Synopsis: First off, thank you Square Enix for sending me a review copy of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded for the Nintendo DS. This new entry to the Kingdom Hearts series is a remake of the mobile title Kingdom Hearts Coded for mobile phones, with improved controls, revamped combat system, and new gameplay mechanics. The premise of the story behind Re:coded is that you once again take on the role of Sora in the “datascape”, called upon by King Mickey to find out how a mysterious message was placed in Jiminy’s journal used to hold the story of the first adventure against the heartless. Will this hold a torch to the console titles that I played through multiple times and even saw its debut announcement at my first trip to E3?
Praise: Gameplay, I can stop there but I am sure you would like me to elaborate. It is fast and action packed with massive, and I mean massive amounts of character development, in which you acquire chips to place on a circuit board to unlock boosts to your abilities. Throughout the story, Sora will also acquire new equipment and keyblades, along with skills that can be mixed to make bigger and stronger abilities and magic. In the beginning of the game you also get to choose your primary and secondary abilities whether it be magic, strength, or defense. The cut scenes look great for a DS title and the boss fights are pretty epic, making it feel as big as the consoles versions.
Gripes: The bad, well I think that would be the story. I wouldn’t say bad is the word to describe it, but it did feel a lot like a Kingdom Hearts 2.5. the reason I say this is because it is a lot of the same worlds and enemies, and the story doesn’t differ much aside from the “datascape” element where you use a radar to locate rifts in the world to enter a matrix like mini level where you have to take out a set amount of enemies per floor to clear it, earning currency, experience, abilities, and chips for the circuitboard. The worlds are also pretty long taking me about two hours on average to complete each, and like the first and second Kingdom Hearts, some of them aren’t so much fun, making it harder to work your way through.
Overall, I had fun with the gameplay and since there is a good recap to the original games, newcomers can pick up this title and start where the previous games left off. Though I did say that the story is a little bland for me since I am still pretty familiar with the events of the last, it does not get old due to the fun and engaging gameplay along with the in depth character development. Whether you are an adult or a child it is still a blast to play through Disney’s bright and colorful worlds with the mechanics that Square Enix has always been great at providing.
Mashbuttons.com gives Kingdom Hearts Re: coded a 7 out of 10.
Kingdom Hearts Re: coded is available now for the Nintendo DS.
No comments:
Post a Comment