4.5/5 ★ – FishToes's review of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.

“Mickey, it’s Riku! They put bugs in him!” My first thought once the credits rolled were: “wait, this is the one everyone hates?” And I spent a long time trying to wrap my head around why that could be. Sure, the camera is janky (I don’t see why they couldn’t just do a bit of reconfiguration to have the bumpers move the camera like 358/2….but whatever) and the story can be frustrating until the end, but come on guys!! The gameplay is the most fun and fleshed-out when it comes to the handheld spinoffs for this franchise. 358/2 and BBS are fun for sure, but they both needed some polishing. Lots of grinding that made it feel repetitive. I never felt the need to grind once in Re:Coded. Pacing was great, and with the (perfected) link panel system, I could set any weird rules and settings I wanted in terms of health and difficulty. Like I said before, I can understand people finding the story confusing or unnecessary. I guess in the grand scheme of things, you’re just learning a bit of information that is already implied and could’ve been told more briefly (took 19 hours for me) but it’s about the journey!!! I had fun and I got emotional! Isn’t that what kingdom hearts is all about??