The best section of the synthesis menu is where you can earn access to special levels and collectibles, which are certainly worth it if you want to see everything. That isn’t to say synthesis is totally pointless. Unless you’re really struggling with the basic rhythm gameplay, nothing you do or prepare here ever really matters, even during the harder boss battles. It’s unfortunate that items often feel useless and unnecessary then, and as such, the crafting system can be totally ignored or end up as little more than window dressing. In fact there’s even a synthesis system that stylishly hearkens right back to the one that fans will recall from Kingdom Hearts 2. If you do, you’ll find some substance here: you can earn and craft items like healing potions that can save you from failing a level if you miss too many notes, and you do still earn experience points and level up a team. A single playthrough will eat up no more than five to 10 hours, depending on how much of it you choose to explore. Regardless it’s a wonderful trip down memory lane, set to the beat of music from Kingdom Hearts 1 all the way to last year’s Kingdom Hearts 3. There were a few that I skipped, but in all, the compilation seemed robust. The main attraction here is the World Tour campaign, which has you collecting stars and progressing through a world map that represents almost every soundtrack across the entire series. The main attraction here is the World Tour campaign.Featuring the same brightly-colored PS2-era stylized graphics and controls that replicate exactly how it felt to slap a Heartless around with Sora’s Keyblade way back in 2005, Melody of Memory does its best to make you feel sentimental and that is absolutely its best strength. It brings back characters and levels from movies like Aladdin, Tangled, Peter Pan, and much more from across the series, while generously doling out collectibles and art pieces that pay delicate homage to the respective games that inspired them. It doesn’t do much to bring new people into the series’ elaborate story, but longtime Kingdom Hearts fans looking for a nostalgia fix will be pleased to discover that Melody of Memory channels the series’ roots better than even Kingdom Hearts 3, warts (and Keyblades) aside. If I didn’t have the context in my head, the soundtracks alone wouldn't have provided that much of a pull to continue. It’s a story clearly centered around reliving those nostalgic moments rather than establishing many new ones. In fact, little is added at all – save for a section at the very end which explicitly tells us where developer Square Enix plans to set the next Kingdom Hearts game and includes a little bit of interesting lore about Kairi, but not much else. Make no mistake: This is not a new Kingdom Hearts roleplaying game, nor a deep franchise recap, and while some of the story is touched on, only the broadest strokes are covered. Given its simple controls and on-rails levels, very little of it feels remarkable or unique in practice compared to other rhythm games, and you may find yourself mindlessly breezing through it. It does, however, end up feeling shallow after several solid hours of play.

One of the best parts about this rhythm-based game is you don’t have to be a huge Kingdom Hearts fan to drop in and enjoy bite-sized chunks thanks to the plethora of iconic Disney music and easy-to-learn gameplay. Taking influences from musical spinoff Theatrhythm, Melody of Memory grabs your hand and gleefully parades you through some of the most heartfelt moments in the long-running Kingdom Hearts series, which is now spread across over 14 games (if you also include minor entries like Re:Coded and Kingdom Hearts 0.2). At long last, diehard Kingdom Hearts fans have received the musical love letter to their beloved series that they’ve long awaited.

Kingdom hearts melody of memory review