bounty card. Or they could cause more enemies to spawn if they wish.
As for the difficulty of the game, this game is HARD. You have to constantly monitor your card, the numbers on the card, while avoiding enemy attacks and coming up with a strategy to fight back. It's a lot to do at once but it's fun. However, the game seriously lacks difficulty in Riku's side of the story (even in Proud Mode). That is simply because of the Card Duel system that is exclusive to Riku's story. Most, if not all enemies can easily be overcome with this one attack and the game sometimes seems to encourage the overusage of these attacks that result from the Card Duel.
GRAPHICS (10/10)
This game is pure eye candy, with all the colorful surroundings one would expect from a Kingdom Hearts game. It uses many of the settings from the previous game while implementing the much improved camera system from Kingdom Hearts II. All the maps are nice looking. The attacks are very beautiful and you have to see it to believe it. The game's cinematics are very appealing as well due to it's having more action in the scenes than the previous games.
SOUND (9/10)
The soundtracks are all from the previous games. Nothing new but some of them remixed. All in all, it sounds nice. However, some of the dialouge that is spoken in the game's cinematics are a bit choppy and awkward. This seems to be due to the pre-recorded scenes that were made for the Japanese version but it IS noticeable at times. I believe that Square has done the best they could with what they had but that doesn't change the awkward sentences at times.
OVERALL (9/10)
This game scores 9/10 because while it is not perfect, it is pretty close to it. However there are some negatives that prevent the score from reaching a perfect one. One issue is that the game can be a little predictable at times. After a few hours into the game, players will catch on to the whole system in the worlds of: Opening Sequence, Drama stuff, Turning Point, Boss fight, and then conclusion. Those things happen in every world in that order, in a matter of 3 rooms in most cases. It can be predictable. Also, another thing that dragged the score down was the delivery of the lines spoken during cutscenes. The lip synching is noticeably off at times and the dialouge just sounds awkward at times. Despite those negatives, this is a good game, and should at least be rented if not bought. It is a must have for Kingdom Hearts fans but gamers who are new to the series might be a little confused when playing this game.
SCORE: 9/10
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First Name: Scott
Username: Sith Scott
Gameplay: I say the hardest thing is Riku always using zeroes and doing quick moves but I beat him the 4th time (super close the 1st time) He was the only guy I had to redo boss battles. I’m only in sora’s story in castle oblivion the last floor. I wish I would of chosen easy mode so I could go directly to Reverse rebirth mode but I like challenges. Man was the 10th and above floor difficult. I didn’t die from the bosses but I had 10 hp the whole time.(Dodge roll is the best maneuver ever). I am still at the 3rd room and the neo-shadows are incredibly powerful with a handful of cards with 8’s and down. Only able to use 9’s Best way to run is diagonal. Down or sideways gets you pelted. (CURSE YOU RIKU REPLICA)
Voice Overs: The voice overs worked better than I Thought. Even with Haley Joel Osment’s voice deeper it still fits sora’s character. Riku was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. Made him sound darker. I didn’t know what to expect with marluxia or Larxene but I thought they fit the parts.
Overall I give it 9.5/10
Hey everyone, just quickly letting you guys know that the Kingdom Hearts: Mobile website has officially opened. If you’re interested in checking out the website, make sure you click the link below. Once again, the Kingdom Hearts Mobile is exclusive for Japan.
Link: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/kh/
Link: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/kh/
[UPDATE #5] Re:Chain of Memories - Fan Reviews
On December 2nd I posted an update regarding fan reviews for KH-Vids. Today I've received some reviews from members of the forums. Hopefully there will be more submissions as you guys get closer to beating the game. Below are the requirements on submitting your own review. You can click HERE to access the update.
REQUIREMENTS
- No plagiarism. Your review must be in your own words.
- Make sure you include your first name and username.
- Review doesn't need to be long or short. Write as much as you want.
- Deadline is January 2009.
- Five members/visitors will be selected and displayed on the main page.
