DS Game Reviews: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days there is no Sora, at least for you to play with. Instead we get to follow the story of Roxas and Organization XIII, the mysterious black hooded figures that served as Sora's antagonists in Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2. The game takes players through the year (just about) that Roxas was with the organization and gives us a bit more back ground information on the shady Nobodies.

Roxas was created when (spoiler) Sora turned into a heartless in Kingdom Hearts, now, as part of Organization XIII, he is one of the only members who can use the Keyblade. Under orders, he collects hearts from the heartless so the Nobodies, people created when heartless steal hearts, can gain their own hearts. It gets convoluted it you haven't played any of the games. Just trust me that is is awesome.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days controls similar to the other Kingdom Hearts games, except on the DS. There is a fully 3D environment to run around in with the d-pad. The Y, X, A, B buttons control things like jumping, magic and the keyblade, while R controls the camera and L is shortcuts. All action takes place on the top screen while the bottom screen is reserved for maps.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is divided into days and each day has a mission with a particular objective that must be completed before Roxas can return to the base. There is a gauge at the bottom of the screen that allows you to see how much of your mission is completed. You can access the mission info any time you need to.

Missions consist of things like killing certain heartless, providing recon, or following shady characters around. Like the other Kingdom Hearts games, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is divided into stages by world. At first the only world you can do missions in is Twilight town, but that soon expands to the familiar Disney worlds. Roxas is not alone on missions as other Organization XIII members join him to provide support.