We wouldn’t necessarily call Kingdom Hearts Re:coded a ‘buggy game’ but we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t littered with them.
Perhaps we should explain.
Following the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, King Mickey and his crew decide to digitize Jiminy Cricket’s journal after finding a cryptic message hidden among its pages.
In doing so they discover the journal’s "datascape" is riddled with pesky bugs and awaken a quick-fire patch: Data Sora.
Revisiting the memories of his past adventures, Sora must eradicate the bugs plaguing each one to restore the journal.
Fans will feel a sense of dj vu in Re:coded’s rehashed scenarios (plucked straight out of the original game) but there are plenty of reasons not to pass on this second .
An improved combat system borrows the framework of 358/2 Days combined with Birth By Sleep’s ‘Deck Command’ system making it simple to pick up and play but as deeply complex as you want to make it.
Much of this rests on the "Stat Matrix", an experience grid that allows players to level up powers or unlock additional command and item slots by filling in the blanks of a circuit board with data chips.
However, Re:coded’s best moments are when it stops being a Kingdom Hearts game and tries its hands at on-rail shooting, 2D platforming and even a turn-based role-playing game – none of them perfect but all refreshing departures from the traditional template.
Briefly Speaking:
What started as a mobile phone episodic comes to Nintendo DS with enhancements that soften the blow of its rather repetitive mentality. Save for a few moments of diversity, Re:coded is a by the book affair that will have fans clamouring over its intricacies of its tale.
Score: 7/10
*For our full review including interactive boxouts and more, look out the full review in the upcoming issue 44 of PlayZine.
Tags: Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
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