Old Review: Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (DS)

My Review- Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (DS)

It’s been more than five years since Kingdom Hearts II, the last installment in what could be called the ‘main’ Kingdom Hearts series. In that time, Square has made several side games in order to flesh in the Kingdom Hearts story, as well as to tie up loose ends and set up for what seems to be the series’ big conclusion in the ever-awaited Kingdom Hearts III. With 358/2 Days having covered the events in between Kingdom Hearts I and II, and prequel Birth by Sleep having set up the events of the entire series, it falls to RE:Coded, a remake of the Japanese cell phone game, to explain events in the immediate aftermath of Kingdom Hearts II. Does RE:Coded have a place in the series’ surprisingly expansive story, or is this one spin-off too many?

STORY

WARNING: In order to properly critique RE:Coded’s story, I have to talk about the ending of the game, so SPOILER ALERT.

Series fans may remember that, in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II, Jiminy Cricket found out that his journal- which acted as a datalog for the series- had been wiped clean, with only a single message left- ‘Thank Namine’. This serves as the catalyst for RE:Coded’s story, as well as another message that also appears- “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it”. Mickey and Jiminy decide to analyze the journal by running it through Mickey’s computer, and discover that there is a world inside the journal, and exploring it is their only way of figuring out what the message means. Their method for exploring this world is creating a digital version of Sora, and having him explore the various worlds from the first Kingdom Hearts, as well as destroying the ‘bugs’ that are plaguing them.

The main problem here is that the majority of RE:Coded’s events have no bearing on the main story. The drama of the digital versions of Sora and Riku mirror their stories in Kingdom Hearts, and outside of a few mentions of a plot by the real Malificent, the story doesn’t go anywhere the original didn’t already do so. That is, until the end, which finally ties up a loose end that’s been going on since Chain of Memories- the real Sora’s Heartless self is revealed (Sora was technically a Heartless for all of Kingdom Hearts 2). The final plot point ties the main series in with Birth by Sleep even more than Days hinted at, explaining that the main plot of KH3 will involve Sora’s attempt to rescue his ancestor, Ven, as well as Terra and Aqua. The end of the game also finally explains what the message in the bottle from KH2 said, and explains Sora’s words at the end of BBS. Regardless of all these resolved plot threads, an entire game wasn’t needed to fix them, and RE:Coded recycles most of its plot from previous games.

GAMEPLAY

RE:Coded was my first encounter with the upgraded gameplay introduced in Birth by Sleep, and I must say I am quite pleased with the combat upgrades. The traditionally clunky Command Menu from previous games is now fully customizable, allowing you total control over your fighting style. While the A button always does normal attacks, you can cycle through your other commands with L and press X to use them. Each skill has to recharge after each use, similar to the Active Time battles in Final Fantasy games. Adding even more combat options, as you deal damage to your foes, your ‘Clock’ gauge builds, and each time it maxes out your Keyblade temporarily gains a new skill. Build it enough, and you can perform a limit-break style move called an ‘Overclock’. Keyblades and commands both gain experience and level up, adding new Clock abilities and commands.

Character growth is managed by the ‘Stat Matrix’, which plays like a combination of 358/2 Days’ Panel System and the License Board from Final Fantasy XII. Sora will earn chips that apply to different stats either in combat, in blocks, or after completing Challenge Rooms. Each chip fits into a slot, and once placed that chip cannot be taken off. However, it can be swapped with another chip. Connecting chips to different terminals along the path unlocks that terminal’s ability. Because you don’t level up as frequently in RE:Coded as in other Kingdom Hearts games, you need to use CPUs. CPUS are at different points along the Stat matrix, and connecting two CPUs doubles the strength of all the chips in between the two. For instance, if two CPUs were connected by three Level Up chips and two Strength +2 chips, Sora would instantly gain 3 more levels and 4 more Strength when the two CPUs were connected. The system gives a nice degree of freedom, but it isn’t overbearing like a lot of the character building systems in other games.

While most of the areas in RE:Coded are recycled from previous Kingdom Hearts games, they don’t play the same way as they do in the original. The ‘bugs’ in each world take the form of blocks, which turns every area in RE:Coded into tricky platforming sessions. These blocks add an extra layer of challenge to navigating each world, adding some tricky puzzles as well. It’s fair to say that RE:Coded has more platforming than any other Kingdom Hearts game. ‘Challenge Rooms’, mentioned earlier, are also used to clear large glitches from each world, although they’re little more than corridors peppered with enemies. At the end of each world, there is a boss encounter, but each world had a different minigame leading up to it’s boss, which not only add variety, but are often incredibly fun. Olympus Coliseum, for instance, becomes a turn-based RPG, and Wonderland becomes a third-person shooter. The only problem with the gameplay is the camera, which will require some tweaking before it works.

RE:Coded isn’t a vast departure from the structure of previous Kingdom Hearts games, but the variable game modes make it a unique experience.

PRESENTATION

There’s no beating around the bush with this one- you’ve seen everything in RE:Coded before. The game features the exact same visual style as 358/2 Days, which is nice, but aside from the simplistic Bug levels, everything in RE:Coded is recycled from previous Kingdom Hearts, from the worlds to the music. Coming off after Birth by Sleep, which had an almost entirely original score and a cast of all-new characters, this is disappointing. There’s nothing wrong with RE:Coded’s presentation, but there’s nothing exceptional about it, either.

CONCLUSION

I’m glad that Kingdom Hearts is finally getting the ball rolling with the series’ conclusion, but outside of those plot points, there isn’t anything in RE:Coded that Kingdom Hearts fans haven’t seen before. The game is fun, as is to be expected, but the series really needs to stop treading old ground. Odd as it may seem, the idea of a Disney-Final Fantasy crossover series is becoming old hat, and the next installment in the series really needs to do something new. RE:Coded has it’s moments, but it’s ultimately one of the weaker Kingdom Hearts games.

SCORE- B-