It doesn't break any new ground in the series, but it delivers what is expected in a Kingdom Hearts game.
In 2002, the world was graced with an innovative new game titled Kingdom Hearts. The Final Fantasy creators of Square Enix and Disney specialists at Disney Interactive united to create an action/role-playing game that combines intricate storytelling with worlds based on beloved Disney universes. Nine years have passed since the original Kingdom Hearts game, but the series has only been growing. Now on the seventh game of the well established series, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded takes the storyline a step further with a nod to the past.
Re:Coded takes place after Kingdom Hearts II and begins in Mickey's Castle. Jiminy Cricket rushes to King Mickey to inform him of a surprise message found in his journal. The previously blank journal of the first adventure now has a secret message in it. Mickey believes that the essence of the journey should still be within the pages, so he convinces engineers Chip and Dale to digitize the book's data and explore it for a clue to the mystery. The gang quickly discovers that the books data is corrupted by "bugs." The "bugs" are glitches that range from scattered,red boxes to series famed heartless, shadowy enemies of various forms. The gang, unable to explore the worlds inside the journal themselves, create a digital form of series protagonist Sora. Pre-equipped with his trusty keyblade and guided by Mickey's voice, Sora sets out on a quest to cure the worlds of the digital malfunctions and unravel the puzzling mystery.
Gameplay maintains the usual hack-and-slash formula that the series is known for. Players will be able to swing their keyblade and string combos together while throwing in occasional spells and abilities, which have unlimited uses but endure cool-down periods. The biggest change to the flow of combat is the final level of each world. The game is based on an eight-episode series released for cell phones. Re:Coded maintains the storyline and expands upon the unique gameplay elements. Examples of of new modes include turn-based combat, rail shooting, and side-scrolling platforming. The various modes are really fun and usually last long enough to be enjoyable without feeling tiresome.
A new menu system for abilities allows players to combine skills to create new and stronger abilities. When enough experience is gained, abilities can be permanently combined. There are enough skills to be discovered to keep players mixing and matching until they find their favorite move set. Leveling up also uses a new menu system. A large grid allows players to place stat improving chips. New portions of the grid unlock after worlds are completed, and double stat bonuses and unlockable passive skills make chip allocation very crucial. These new role-playing game elements can be confusing at first, but quickly become second nature.
While all the Disney worlds are repeats in the series, they are all represented well on the DS's hardware. Each individual zone in a world is relatively small, but the overall scopes of the worlds posses enough room to encourage exploration. When players stumble upon a missing bridge or a flattened building, the player has to search for a hidden cracks in walls that lead to "system sectors". These zones require players to traverse digital areas and hunt down specific "glitched" heartless, and completion fixes "glitches" in the world and reward players with various prizes. These little breaks in adventuring are nice diversions from continuous story trekking.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded doesn't break any new ground in the series, but it does make for a fun KH experience on the go. The story line is intriguing, and the environments look good, but traditional combat and sometimes peculiar story elements may hinder new-comers to the series. Overall, Re:Coded is a fun game that is sure to capture the hearts of fans.