"A hard game to ask for by name."

Kingdom Hearts is a series that is starting to have more “side stories” than numbered games. The latest entry, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, takes place after an event that happened most of the way through the first game and spans all the way up until Kingdom Hearts 2 begins (with Chain of memories taking place in parallel). But enough about time-lines.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days tells the story of Roxas and his time spent in Organization XII. Following a popular trend, the intro takes place in the middle of the game before starting at Roxas’ beginnings. However, I’m not entirely sure why this was done since unlike other examples of this technique, the glimpse into the future was completely uninteresting.

As a member of Organization XIII, Roxas must complete missions to support their cause. Each mission you take on will progress the game by one day until you get to the magic number, 358. But that isn’t to say there are 358 missions. There are a few time lapses throughout. Also, not all missions are required in order to progress the game’s story.

Battles are not card based, nor do they use any other odd gimmick. If you’ve played either of the numbered entries, 358/2 Days is going to feel very natural to you. In fact, I was very impressed at just how well they were able to translate the 3D action RPG gameplay of the series into a handheld with no control sticks and less buttons.

What makes the core battle mechanics of 358/2 Days unique is the panel system. This is a grid of squares where all of your abilities will be equipped. As you progress through the game, you will unlock more panel slots which will allow you to equip even more abilities. Usable items, equipable items, individual casts of magic, new moves, and even experience levels all must be put in the panel system to take effect.

Some panels take up more than one slot and can even have additional panels link inside them to enhance their effect. Inversely, some large panels are enhancements themselves, doubling or even quadrupling the effect of the panels placed inside them. For example, if you equip two “Fire” panels, you can cast a fire spell twice before needing to use an ether. But if those two “Fire” panels are within a “Doublecast” panel, you will be able to perform four spells. The panel system allows for a lot of customization to suit your play style and it is very satisfying to use. It is, by far, my favorite aspect of the game.

Unfortunately, the panel system was more exciting than the actual missions I was to use it in. While there are a number of different mission types, you won’t be visiting any worlds you haven’t already seen in previous games. Combine that with the fact that you’ll be revisiting a very small number of worlds over and over again and things start to get repetitive. Fortunately, blocked areas force missions to take place in different areas of this world, but it still can’t shake all of the monotony.

The game feels like it was geared more toward multiplayer than singleplayer. The story moves at a snail’s pace, and even when you’ve unlocked all its mysteries feels completely unnecessary. Chain of Memories was a much needed bridge to the story between the first two games in the series, but 358/2 Days really adds nothing to the over arching lore of the series as a whole and with the exception of a few key moments, is largely uninteresting.

While the story mode forces you to play as Roxas, the mission mode (both in singleplayer and multiplayer varieties) allows you to control any member of Organization XIII as well as a few unlockable characters. Even when playing alone, the ability to switch to different characters gave the game a much needed sense of variety that the story mode so sorely needed. Each of the Organization members has a unique flow to their attacks as well as different strengths and weaknesses. Had story mode allowed you to switch characters, it would have been a much better solo experience.

Back on a positive note, 358/2 Days has some of the best 3D graphics I’ve ever seen on the DS platform. They did not resort to using super deformed proportions as seen in the Final Fantasy remakes. Models have a very reasonable amount of detail, and everything is fluidly animated. It’s just a shame we’ve already seen these worlds with higher poly-counts in times past.

If you’re looking for an epic RPG with a good story, I would not recommend Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. However, if you’re looking for an action RPG that you can play in very short bursts either by yourself or with up to three friends, it will probably satisfy you with more polish than Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

Tags: action rpg, Disney Interactive, DS, h.a.n.d., Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, missions, multiplayer, Square Enix

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.