Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory Review: Groove is in the Heart

"Just one more level.", is what I keep telling myself. "One more" is one of Data Riku's taunts in Kingdom Hearts III's DLC. After he says it, he attacks you dozens of times with savage ferocity. "One more" is just as false when I say it to myself. "One" easily becomes "five" or "ten" more. Until eventually it means "lose entire days and nights to level after level". While sketching out this review, I wrote that first sentence, then figured I should take another look at the game. Before I knew it, two hours had passed. Then three days. So if my review of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is late, it is because of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

Melody of Memory came out just a few days after the launch of the glorious new Xbox and PlayStation consoles. If you are looking for a game to prove the value of your expensive hyper-modern hardware, this is not it. It is a small rhythm game dressed up in the skin and assets of the Kingdom Hearts series. You won't need 4K or HDR or Ray Tracing. 

In fact, I would not buy this game on a home console at all. Melody of Memory is a game built for mobile. It would have been great on phones. If any genre is perfect for a relaxing ten-minute shit break at the office, rhythm games are it. Luckily, Melody of Memory is on the Nintendo Switch. You will not find here the next revolution in gaming. But you may find an unhealthy addiction that somehow justifies the game's slightness.

Melody of Memory has to be the least impressive Kingdom Hearts game that Square Enix has ever charged a full price for. At $60 - plus tax - the value is hard to justify. You get a ten hour campaign with about a half hour of new story content. Digging deeper to unlock your mastery of these melodies might grant you as much as 30 hours of playtime. In terms of pure consumer advise, you can spend that same money and get ten thousand hours of Ubisoft content instead. And that stuff might look a lot better on the new gargantuan TV your gaming hobby now demands of you. Ten years ago, Birth by Sleep was half this game's price and was a full Kingdom Hearts experience, not just a vague impression of one. Games are more expensive now. Even smaller filler titles like Melody of Memory are investments I suggest you make in caution.

My critic brain keeps finding any number of issues with this product. My hands, however, cannot put it down. In fact, literally after writing that last sentence, I walked over to my Switch and played another level. I just unlocked "Don't Think Twice", the Kingdom Hearts III theme song and really need to try that out. Give me a second... I'll get back to you... Just hold on...