Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

Rhythm-based spinoff Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a nostalgia-heavy love letter to the RPG series, but doesn't have much by way of depth of its own.

Melody of Memory provides a fun and energizing way to celebrate the franchise's fantastic music and greatest moments

Kingdom Hearts is a good rhythm game that meanders way too often with its presentation. If you're a diehard fan who sings "Simple and Clean" to themselves in the shower, you'll probably love a trip down memory lane, while humming all of the battle sequences that a lot of casual players might skip over. Just know that it might take some work to get to your favorite parts.

Is Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory for you? Well, that depends on a variety of factors. This is a game that's obviously designed as a love letter to longtime fans of the franchise, but it also bears almost no resemblance at all to the gameplay that made the preceding titles such a hit. As a rhythm game, it's a perfectly enjoyable and content-rich entry in the genre, but a substantial amount of its meaning and appeal will be lost on rhythm fans who don't have a background with the previous games. Either way, we think Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is certainly worth your time. What we have here is a fun and engaging rhythm game with potentially hundreds of hours of replayability and a killer setlist of music to back it up.

Although Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory might not be the story-focused experience many expect from the series, it arguably does something much more special. Not only does it set up the next chapter nicely, but it celebrates everything that came before it with some fantastic rhythm gameplay and abundant content that makes it feel like a loving send-off to the past 18 years of the franchise.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory doesn't always hit the right note. But as somebody who's followed the series for many years, there couldn't be a better tribute to its unforgettable music. It's pure Disney magic.

The wait for the next Kingdom Hearts game is sure to be agonizing and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory only does so much.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory brings the expertly crafted music of the Kingdom Hearts series to the forefront in a compelling rhythm action game.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is really for the existing fans of the series. The recap of the series thus far isn't enough to get people caught up on what's going on without losing lots of detail in the process. The rhythm mechanics are good, but they have a learning curve regarding the hit area and which system you're working with, not to mention the occasional moments when the game can drop inputs.Overall, it's worth checking out as a companion piece to the main games rather than as an essential primer.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a great rhythm game that is sure to be enjoyed by newcomers and veteran players of the genre. However, if you're buying it for the story you should probably skip this. This isn't the Kairi game fans have been pining for since the Re:Mind DLC.