Review by: Brandon "Thundera" Cackowski-Schnell

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is the perfect example of a game that can't figure out who it's for. It's a gussied up remake of a mobile phone game from a couple of years ago that retells (sort of) the story of the original Kingdom Hearts. In this game, Jiminy Cricket finds out that all of the data in his journal has been mysteriously erased so King Mickey asks Chip and Dale to digitize the journal and find out what's going on. In doing so they create a digital representation of the worlds presented in Kingdom Hearts only now they've been overrun with Heartless and blocks of bad data. To combat this they create a digital version of Sora and send him into the journal to clean stuff up. That part is easy to understand for newcomers, but once you get past it (which is all told in the opening movie) the story becomes impregnable for newcomers and too much of the same for series veterans making this game appealing to...who now?

While in the worlds, Sora has his trusty keyblade which he can use to bash enemies as well as various combat moves and magic spells accessed by pressing the x button. The autotargeting works pretty well, switching up targets as beasties are dispatched, which is a good thing as the camera in this game must also be corrupted with bad data as it tries to kill you at every available opportunity.

Switching the camera perspective with a tap of the right shoulder button is all well and good when you're running around, however, when you're in the middle of battle and trying to manage everything else you need to stay on top of it becomes neither well nor good. Cycling through your special moves is done with the left shoulder, something you'll be doing frequently as special moves have recharge times associated with them making it essential to keep certain moves in reserve based on the types of enemies you come across. For the most part, I liked the way special moves were implemented except for the fact that if you want to use a healing item in battle, it has to take up a special move slot which not only deprives you of an extra move, but also increases the odds you'll waste a potion when you wanted to shoot a flame ball or call a lightning strike.

As you use your special moves they level up and you can then take those moves, called chips, to fit in with the digial motif, and combine them with the same moves to increase their power or combine them with different chips to make entirely new moves. It’s an interesting system, with a slight gambling touch to it as combining powers is irreversible, however sometimes the combination causes a huge, ten level jump in power as well as adds an additional wrinkle to your new move.

The leveling system is similarly interesting, again going with a digital theme, whereby you gain chips that raise levels as well as stats. Placing the chips on the Command Stat board, a giant colorful circuit board, raises Sora's attributes but also allows you to unlock additional moves like air dashes and blocks as well as various components that let you tweak the gaming experience to get more items or have weaker enemies to beat up. If you connect two CPUs with a chain of stat raising chips, those CPUs are considered overclocked and every chip that links the two CPUs gets their benefits doubled. Honestly, it's the best thing about the game allowing for unlocking moves with blank chips that don't raise stats but help lengthen the chain, as well as some serious character building flexibility based on how you place the chips.

If you plan out your overclocking correctly you can tailor your character to your liking as well as gain some serious levels. The only thing missing is the ability to pay money to reset the chips, but given that you can replace placed chips with new ones, it only takes a little planning to undo any serious character mistakes.

The game makes an admirable attempt to change up the gameplay styles but the end result still is a repetitive jaunt through Disney locales. For example, at the end of Wonderland, rather than have a standard boss battle, Sora has to run through the garden in a Space Harrier homage, blasting blocks and baddies with his keyblade. Was that part cool? Sure, but running back and forth through Wonderland beforehand, collecting memory bits was not. Similarly, upon getting to Olympus the action-RPG combat is replaced with turn based combat where Sora teams up with Hercules and eventually Cloud to beat up Heartless. It's great the first couple of levels, but by the fifth level you're more than ready for it to be over. The changes to the game's style are appreciated but eventually they wear out their welcome too. What doesn't wear out its welcome is the platforming because it's so awful the only thing you would welcome it into is a raging brush fire.

This is a game that tells a story that's meaningful only to people who have played all of the games beforehand, but does so with repetitive, sometimes frustrating gameplay. The digital themes, leveling system and power management offers some interesting bits however more than anything else, they make it feel like this game was supposed to be for an entirely different IP altogether, but they decided to cram it into the world of Kingdom Hearts instead. Will die-hard fans of the series find something to like in Re:coded? Maybe, but I'm not one of them, so I don't know, and if they did, I'd question if what they liked was coming from what the game offered or if it's some misplaced love of the series, or anticipation for a proper sequel. Regardless, whether new to the series or a longtime fan of King Mickey, you can safely leave Re:coded behind and not feel any re:gret.