- Send reviews to me at cgnetproductions@aol.com or pm me.
First Name: B
Username: ~The Rising Falcon
Voice Cast Review: Now I haven't beaten the whole game as of yet. I'm actually on the 6th floor, Level 21, on Proud Mode. As soon as the credits finished and I heard Marluxia first talk, I was already trilled by the new English voice cast. Marluxia to me comes off as someone with a bold, yet handsome voice. And Keith Ferguson did just that. As I have heard of him so far. As for Sora, knowing Haley Joel wasn't disappointing. It just caught me off guard how, being the voice of the 16 year-old Sora, is also the voice of 14 year-old Sora. I have yet to hear Kairi, played by Alyson Stoner, and Namine, by Meaghan Jette Martin, have sounded. But I'm sure they will be just as good as both Hayden and Brittany.
Gameplay Review: When I started out on Proud Mode, I found the challenge at first not difficult, but as I progressed thru the floors, it began getting tougher. I didn’t get a Moogle Room till the 4th floor. And I mainly keep a stack no lower than 5 or 6. But having wimpy cards like 1-4's wasn't cutting it. I could easily use them, it just meant more restocking as i had been constantly card broken. But I quickly got the hang of it all and quickly took out the first 6 floors in under 3 hours, I think? [Laughs] Using slights wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Hitting Triangle with a quick R1 or L1 wasn't tricky, but the lock-on being R2 got to me. So I changed the battle style, making R1 Lock-On, L2 and R2 being card changing. And it worked way easier.
Cutscene Review: I was impressed with the voice overs, but the scenes between levels got to me. All the reading, no listening. It was tireding. A few areas of voice would've been nice, but none the less perfectly fine. The graphics were impressive. They live up to the brother games, if not what I consider better.
I give Kingdom Hearts Re:CoM a 9/10
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Name: Ian
Username: KHMasterPK
Voice Choice Review: I may not be very far into the game (Just beat Larxene the first time around.) but when it comes to the voice work I'm impressed. Axel still sounds great, Marluxia got a good voice, and Larxene's voice fits her very well. It's nice seeing that Donald and Goofy still have nothing different with their voice Sora has his Kingdom Hearts 2 voice which to me just doesn't fit with the Kingdom Hearts 1 Sora look.
Gameplay Review: Well since I played the Japanese game before this it's nice to see it is pretty much the same. Battles get handled the same way, traveling is still simple, and it all makes sense. I may not be a huge fan of the card battles system but the combat is still fluid like Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Only problem I find is how hard it can be to get cards over 6. Within the 4 packs I end up lucky with the most being 6 out of 20 being useful to what I use. It's early in the game where the better packs aren't available yet so there is time that the minor problem will change.
Cutscene Review: Very well made. The scenes add up with the story, voices have the right tone to fit what happened and overall is just adds to the experience to pull you in. Only issue is what others have said where there are no actual scenes with voices IN the worlds just going through the castle...It gets annoying having to read most of the game. There is also the minor issue of how at times the mouths don't match the words but...That seems natural for Japanese to English games.
I give this game an overall score of 9.25 out of 10.
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First Name: Stephanie
Username: SSCeles
Voice Cast:
- It didn't take long for me to get over Sora's aged voice. When I later met up with the Riku replica, I was again stunned by hearing a deeper voice come out of character still dressed in KH1 clothing. But I soon got over that, too. They're still the Sora and Riku I remember!
- Axel... well, I think Quinton Flynn was trying to hard to make him sound suave this time. Larxene? Wow. Talk about a girl you wouldn't want to catch at the wrong time of the month. She didn't give me quite the same vibe as the Japanese Larxene, but: It's all in the laugh. At times, it could have been a little higher. Instead of the girly high pitched giggle, it was a full out sadistic , fake, preppy laugh. Both work on Larxene. It's a good American equivalent. I loved to hate her. The best highlight of this game: Vexen's voice. It's delicious.
