Re: CoM has to be one of the most difficult Kingdom Hearts game of them all.
Good story | Interesting card-based combat system | Fully re-made in 3D from the original GBA version | Decent voice-overs | Great boss fights.
---CONS---
The card-based combat system can be a real pain most of the time | Most areas look very blocky | Boss fights can be very frustraiting (Larxene......) | Cheesy dialogue at some points | The story itself is very short
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories is a full 3D remake of it's GBA version released a long time ago. And unlike other Kingdom Hearts games, this game uses a card-based combat system, which at first, is very confusing at first. But after playing for about 1-2 hours you'll get used to it.
The storyline takes place right after the events of Kingdom Hearts, and during the events of 358/2 Days. Sora, Donal and Goofy enter a strange castle called "Castle Oblivion" and it seems that the more Sora continues into the castle, the more "Memories" he'll forget, but the more "New Memories" he'll remember. But these mysterious people from some sort of Organization will stand in Soras way of finding his friends.
The gameplay mechanics are WAY different than the other games. Instead of having a command menu on the bottom-left of the screen that says "Attack", "Magic", etc. The combat system is mainly based on cards, which is VERY confusing at first, but after playing the game for about 1-2 hours, you'll get used to it.
For example, your given these cards with numbers on them from 0-9. If you use a card with a higher number than your opponent's, you'll break the enemies card and can counter attack. But if the enemy uses a card higher then yours, the enemy will counter attack you, and you'll never be able to use that broken card for the rest of the fight.
There are different types of cards, the orange ones with Keyblades on them are attack cards, you can use three of them at a time to perform a combo or a special attack.
There are Magic and Summon cards, which you can use magic spells like "Fire" "Thunder" and "Blizzard" and you can use three at a time to cast "Firaga" "Thundaga" and "Blizzaga". And same with the Summon cards, the more of the same cards you have, the more powerful the attacks will be.
And there are Item cards, this is pretty straight-forward, there are "Potions" "Ethers" and "Elixers", just use the card and Sora will use that item, stock up three at a time and Sora will use three items. Simple right?
The boss fights are very fun, but can be VERY frustraiting at the same time. I remember almost putting my controler through my TV screen after dying SO MANY times to Larxene........... Damn her endless combo....
---Final Verdict---
If your a die-hard KH fan, I think you'll probably gonna like this game. But if you already played the GBA version, then you'll probably find this game too easy. But besdies it's "Flaws" I think it's worth playing.