Sufficient With “Homework” Games – The Punished Backlog

Square Enix’s beloved Kingdom Hearts franchise has retaken the highlight in latest weeks, with the emergence of multiple trailers for the much-anticipated Kingdom Hearts IV in addition to the announcement of an unique Disney+ series based mostly on the gaming franchise. As fortune would have it, I truly started my relationship with Kingdom Hearts final month, having performed the very first recreation within the sequence and loved it for essentially the most half.

As misfortune would have it, I additionally performed the start of Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, a PlayStation 2 remake of the 2004 Game Boy Advance recreation Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I ended up strolling away from the remake after roughly one hour of recreation time. 

What’s the Point?

Chain of Memories replaces the real-time action-command fight system of its predecessor in favor of a card-based system that makes little sense and by no means feels good to play. It introduces a ton of latest characters and lore that appear to have little connection to something that occurred within the first Kingdom Hearts. Also, because the opening hours appear to recycle a lot of the property and characters of the earlier recreation, no matter newness it brings takes some time to point out itself.

After my transient try and play by way of this mess of a recreation, I noticed little motive to proceed with this unlucky journey and have determined to skip it totally, with no regrets.

My many pals who love the franchise (together with different writers and editors right here at The Punished Backlog) have combined emotions about Chain of Memories. Some adore it, others don’t. A great variety of these followers appear to imagine, nonetheless, that no matter whether or not CoM is an efficient online game — and I have to guarantee you, reader, that it isn’t — it’s required studying for the franchise as an entire. The recreation apparently introduces key (get it!) plot factors and characters that anybody diving into the sequence should perceive to completely grasp the totality of the story. I’m certain not everybody thinks that is the case, however I’ve heard it sufficient to imagine there should be no less than a kernel of reality to such a declare.

To that I say: Phooey! No extra of this nonsense! I’m 30 or 40 years outdated and I refuse to play “homework” video games. 

Banish This to the Shadow Realm

It’s not simply Kingdom Hearts that does this. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, the (for higher or worse) most dominant phenomenon in cinema over the previous twenty years, typically encourages its viewers to have a whole information of all previous movies with a purpose to “get” what’s occurring within the newest launch. Ahead of the discharge of this yr’s Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios and Disney+ launched a listing of FIFTEEN movies and television shows for individuals to look at earlier than seeing Doomsday to completely perceive the plot. That means if you wish to actually benefit from the newest parade of capeslop with far an excessive amount of CGI and never almost sufficient unique concepts, it’s important to wade by way of forgettable dreck like Deadpool & Wolverine and BOTH SEASONS of Loki. 

In equity, it’s a lot simpler to look at a bunch of films than a number of 20-30 hour video games, however the MCU nonetheless suffers from the same plague that Kingdom Hearts does: Every spinoff or facet mission is lore-essential, no matter its high quality as a standalone product. It issues extra that every new addition to the canon makes some type of sense or maintains constant narrative threads than that each new entry truly works by itself.

I do know I’m sounding harsh about two media entities with rabid fanbases, however I merely don’t have the time or the endurance for this anymore. At some level, I’ll play Kingdom Hearts II, and likewise probably Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, and varied different spin-offs. If there’s nothing compelling about any of those video games on their very own, I’m out. Maybe I’ll learn wikis or watch YouTube movies for some context, however I’m not going to trudge by way of the muck simply because followers say one thing that occurs 80% into the sport is “essential.”

The Cutscenes Can’t Be That Good

If different Kingdom Hearts video games are good standalone experiences, that’s nice! I’d be pleased to play them. If they’ve good fight programs, fascinating foremost characters and villains, a (considerably) cohesive sense of environment, and compelling villains, I’m all for it. If they anticipate me to just accept mediocrity in alternate for kernels of lore that may not even be necessary within the subsequent recreation, they’ll kick rocks!

The first Kingdom Hearts has plenty of thriller to it, however fixing the mysteries wasn’t the supply of the enjoyable; the precise minute-to-minute expertise was. Why am I in Neverland? Why is the Keyblade so necessary? What occurred to Kairi? Regardless of whether or not the solutions to those queries have been satisfying, the journey to the solutions themselves was undeniably value it. 

The cinematic boss battles, epic cutscenes, the secrets and techniques inside every Disneyfied world? That’s what mattered to me. If the solutions have been the one worthwhile ingredient, then the sport would possibly as nicely have been a EnergyPoint presentation. It would have been, nicely, the homework earlier than The Good Stuff. I’m too outdated for that.

Sam has been enjoying video video games since his earliest years and has been writing about them since 2016. He joined The Punished Backlog in 2017 and have become an Editor in 2022. He’s an enormous fan of Nintendo video games and complaining about The Last of Us Part II. You both agree wholeheartedly along with his opinions or despise them. There is not any in between.

A lifelong New Yorker, Sam views gaming as excess of a foolish little pastime, and hopes by way of important evaluation and in-depth critiques to higher perceive the medium’s creative advantage.

Bluesky: @sam-martinelli.bsky.social