- Marluxia. Pfft. Okay, at first, I was a little worried Ferguson wouldn't do a good job. He also did Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. How could I take that voice seriously? Well, good news. I couldn't make the connection. He did a good job voicewise. But he just doesn't fit Marluxia. He also used a random french word after the whole Vexen-Marluxia arguement that kind of made me tilt my head and go, "Huh?"
- Namine. I was originally concerned about her getting a new voice actor. But she reads her lines well. Her lines struck my heart, and she is truly fitting of a Chain of Memories Namine. I can connect her deeper, yet quieter voice with the depressed and caged Namine: So it was fitting, but could have been higher.
- Bad, bad me: I snuck onto YouTube to peek ahead. I had to see how good or bad Epcar did with Ansem. MUCH better than the KH2 voiceover. Much. Still no Billy Zane, but its an optimistic 9/10 so far. (I haven't officially hit Riku's side yet.)
- Lexaeus, Zexion: Not there yet. I've heard from friends that they're great.
Gameplay:
- I started out on Easy mode because I really, really wanted to get to Riku's side. I played the Gameboy version of Chain of Memories, and I wasn't in it for the gameplay. Great news: The card based system works out a lot better on a 3D playing field. You can actually run away a safe distant to reload your deck! Currently I'm right before the last Axel battle. After that? Marluxia's epic multi-part battle. Fun fun! I've only had this game two days, but my in-game timer at the save points claim I have 24 hours in. (Man, do I feel sorry for anyone who played anything other than Easy mode if it's taken me this long.) A lot of my time was wasted revising my deck, and rebattling the Riku replica and Larxene. (Using the deck building process wasn't explained nearly well enough in-game. Took a while to even comprehend the brightly colored menus.)
- I really love the triangle button for the card combos. Far easier than the original.
- You really have to decide whether you want to attack with sleights, or just attack flat out. Remember that the first cards of sleights disappear!
- If you have to fight a boss more than once (Larxene, especially) the second battle gets harder with new attack patterns and new attacks altogether.
- Dodge roll is your key to escaping any teleport attacks, and running from ice spikes is your best friend! It may take more than one try to defeat a boss, even on Easy.
- If a boss isn't giving you time to breathe, let alone reshuffle your deck, I say plan out your deck ahead of time. (I'm refering mostly to Riku.) You'll know what cards you have, so all you have to do set them up in the order you have to use them. No scrambling back and forth. Strike raids stun. It may be your only time to heal or reshuffle before he wakes up.
- Disney boss battles: Much easier than in the original Chain of Memories. Didn't have to redo a single one, from what I recall...
Cutscenes:
- Well... in the Disney worlds there were some fun events. A shame that there was no voice acting. However, this is a LONG game, it would take up too much room on the disc or something? In any case, the stories are vaguely the same as they were last time, else predictable of the characters therein. (I've always been wierded out with KH Jafar wanting to marry Jasmine, when in the movie... bleh.) Maleficient, Belle, and Beast have a new story inside of Hollow Bastion which may shine some light on Maleficient... but then again, it's only inside Sora's head, and not really the witch herself.
- The actual scenes: There were a few lines that I think could have been translated more accurately, or lipsync better, but that's what I get for knowing the Japanese version backwards and forwards. I'm happy to say a few choice lines remained untouched and hardly different from the translations at KH-Vids. The Riku replica's, "You're always trying to worm your way into my heart!" and "Your memory is a train wreck!" Are happily the same.
- Vexen's mouth movements are extravagent near the beginning, so its hard to get any lipsyncing in at all. But the voice acting made up for it tenfold.
- In places I felt the voice acting was far more 'real' feeling than the other two games. In other places, I didn't feel much of anything at all. I'm still unsatisfied with Marluxia's voiceacting, it seemed strained and not real. But he is a Nobody. The lack of emotion... could be seen as fitting?
