Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded Review

God knows that I have been in love with Kingdom Hearts since the first game came out in 2002. And looks like my love for it is justified, seeing as the Kingdom Hearts series has been one of the most successful Square Enix's franchises in the last ten years. The whole premise is pretty simple: “Original Square Enix's characters in an original plot that takes place, mostly, in Disney's worlds andsituations”. While this premise sounded awkward the first time I heard about it, it turned out to be a beautiful combination that takes the best of both worlds and is written wonderfully. The game I'll be reviewing is a remake for a mobile game that came out a year ago. But the real question about this installment of the series is whether it lives up to the hype and quality of previous KingdomHearts games.

Gameplay and presentation:

At first, followers of the series will be instantly familiar with the interface of the menu, the Health Bar's layout and the game itself. It has always been a comfortable way to organize the menus. The gameplay is amazingly entertaining and addicting. It focuses, like the original one, in the manipulation of Bug Blocks to solve puzzles and reach newareas. However, this remake adds on some nice things. First of all, it includes the praised Deck Command System that was first seen in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which allows the player to use various decks of abilities to use in combat.

Every world has a different kind of gameplay. For instance, in Olympus, you have turn-based RPG gameplay. In Hollow Bastion, you will have a side-scrollingplatform gameplay, like Super Mario Bros. In wonderland, you will have a rail shooting obstacle course, and so on. This is a really original idea and gives several points to the game.

The Stat Matrix is like a combination between FFX's Sphere Grid and 358/2 Days Panels. The main character progresses on a line of circuits within the Matrix, whose path is made out of blocks. Through the quest,you will receive stats-enhancer panels that can be placed in one of the adjacent blocks in the circuit increasing the panel's stat and progress further through the circuit. Every time you level-up, you will receive a level up panel which will increase all of your stats. There are, also, specific spots in the Matrix that are called Ability Panels. When these panels are reached by an active circuitry,Sora will gain abilities like Dodge Roll, Scan and Block.

There are some other additions like the Command Matrix and the Gear Matrix, but they are kind of similar to previous gameplay additions and would expand the review too much. They are, respectively, the menu where you arrange the commands and your Keyblades, respectively.
Story:

There is just one word that I can use to describe theplot for this game: Nonexistent.

For me, the KH series has always been a heavy story-based series. I mean, yes, the gameplay is important, but it's the amazingly written story that makes you want to keep going and finish the game. Every game in the series has had interesting characters that you actually care for and a plot that is complex enough to make you think about it, instead of havingeverything handed to you on a silver plate. Sadly, this game has neither. Despite of all the good things I said about the gameplay, this game has disappointed me here. Even though I could expand about the story, doing so would spoil it for those who are interested, so I'll just give you the basics.

In every KH game, there is a main plot that involves some kind of antagonist that wants to fulfill arather villainous goal and heroes that must stop him in order to save the universe. That doesn't sound so original, but there is one thing that could change your mind: First, the plot takes place in Disney's worlds where you will meet their respective characters and help them with a problem related to those characters' movie. At first, you would say it sounds childish but it's amazingly well...