Episode 0003: Kingdom hearts re: coded side b: Rasmus P Degn's review.
Here's the deal no talking bout the story if you want that go to my blog.
Graphics: They're great by ds standards everything looks just as good as kh: days some things even better overall 1/1.
Sound: High quality as always though not too many tracks I would consider downright awesome so overall 1/2.
Gameplay: It's on the surface the same as kh: days but the panel system has been replaced with the matrix systems.
The stat matrix: Basically a watered down version of the sphere grid from ffx using only empty nodes create stat spheres and two kinds of lock nodes and key spheres one of which only comes in at the very end of the story and in the post-game.
The command matrix: I'll be honest I don't like it, For special moves fine but magic and items should have had their own command matrix because there's not enough memory and you don't get anymore than you start with and moves get more expensive, And you're gonna use the same set of moves if you want to win and that's 2 cure spells of the best level you have 1 esuna spell 1 hi-ether 1 judgement triad and 1 other ability of choice.
The gear matrix: Good but too basic there are no accessories more complex than you're immune to this status effect or survive 1 hit that would usually kill you also why wasn't counter and command counter part of the stat matrix?
The boss battles: probably the second best part of the game the best being Olympus coliseum it the genre changes keep it from being too monotonous and the ones that do use the regular engine are generally the more epic ones.
Overall: 3/5.
Fun and features: I gotta tell'ya in terms of post-game content there's not much there's two superbosses one of which is extremely easy and the other one is just the final boss powered up however on the positive side there's an achievement system that actually rewards you for getting them that makes what 5 games to have that? Also the game is fun and Olympus coliseum is a strong contender for favourite kh area ever overall 2.5/4.
Final word: A great game but there's better games in the series final rating: 7.5/11.