Overall: 9/10
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First Name: Matthew
Username: Roxas_The_Key_to_Destiny
My Review: I own the Japanese Version that came with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ Over a year and 4 months now. Ive recently obtian the North American Version Yesterday(12/3/08). I like the game alot. Comparing the Japanese to English they made it alittle differnce like the Fonts(of the numbers). The Voice acting of the game is really good. Im not that far into the game. But I get there soon. But I've heard from my own ears of the game Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, Marluxia, Axel, and Larxene, I seen some youtube. But I like to review from my own site of the game, the Voices I like, I perfer KHII Sora's Voice because I like it, cause of how gentle and funny it is. The Game Play I didnt like in the GBA, But the Ps2 on made it alot easier for me to understand and use. The graphics are really good as well better than the first KH. But the Voice I am conserned about is Alyson Stoner as Kairi, I want to hear her 3 lines or so. But I hope Hayden does more work for KH.. I adore her =3. But That is my Review.
Score: 10/10 for me.
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Name: Mark
Username: TheoGary
Overview: I loved Chain of Memories on the GBA. It was actually the first Kingdom Hearts game I ever played. So I was very excited when I heard about a fully realized PS2 version coming out with Final Mix+. I figured it would never make its way stateside, but imagine my surprise when I heard the announcement. I picked it up the day it came out and I’ve just now finished Reverse Rebirth Mode.
Story: CoM has a great story. It serves as a fantastic introduction to Organization XIII and the Nobodies. And to see Riku and King Mickey getting as much screen time as Sora, Donald and Goofy is awesome. I felt like this game had even more interesting twists and turns than the other games. And to see it now, being able to put it in context with KH2, makes it all the more interesting. I caught lots of little hints about Roxas and Xemnas that I didn’t know to look for when I first played.
Voice Acting: I must say that I was slightly disappointed in some of the voice acting this time around. This isn’t something that could really be helped, but it was still jarring to hear 15-year-old Sora’s voice coming out of 14-year-old Sora’s mouth. And as much as I love Quinton Flynn, his heart (no pun intended) just didn’t seem to be into playing Axel this time around. Marluxia…he wasn’t bad, but that’s just not how I imagined him sounding at all. Though Corey Burton does a fair imitation, Christopher Lee’s voice talents as DiZ/Ansem the Wise were still missed. And, as with KH2, Richard Epcar just can’t compare to Billy Zane as Ansem/Xehanort. And I really felt like they should have added voice acting to the Disney Worlds. Going through the text exchanges got very tedious after a while. However there were some high points too. David Gallagher as Riku was the best he’s been in any game so far. Shanelle Gray as Larxene was EXACTLY how I imagined her. And Derek Stephen Prince was very good as Vexen. The rest of the voices, I was fairly neutral about.
Graphics: The graphics were very hot and cold for me. The models and animations were on par with KH2. However the environments went from really good to downright ugly. If you recall, the maps on the GBA version were basically a cross-section. Well, they translated that precisely into this version. So what you often end up with is two walls and then a random drop into nothingness. In some levels, they made this work. Atlantica and Wonderland are two that come to mind. However, in others it just looked like lazy programming. My favorite was Twilight Town where it looked like the city ended and became an endless sea of Mustard Gas.
Gameplay: They did a good job translating the card system into the PS2. They retained the spirit of it while adding some new elements. When I heard that they were importing the mechanic of Reaction Commands from KH2, I was apprehensive. I just wasn’t sure how that would work with the cards. However, my worries were for nothing. They did a good job with it. And I really enjoyed Riku’s Duel Mode. There’s also a ton of new Sleights to play around with, including instances where Sora attacks alongside his companions.
Final Assessment: While the story and the gameplay are great, I felt like the game was hurt by some of the voice acting and the bad design of the environments.
Score: 8 out of 10.
On December 2nd I posted an update regarding fan reviews for KH-Vids. Today I've received some reviews from members of the forums. Hopefully there will be more submissions as you guys get closer to beating the game. Below are the requirements on submitting your own review. You can click HERE to access the update.
REQUIREMENTS
- No plagiarism. Your review must be in your own words.
