Enix Square celebrates the legacy of its Kingdom Hearts franchise with a new rhythm game. KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory will take players into a musical adventure that re-tells the entire story of the JRPG series. Here, players can explore all the best worlds, experience the best events, and meet their all-time favorite characters. Moreover, they can dance to the tune of their favorite songs from the game. However, unlike the other Kingdom Hearts titles, Melody of Memory has a simplistic nature that can turn off some fans.

Familiar title, new gameplay

KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory is incredibly easy to learn. However, this simplicity will soon evolve into challenging stages. There will be three buttons on your screen—two shoulder buttons and one single-face button—all of which you will need to control the three members of your party. As with other rhythm games, you will occasionally need to jump and soar into sequences of notes. This time though, there will also be swarms of enemies, called Heartless, that must be dealt with on the ground.

There are three stages, namely Field, Boss, and Memory. The Field stage is the most common, taking up the majority of the game's campaign. Here, your chosen trio of characters will tackle notes to the rhythm as they run. The majority of worlds in this stage consist of two of three tracks, each with objectives. Completing these tasks will help you progress the story. The missions are never too intimidating, allowing progress without too much level repetition.

The levels in the Memory stage, meanwhile, are longer. Moreover, you can only unlock them as a reward. This stage includes full renditions of the simple, clean, sanctuary, and other classic vocal tracks from across the franchise. Finally, the Boss stage is, as the name suggests, levels that often land at the end of each campaign milestone. However, despite its name, this stage is the weakest of the bunch. The layouts here make it difficult to read the oncoming notes and focus on the action against the heartless. Thankfully, these levels are few and far between. 

Excellent homage

KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory offers an excellent homage to the role-playing game it belongs to. The core gameplay is too simplistic as compared to the other titles from the franchise. However, the mounting challenges and sheer amount of content are enough to compensate for it. Moreover, it brings back everything—characters, worlds, and music—that long-time fans loved about the games. All in all, this is a toe-tapping journey that will give you a slither of nostalgia for Kingdom Hearts.