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358/ 2 Days
Product: Kingdom Hearts 358/ 2 Days
Company: Square Enix
Date: 06/13/2009
Avaliable On:

While nothing official has been released in regards to Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix is continuing the Kingdom Hearts story with two handheld releases. The PSP game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, wasn’t shown on the E3 show floor, but the DS version, Kingdom Hearts 358/ 2 Days was.

First off, forget Chain of Memories, the last Kingdom Hearts game to hit a handheld. It seems Square Enix isn’t interested in unnecessary experimentation and is giving us a more traditional Kingdom Hearts experience. 358/ 2 Days is an action-RPG similar to the PS2 games and follows Roxas’s time with Organization XIII. Similar to Sora, Roxas can wield a keyblade, a weapon used to fight darkness. The accompanying story trailer didn’t reveal many plot details, but expect several Organization members to pop up as well as a new character, Xion, who looks suspiciously similar to Kairi. Hmm…

Levels take place in several Disney-inspired worlds like Agrabah (Aladdin), Halloween Town (Nightmare Before Christmas) and Neverland (Peter Pan) as well as newly-created worlds. One of the new worlds is The World That Never Was, which served as the main hub in both playable missions.

As part of Roxas’ duties with the Organization, he is sent to different worlds to destroy Heartless as part of the Organization’s plan to release the Kingdom Hearts and become complete. Roxas is placed under the mentorship of Axel, who will act as a wingman of sorts through missions. 358/ 2 Days will feature multiplayer, with one player taking the role of Roxas and the other playing as Organization members or Disney characters like Donald and Mickey.

My first mission took place in what looked like the Hub world and charged me with killing the Guardian. The second mission took place in Agrabah, after a short cutscene with Aladdin and Jasmine explaining that plants were taking over the city streets. Combat is very simple; just hammer the attack button and pummel every enemy in your way. Some enemies, like the plants, require special tactics to defeat, so it isn’t all mindless fun. Combat isn’t all hack n’ slash. Magic is also available, but I wasn’t able to activate spells in the demo.

358/ 2 Days introduces a new mechanic, the Panel System, which controls spells and allows for customization of levels, weapons and other abilities. Spells cannot be used if corresponding panels aren’t equipped. Magic is further enhanced by Link Panels, which unlock more powerful spell versions. The system wasn’t active on the show floor, which is probably why magic wasn’t available.

I’ve mentioned it in other stories, but the E3 show floor is a terrible place to get a feel for RPGs. However, the action-slant made Kingdom Hearts: 358/ 2 Days a little more accessible than other games. Based on two missions, Kingdom Hearts 358/ 2 Days is simple, but so far looks like a fun entry into the series.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker

GameVortex PSIllustrated