- Make sure you include your first name and username.
- Review doesn't need to be long or short. Write as much as you want.
- Deadline is January 2009.
- Five members/visitors will be selected and displayed on the main page.
- Send reviews to me at cgnetproductions@aol.com or pm me.
First Name: B
Username: ~The Rising Falcon
Voice Cast Review: Now I haven't beaten the whole game as of yet. I'm actually on the 6th floor, Level 21, on Proud Mode. As soon as the credits finished and I heard Marluxia first talk, I was already trilled by the new English voice cast. Marluxia to me comes off as someone with a bold, yet handsome voice. And Keith Ferguson did just that. As I have heard of him so far. As for Sora, knowing Haley Joel wasn't disappointing. It just caught me off guard how, being the voice of the 16 year-old Sora, is also the voice of 14 year-old Sora. I have yet to hear Kairi, played by Alyson Stoner, and Namine, by Meaghan Jette Martin, have sounded. But I'm sure they will be just as good as both Hayden and Brittany.
Gameplay Review: When I started out on Proud Mode, I found the challenge at first not difficult, but as I progressed thru the floors, it began getting tougher. I didn’t get a Moogle Room till the 4th floor. And I mainly keep a stack no lower than 5 or 6. But having wimpy cards like 1-4's wasn't cutting it. I could easily use them, it just meant more restocking as i had been constantly card broken. But I quickly got the hang of it all and quickly took out the first 6 floors in under 3 hours, I think? [Laughs] Using slights wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Hitting Triangle with a quick R1 or L1 wasn't tricky, but the lock-on being R2 got to me. So I changed the battle style, making R1 Lock-On, L2 and R2 being card changing. And it worked way easier.
Cutscene Review: I was impressed with the voice overs, but the scenes between levels got to me. All the reading, no listening. It was tireding. A few areas of voice would've been nice, but none the less perfectly fine. The graphics were impressive. They live up to the brother games, if not what I consider better.
I give Kingdom Hearts Re:CoM a 9/10
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Name: Ian
Username: KHMasterPK
Voice Choice Review: I may not be very far into the game (Just beat Larxene the first time around.) but when it comes to the voice work I'm impressed. Axel still sounds great, Marluxia got a good voice, and Larxene's voice fits her very well. It's nice seeing that Donald and Goofy still have nothing different with their voice Sora has his Kingdom Hearts 2 voice which to me just doesn't fit with the Kingdom Hearts 1 Sora look.
Gameplay Review: Well since I played the Japanese game before this it's nice to see it is pretty much the same. Battles get handled the same way, traveling is still simple, and it all makes sense. I may not be a huge fan of the card battles system but the combat is still fluid like Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Only problem I find is how hard it can be to get cards over 6. Within the 4 packs I end up lucky with the most being 6 out of 20 being useful to what I use. It's early in the game where the better packs aren't available yet so there is time that the minor problem will change.
Cutscene Review: Very well made. The scenes add up with the story, voices have the right tone to fit what happened and overall is just adds to the experience to pull you in. Only issue is what others have said where there are no actual scenes with voices IN the worlds just going through the castle...It gets annoying having to read most of the game. There is also the minor issue of how at times the mouths don't match the words but...That seems natural for Japanese to English games.
I give this game an overall score of 9.25 out of 10.
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First Name: Stephanie
Username: SSCeles
Voice Cast:
- It didn't take long for me to get over Sora's aged voice. When I later met up with the Riku replica, I was again stunned by hearing a deeper voice come out of character still dressed in KH1 clothing. But I soon got over that, too. They're still the Sora and Riku I remember!
- Axel... well, I think Quinton Flynn was trying to hard to make him sound suave this time. Larxene? Wow. Talk about a girl you wouldn't want to catch at the wrong time of the month. She didn't give me quite the same vibe as the Japanese Larxene, but: It's all in the laugh. At times, it could have been a little higher. Instead of the girly high pitched giggle, it was a full out sadistic , fake, preppy laugh. Both work on Larxene. It's a good American equivalent. I loved to hate her. The best highlight of this game: Vexen's voice. It's delicious.
