Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory comes at a time when the next logical game to the series, Kingdom Hearts 4, is most likely still a long way off from being released. It arrives after the release of a decades-old arc that culminated with Kingdom Hearts 3. At its core Melody of Memory is a relatively simplistic rhythm game set in the Kingdom Hearts universe – and while it fails to do much more than retread the steps of all previous games, it is an undeniably wonderful time for any seasoned Kingdom Hearts fan.
The Story
As any veteran of the series will be able to tell you, the star of Kingdom Hearts is the melodramatic story it tells. The way Tetsuya Nomura weaves a tale of loss, friendship, and love into the fabric of a universe replete with Disney-inspired worlds is wonderful, albeit a little confusing. The story of Kingdom Hearts is notoriously so confusing that Gametrailers.com released a one-hour-long video back in 2013 following the release of Dream Drop Distance to help players make sense of it all. How does Melody of Memory tie into all of this?
Melody of Memory’s main story has Kairi reliving the entire story of the previous games. All the way from the original Kingdom Hearts 1 (released in 2002) Melody tries to cover a whopping total of 9 mainline games while trying to add further story details to this increasingly convoluted tale. A large portion of the game, roughly 97% of it retreads familiar ground with Kairi summarizing some of the key moments of previous games. Because of this, one may be led to believe that this game is a great starting spot for new players, right? In actuality, while these summaries may be useful to returning players (triggering moments that make the player go “riiiight that’s what happened”), I fear that new players will be completely lost.
So how good is the story that is being told? Ultimately, if you already know the story of Kingdom Hearts this game’s story feels like a nice trip down memory lane. The added story at the end is the cherry on top that gives us a sneak peek at what we can expect for the next entries. People entirely new to the series are better off just playing the actual mainline games.
The Gameplay
So how does the gameplay? This is a rhythm game, the story is secondary for these kinds of games. Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory has a rather unique gameplay style. For 85% of the game, you play on a three-lane track. Along these three lanes, enemies appear per the beat of the music which your three party members then have to defeat by pressing a button. Just like other rhythm games, there are variations to this. There are single notes, and double and triple notes (which have to be hit simultaneously). For some sections, you have to have Sora fly through the sky while Donald and Goofy have to hit single or double notes. Just how quickly these notes appear depends on the difficulty selected.
There are three difficulties to select from: Beginner, Standard, and Proud. These difficulties suffer from something very common in rhythm games. Namely, to make songs simpler (especially on Beginner difficulty) notes are removed. This can lead to button presses feeling a little off when compared to the song’s rhythm. After starting the game on standard difficulty I quickly moved to proud as it’s here where each song felt more natural. No notes were being skipped and my fingers reacted to the music much more than what was happening on screen.
A further element that makes this game a little more unique than your standard run-of-the-mill rhythm adventure is its RPG element. Inspiration was taken from the Theatrhythm games, which makes sense since it’s the same developer. In Melody of Memory you can unlock different characters to play through the levels, these characters continuously gain experience and level up depending on how many songs you clear with them and at which difficulty. Furthermore, you can collect items that can make playing through songs a little easier (such as healing your party just enough to get through a particularly difficult section).
To be entirely honest though there isn’t too much of a point to all this. I understand that it may be fun to play through the variety of songs using a team that combines your favorite characters from the series, but the levels gained do not have any real influence on gameplay. This is ultimately a rhythm game – if you hit your notes well you’ll progress through the song. Because of this, I decided not to bother too much with the RPG mechanics since they didn’t add much.
Naturally, next to the aforementioned story mode, which sees you flying from planet to planet playing through the assortment of local Disney tracks, there is a plain “music mode” (which allows you to replay specific songs) and a museum wherein your collectibles are stored.
Overall, there really isn’t too much to criticize here. While the rhythm portion is rather simple the gameplay is rewarding, flows well, and is a blast to play. The RPG mechanics are forgettable, and it’s enjoyable going for smaller song-specific quests to unlock collectibles.
The Visuals and Music
Visually this game will not blow anyone away. The art style is serviceable and retains that classic Kingdom Hearts aesthetic. Enemies change their appearance to match the specific look of the different worlds Sora and friends visited. Enemies found on music stages from Kingdom Hearts 1’s Under Water planet (The Little Mermaid) look differently from those found in Kingdom Hearts 2’s Hollow Bastion. For the Kingdom Hearts 3 levels full cutscenes were pieced together to tell the story of their specific planet (such as the full sequence from Elsa’s “Let it Go” piece). While not the star of the show, there is very little to fault the game on the visual side of things.
As this is a rhythm game what matters most is that the songs are not only fun to play through, but also great to listen to. Thankfully throughout their years, the Kingdom Hearts franchise has grown to have an extensive library of fantastic tunes.
Sure, not every single one of the 143 songs will strike a tune with you, but that’s not to be expected. The good news is that all of the series’ most iconic songs (“Dearly Beloved”, “The Other Promise”, “Simple and Clean”,…) are here for you to enjoy. As a longstanding Kingdom Hearts fan who got emotionally invested in the series in large part thanks to the music, playing through the game’s most iconic moments felt like more than a nostalgic trip. For example, simply being able to boot up “The Other Promise” allowed me to relive the emotions I felt during that iconic encounter in Kingdom Hearts 2 without needing to play through the whole game.
To sum it up…
While Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory may not exactly be a great introduction for newcomers to this convoluted world, it is an undeniably nostalgic and emotional ride. All bundled together in a competent, albeit not particularly technical rhythm game. As someone who loves both Kingdom Hearts and rhythm games, I cannot help but recommend this game enough. For those who just want to see the story continue, I suggest you look up the ending on YouTube. No matter what, this game does have a demo, so I highly recommend checking that out.
