Summer of Kingdom Hearts – Part 6 – Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded Review

Yes, I’m aware that the “summer” is over, but I had to do some big reviews recently (including Ace Attorney Investigations and P3R Episode Aigis), so cut me some slack! The “Summer of Kingdom Hearts” is more of a theme than me trying to get through the ENTIRE SERIES in a few months’ time. However, as my Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded Review will note to you all, my personal belief that the franchise should’ve ended with KH2 remains intact because this latest experience was even worse than the last.

Much as I warned about ahead of time, Re: Coded (the “remaster” of the DS title) was yet another game in the collection that was only cutscenes. The difference between it and 358/2 Days was that these cutscenes…were a true slog to get through, and I was begging for things to be done by the time we got to the final section.

The backstory here is that the game takes place after KH2, and it focuses on King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy Cricket as they try to solve a mystery within Jiminy’s journal. Specifically, the “erased pages” (thanks to the events of Chain of Memories) suddenly have a new message within them, and when they attempt to figure out the reason why, they find that the journal is full of bugs. To help fix the problem, they use the digital version of Sora to go through the “glitchy” worlds and attempt to fix things.

Did that sound like a bunch of nonsense? Good, because that’s Re: Coded in a nutshell. As I noted in past reviews, the KH lore gets INCREDIBLY convoluted post-KH2, which shows up again here. Even with it just being cutscenes, they attempted to tie everything together and “make it make sense,” even when it most certainly did not. Heck, even the basic things like “Jiminy’s journal being a computer” made no sense, as it was a hand-written journal!

Another thing to note here is that Re: Coded was once again replaying the “greatest hits” of KH1, including recycling the events we’d already seen multiple times over to try and keep them “fresh.” It was a mixed bag at best, even with the visual overhaul and voice acting.

Just as important, some of the story beats, especially concerning “digital Sora” were annoying to get through because we got a very “bare bones” version of Sora who was “bright and cheery throughout” despite not really going through the various turmoils and tribulations that helped shape in the first place. Then, we had to go through the game’s worlds with him not once, but three different times in three different ways. It was as if the game was attempting to stretch itself out as much as possible, even though there was no true benefit to it.

This was encapsulated in the “final world,” where “digital Sora” went back to Castle Oblivion and we had to watch him “feel the hurt” of not remembering everyone. The “point” being that this version of Sora needed to “feel the pain” within so that he could eventually unlock the “secret memories” within him via the hearts that were all intertwined with his.

…except, but Namine’s own words, it wasn’t HIM that needed to know this at all! It was the real Sora! And who told the real Sora all of this? Mickey! So “digital Sora” went through a journey that only Mickey, Donald, and Goofy would truly know about, and Sora could only be told about, all so that Sora could know that “other people are hurting while they’re inside his heart.”

Again, doesn’t that sound like nonsense?

If I were to give some highlights here, as few as they are, it’d honestly be that I didn’t have to go through the title’s gameplay, as I do remember playing it on the DS, and it wasn’t my favorite. Furthermore, the game’s visuals were nice, though the pixelated nature of the collection continues to rear its ugly head.

Finally, I will give the team credit for tying the game to the others in the line, especially Birth By Sleep, and teasing the next game about what must happen next. But the destination absolutely wasn’t worth the three-hour-plus cutscene session I had to go through.

Oh, and did I mention that you couldn’t skip a set of cutscenes or get out of the game without straight-up killing the title? I didn’t know that until it was too late. It’s never a good thing when players are literally “trapped” in a video game.

As I wrap up my Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded Review, I will definitely say that if you were to skip this entry, you wouldn’t miss much. In fact, you might save three hours of your life that I’ve now lost. I know that Dream Drop Distance is next, and I look forward to embracing that game again (as I never finished it before). However, as a way to end the “first part” of the Kingdom Hearts trilogy…? Yeah, it wasn’t the best.

• Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 1 – Kingdom Hearts Final Remix Review
• Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 2 – Kingdom Hearts RE:Chain Of Memories Review 
• Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 3 – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Review
• Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 4 – Kingdom Hearts II Final Remix Review
• Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 5 – Birth By Sleep Final Mix Review
• Summer of Kingdom Hearts – Part 7 – Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD Review