- Marluxia. Pfft. Okay, at first, I was a little worried Ferguson wouldn't do a good job. He also did Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. How could I take that voice seriously? Well, good news. I couldn't make the connection. He did a good job voicewise. But he just doesn't fit Marluxia. He also used a random french word after the whole Vexen-Marluxia arguement that kind of made me tilt my head and go, "Huh?"
- Namine. I was originally concerned about her getting a new voice actor. But she reads her lines well. Her lines struck my heart, and she is truly fitting of a Chain of Memories Namine. I can connect her deeper, yet quieter voice with the depressed and caged Namine: So it was fitting, but could have been higher.
- Bad, bad me: I snuck onto YouTube to peek ahead. I had to see how good or bad Epcar did with Ansem. MUCH better than the KH2 voiceover. Much. Still no Billy Zane, but its an optimistic 9/10 so far. (I haven't officially hit Riku's side yet.)
- Lexaeus, Zexion: Not there yet. I've heard from friends that they're great.
Gameplay:
- I started out on Easy mode because I really, really wanted to get to Riku's side. I played the Gameboy version of Chain of Memories, and I wasn't in it for the gameplay. Great news: The card based system works out a lot better on a 3D playing field. You can actually run away a safe distant to reload your deck! Currently I'm right before the last Axel battle. After that? Marluxia's epic multi-part battle. Fun fun! I've only had this game two days, but my in-game timer at the save points claim I have 24 hours in. (Man, do I feel sorry for anyone who played anything other than Easy mode if it's taken me this long.) A lot of my time was wasted revising my deck, and rebattling the Riku replica and Larxene. (Using the deck building process wasn't explained nearly well enough in-game. Took a while to even comprehend the brightly colored menus.)
- I really love the triangle button for the card combos. Far easier than the original.
- You really have to decide whether you want to attack with sleights, or just attack flat out. Remember that the first cards of sleights disappear!
- If you have to fight a boss more than once (Larxene, especially) the second battle gets harder with new attack patterns and new attacks altogether.
- Dodge roll is your key to escaping any teleport attacks, and running from ice spikes is your best friend! It may take more than one try to defeat a boss, even on Easy.
- If a boss isn't giving you time to breathe, let alone reshuffle your deck, I say plan out your deck ahead of time. (I'm refering mostly to Riku.) You'll know what cards you have, so all you have to do set them up in the order you have to use them. No scrambling back and forth. Strike raids stun. It may be your only time to heal or reshuffle before he wakes up.
- Disney boss battles: Much easier than in the original Chain of Memories. Didn't have to redo a single one, from what I recall...
Cutscenes:
- Well... in the Disney worlds there were some fun events. A shame that there was no voice acting. However, this is a LONG game, it would take up too much room on the disc or something? In any case, the stories are vaguely the same as they were last time, else predictable of the characters therein. (I've always been wierded out with KH Jafar wanting to marry Jasmine, when in the movie... bleh.) Maleficient, Belle, and Beast have a new story inside of Hollow Bastion which may shine some light on Maleficient... but then again, it's only inside Sora's head, and not really the witch herself.
- The actual scenes: There were a few lines that I think could have been translated more accurately, or lipsync better, but that's what I get for knowing the Japanese version backwards and forwards. I'm happy to say a few choice lines remained untouched and hardly different from the translations at KH-Vids. The Riku replica's, "You're always trying to worm your way into my heart!" and "Your memory is a train wreck!" Are happily the same.
- Vexen's mouth movements are extravagent near the beginning, so its hard to get any lipsyncing in at all. But the voice acting made up for it tenfold.
- In places I felt the voice acting was far more 'real' feeling than the other two games. In other places, I didn't feel much of anything at all. I'm still unsatisfied with Marluxia's voiceacting, it seemed strained and not real. But he is a Nobody. The lack of emotion... could be seen as fitting?
