Kingdom Hearts fans with spin-off fever will be happy to learn that a new trailer for the mobile phone to DS port Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded has emerged. The trailer shows off the game’s look, which is admittedly identical to every other Kingdom Hearts games, as well as how jarring it is to watch Mickey Mouse start spouting Japanese. Oh, and there are some interesting gameplay elements in there, as well.
Most notable are the style shifts that apparently populate the game, which follows an alternate reality Sora traveling through a secret adventure somehow recorded in Jiminy’s notebook. Since Mickey and the chipmunks restore this world using data, there appear to be large cubes of code sprinkled throughout familiar locations like Traverse Town. These cubes may allow players to engage in more platforming than they have in other games, and the trailer even shows off some 2D sections.
There’s even a turn based battle featuring Sora, Hercules and Cloud, indicating the welcome return of those Disney and Final Fantasy characters, and a 3D, forward moving shooter style that Joystiq likens to Space Harriers.
Also in evidence is the different dialogue style, which features 2D models and speech bubbles rather than the animated, three dimensional characters of past games. They look fine, and the best case scenario is that the game will unfold much faster without all the dialogue animations bogging it down. Hopefully that’s a consistent theme throughout the game, since this will be many players’ third, fourth, fifth, or even sixth trip to many of the locations that will no doubt be present.
Check out the second video of the original mobile phone version, which reveals that cell phones in Japan are way more advanced than those in English speaking countries. Hell, the graphics for the original Kingdom Hearts Coded look better than the DS’s 358/2 Days.
Will snazzy graphics and some mixed up gameplay be enough to attract player to yet another Kingdom Hearts spin-off, though? The one thing that’s kept fans coming back time and again is the plot, especially since the novelty of seeing Disney and FF characters together wore off years ago. With this latest entry following the exploits of an alternate Sora in familiar locations, though, it may be a tough sell.
