Some fans knew this was going to happen sooner or later for the Kingdom Hearts franchise, just like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest that got rhythm game for the Nintendo 3DS. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory feels more like a spin-off title with little story content which does connect to the next instalment for the series, this is also an easy game to pick up even if you are not a massive Kingdom Hearts fan it does have a catalogue of cutscenes based on Sora's past adventures from the series. This is still a treat to many fans of the series and adore the soundtrack all composed by Yoko Shimomura and a few tracks composed by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto.
It does feel like it had a mix of Guitar Hero on the number of Heartless coming towards you from the left, middle and right; also having the button tapping if you time your attacks correctly similar to what we've seen in the Persona Dancing franchise on the combo attacks and performance. You have the option to play the game on Basic Mode, which is the main gameplay mechanic which I've just mentioned, One Button mash is pressing one button and Performer offering additional enemies and button sequences. You'll only be using X, L1 and R1 for the Field Battle music featuring three-person parties from Team Classic, Days BBS and 3DD; Holding the Circle button to glide being the long notes which you would have seen used in other games and the Triangle button for certain magic attacks or moves if certain Heartless are on the screen.
There is the additional Boss Battles which throws in a decent challenge, including Memory Dive which lets you replay stages from past games in music video-like sequences with gameplay similar to Field Battles only used for the main characters and for Kingdom Hearts III cutscenes.
You've still got the option of playing with either Beginner, Standard or Proud Mode on the main story being World Tour, which can offer challenges and a number of stars to progress to the next set of levels. There is also Track Selection is where you can choose around 140 tracks from the series from the first game towards Kingdom Hearts III. Co-Op and Multiplayer is added as well if you want to play with a friend either with another controller or play against each other online.
With it using the engine used for the PlayStation 2 and then later used for the HD ReMix versions the graphics and visuals are about right to use for Melody of Memory. So you are next expecting next-gen visuals at anytime soon other than the cutscenes used towards the end of the story for World Tour so this would explain where this is very little GB instalment on either platform you would plan on playing it on. With only a 140 tracks in total you would expect more, including the extra content that was used in the Orchestra World Tour events sadly not at the moment but you may never know it could come up as DLC if the option came up.
For a Kingdom Hearts title that lasts for around 7 hours to get through the main story depending on the difficulty setting you can easily send over a good 40 - 50 hours to get that 100% complete if you wanted the PlayStation Platinum trophy. If you are a fan of the series its worth the purchase if you see it at a decent price and a fan of the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack.