Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is an amazing way to pay tribute to not only the music of the series but also the story. It is a great way to prepare fans for the newest chapters in the series while also taking a look back at the journey we’ve all had with Sora and the others. Although there is a lack of new content, customization, and the pacing was a little off, the creative rhythmic gameplay is worth trying out if you love rhythm games! But if you don’t and are just wanting to buy for the story, it’s best if skip this one.
I usually don’t like to brag, but I would definitely consider myself a veteran of the Kingdom Hearts series. I remember picking up my PS2 controller for the first time and finally being able to play the original Kingdom Hearts on my own. I was very young and started out playing on beginner mode, but even with it being 18 years later it still feels just as magical while suffering through bosses on critical mode on the latest installment Kingdom Hearts 3. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a huge way to pay tribute to the story of Kingdom Hearts and the journey that fans have had with Sora and the others. Some may think that just because Melody of Memory is a rhythm game that it isn’t important to the series and its story. I would say that they don’t know how wrong they are. Here is everything you need to know about Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory!
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory published and developed by Square Enix pays tribute to not only the story but to the wonderful music in the game composed by the Goddess of music herself: Yoko Shimomura. I was lucky enough to experience her music in person when I attended the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. Playing through Melody of Memory pulled me back into the exact moment I was sitting in the concert hall crying my eyes out and my heart filled with nostalgia. The game has many fan favorite songs from across the series like The 13th Struggle, Vector to the Heavens, Simple and Clean, and much more. There are even new versions and orchestrated versions of songs too! It was really hard to contain myself while playing it because I was just so excited to hear my favorite songs.
Music is Key!
The game begins with teaching you the basics and Melody of Memory isn’t your basic rhythm game. Afterwards, you are greeted with the World Tour, where you have worlds scattered across a giant map, similar to the Gummi menu and world menu in Kingdom Hearts 2. In order to progress through the World Tour, you have to clear certain tasks while playing through songs. Some of the tasks are simple and easy and others have to be played on the hardest difficulty and require a lot of practice.
I am also a huge fan of the Final Fantasy: Theatrhythm series and found many similarities between the two. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory’s gameplay was very unique compared to traditional rhythm games. At times it gets you thinking ahead and having to perform quick time commands. I had so much fun that I actually started out playing on the highest difficulty level to challenge myself and to see how close I could get to perfecting the song.
Whenever a song is too difficult for you, you have the chance to use different items. This can be very helpful for people who are just starting out playing rhythm games. You have potions that can heal you if you fall below a certain amount of health, exp boost to help you reach a higher level faster, and even a summoning star that allows you to summon a certain mouse to help aid you on your journey through field battle levels.
Another feature in the game that I enjoyed was the Museum. Doing well on songs and collecting materials will reward you with pictures and memories about the series you can view at the Museum. You can watch cutscenes from the game and look at artwork throughout the series. It was pretty cool being able to go through and craft new items to add to my collection. It really pushed me to want to collect everything and didn’t feel like your average collect-a-thon.
What also makes the Nintendo Switch version special is that it has local play. You can hand another person a joycon and you can either battle one on one with one another or challenge each other in completing different songs. Even if you don’t have a friend you can always take to online and play against others on the internet. While playing you can throw different tricks at your opponent to mess with their scores and even make it hard for them to see enemies coming their way. These modes are a nice way to take a break from the story and try something new.
Hitting a few bad notes…?
My biggest complaint with the series as a fan is the lack of new content. While playing through the game, it does get boring hearing Kairi summarize what happens in each installment of the series. With Kingdom Hearts having a very complex plot and although they do a great job wrapping it all up neatly to present to the player, I would still say that it’s best to play through the series before playing Melody of Memory. It takes away from the magical experience of the game and even the series itself if you only know about the story because you’re hearing it through Kairi.
Trying not to rush through the game to experience new content was very hard for me.
As a fan, I was so excited to see what happened after Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind. They had teased new content through trailers and since I knew it was coming I had a hard time not just switching the difficulty mode to beginner and rushing through songs to finish. Scattering small pieces of content throughout the game would have definitely slowed me down and satisfied me instead of saving it all for the end of the game. Instead I would estimate that there was only 20 minutes of new story content if even that. I had even noticed that there wasn’t a special opening for the game which threw me off. I was really hoping for a new opening even if they reused Utada Hikaru’s older songs from the series. But not to worry! You still learn new information through these cutscenes which I’m sure will make any Kingdom Hearts fan excited!
The lack of customization really hit me hard as well. I noticed that the developers love for you to play as Kingdom Hearts 1 Sora. I would have loved to have played as older Sora and even mixed and match members from different teams. I also found that most of the items are not used to create gear and accessories in the game like Final Fantasy: Theatrhythm, but to make cards and help with collectibles. I wish that Sora could have used different Keyblades and had different costumes while I jammed out to my favorite tunes.
Conclusion
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is an amazing way to pay tribute to not only the music of the series but also the story. It is a great way to prepare fans for the newest chapters in the series while also taking a look back at the journey we’ve all had with Sora and the others. Although there is a lack of new content, customization, and the pacing was a little off, the creative rhythmic gameplay is enough for anyone to try this out and have fun and you can even introduce and play Kingdom Hearts with a friend through Melody of Memory. However, if you’re only looking to buy this game for new story content and not to enjoy the music and look back on the series, it’s honestly best if you skip this one.
Either way I’m very glad that Tetsuya Nomura decided to pay tribute to Yoko Shimura’s hard work and “Re:Mind” us how wonderful the music in the series is and what better way to it than on the Nintendo Switch!