Overall: 9/10
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First Name: Matthew
Username: Roxas_The_Key_to_Destiny
My Review: I own the Japanese Version that came with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ Over a year and 4 months now. Ive recently obtian the North American Version Yesterday(12/3/08). I like the game alot. Comparing the Japanese to English they made it alittle differnce like the Fonts(of the numbers). The Voice acting of the game is really good. Im not that far into the game. But I get there soon. But I've heard from my own ears of the game Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, Marluxia, Axel, and Larxene, I seen some youtube. But I like to review from my own site of the game, the Voices I like, I perfer KHII Sora's Voice because I like it, cause of how gentle and funny it is. The Game Play I didnt like in the GBA, But the Ps2 on made it alot easier for me to understand and use. The graphics are really good as well better than the first KH. But the Voice I am conserned about is Alyson Stoner as Kairi, I want to hear her 3 lines or so. But I hope Hayden does more work for KH.. I adore her =3. But That is my Review.
Score: 10/10 for me.
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Name: Mark
Username: TheoGary
Overview: I loved Chain of Memories on the GBA. It was actually the first Kingdom Hearts game I ever played. So I was very excited when I heard about a fully realized PS2 version coming out with Final Mix+. I figured it would never make its way stateside, but imagine my surprise when I heard the announcement. I picked it up the day it came out and I’ve just now finished Reverse Rebirth Mode.
Story: CoM has a great story. It serves as a fantastic introduction to Organization XIII and the Nobodies. And to see Riku and King Mickey getting as much screen time as Sora, Donald and Goofy is awesome. I felt like this game had even more interesting twists and turns than the other games. And to see it now, being able to put it in context with KH2, makes it all the more interesting. I caught lots of little hints about Roxas and Xemnas that I didn’t know to look for when I first played.
Voice Acting: I must say that I was slightly disappointed in some of the voice acting this time around. This isn’t something that could really be helped, but it was still jarring to hear 15-year-old Sora’s voice coming out of 14-year-old Sora’s mouth. And as much as I love Quinton Flynn, his heart (no pun intended) just didn’t seem to be into playing Axel this time around. Marluxia…he wasn’t bad, but that’s just not how I imagined him sounding at all. Though Corey Burton does a fair imitation, Christopher Lee’s voice talents as DiZ/Ansem the Wise were still missed. And, as with KH2, Richard Epcar just can’t compare to Billy Zane as Ansem/Xehanort. And I really felt like they should have added voice acting to the Disney Worlds. Going through the text exchanges got very tedious after a while. However there were some high points too. David Gallagher as Riku was the best he’s been in any game so far. Shanelle Gray as Larxene was EXACTLY how I imagined her. And Derek Stephen Prince was very good as Vexen. The rest of the voices, I was fairly neutral about.
Graphics: The graphics were very hot and cold for me. The models and animations were on par with KH2. However the environments went from really good to downright ugly. If you recall, the maps on the GBA version were basically a cross-section. Well, they translated that precisely into this version. So what you often end up with is two walls and then a random drop into nothingness. In some levels, they made this work. Atlantica and Wonderland are two that come to mind. However, in others it just looked like lazy programming. My favorite was Twilight Town where it looked like the city ended and became an endless sea of Mustard Gas.
Gameplay: They did a good job translating the card system into the PS2. They retained the spirit of it while adding some new elements. When I heard that they were importing the mechanic of Reaction Commands from KH2, I was apprehensive. I just wasn’t sure how that would work with the cards. However, my worries were for nothing. They did a good job with it. And I really enjoyed Riku’s Duel Mode. There’s also a ton of new Sleights to play around with, including instances where Sora attacks alongside his companions.
Final Assessment: While the story and the gameplay are great, I felt like the game was hurt by some of the voice acting and the bad design of the environments.
Score: 8 out of 10.
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XenPorta 2 PRO
© Jason Axelrod from 8WAYRUN.COM
