Kingdom Hearts was a game that initially sounded incredibly strange – a fusion of Square-Enix characters and Disney. Although like many I didn’t take a huge interest at the concept originally, playing it opened my eyes to the true potential, and I fell in love with its worlds and characters, it soon becoming one of my favourite games. With such a famous cast including characters such as Cloud, Squall, The Beast and Hades – you’d think that it would be difficult for Square-Enix to add some original characters to the mix who could possibly live up to their reputations, yet somehow they managed it with Sora, Riku and Kairi becoming a lovable trio taken from their quiet lives, caught in the middle of a grand adventure.
Since then, there have been three titles – two main titles Kingdom Hearts I & II, and a handheld title set between the two, Chain of Memories. I enjoyed KHII just as much as the first, although Chain of Memories’ enjoyable story was somewhat spoiled for me due to its confusing battle system. Regardless, together they forged a terrific story, each one adding yet more depth and twists than the last – and always leaving us a few little clues to the series’ future to keep us intrigued.
This month saw the release of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days – the first of two announced handheld titles since KHII, and the first to star a new protagonist, Roxas. Fans of the series will know who I’m talking about – the blonde-haired keyblade-wielder who was used at the start of KHII, and played a part in it’s overall plot. Now, if you haven’t played Kingdom Hearts II, be prepared – this review would be impossible without revealing one or two of KHII’s twists.
Although much of Roxas’ past is covered during the plot of KHII, 358/2 Days covers his own story, which starts midway through the plot of KHI, through Chain of Memories, and up until the beginning of KHII – allowing the player to see and understand more of Roxas’ past and character as an individual. Although this means we have a good idea of the game’s outcome it doesn’t spoil the game, with plenty of plot to enjoy and a lot of character development. I wouldn’t recommend this game to people new to the series, as the plot makes little sense without some prior knowledge – although playing it before KHII would make sense chronologically if you don’t mind the odd spoiler.
A large portion of the game’s story focuses on Roxas’ missions working for the organisation, dispatching various heartless and collecting hearts for them. The title has a more linear style to it, with a ‘mission’ system where the player is often confined to certain regions of the game’s various worlds, giving it a more level-based feel – in order to complete a mission, you must fulfil the mission objective, before returning to the entrance point to return to HQ.
At the castle, talking to Saïx allows you to see the available missions for the day you are on, the story progressing once you have completed all of the mandatory missions for that day. Cutscenes between missions and days move the story along as you complete these tasks. As a member of Organisation XIII, the game focuses on Roxas’ time working alongside them, and his friendship with Axel, and a new character – Xion. Unlike Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days plays in much the same style as the console versions of Kingdom Hearts; a 3D game set in environments which are largely ported areas from a mixture of the KHI & KHII. Missions are often done in pairs, with the various Organisation members partnered up to you for each task.
The gameplay feels fluid, the PS2 engine translated well to the lower power handheld counterpart. However, the game feels a lot simpler than its predecessors, with many of the details that add variety missing. since the game has a less ‘free-roam’ feel, the RPG elements such as interacting with NPC’s and visiting various shops are removed, all confined to a single room of HQ whereas the majority of mission areas are pure combat. Although this is done well, many of the extra skills are missing; such as Summons, Reaction commands, special moves like Ars Arcanum and Drive Forms. The game does introduce Limit Breaks, which allow Roxas to perform stronger combos for a short period of time when he’s low on HP, but the overall range of combat abilities feels quite lacking in comparison with the game’s PS2 counterparts.
Although a weaker system, the title’s graphics look good for a DS title, and apart from a some odd pixellation when some objects are seen up close, it looks good and impressive for a handheld title. The game’s characters look well animated with good emotion, and the game also has cutscene’s which appear to be graphically identical to the PS2, with some scenes directly taken from scenes in KHII which were related to Roxas’ plot. The game uses text for most of the dialogue, although some of the cutscenes have voice acting and are well done, with all of the original actors reprising their parts. The game’s music is comprised of various tracks from KHI and II, reusing the same music for the respective areas, still sounding as high quality as the originals.
Although the gameplay feels like 3D Kingdom Hearts titles, the actual character growth is more reminiscent of Chain of Memories, utilizing a ‘panel’ system. After missions, you are rewarded with EXP, which grant you Level Up panels, Heart points which are used to buy panels, and finally munny and materials which are used to synthesize panels. Without utilizing these panels, Roxas will not grow whatsoever – instead you must balance him by arranging various shaped panels into his panel grid to grant him Level Ups, Magic, Keyblades, Abilities and Items. To successfully use the grid, you need to arrange them in a way that allows you to fit as many on as possible – and your grid grows in size as you progress and unlock new slots. You can also obtain ‘Link Panels’ which allow you to upgrade other panels by linking to them – such as combining a Power panel to a keyblade panel to grant it new abilities, or placing a Level panel within a Level Doubler to increase the level boost gained from that panel. Magic is not operated via MP, rather the amount of magic panels on your grid determine how many casts of each you are allowed per mission. The customisation works well with the game, and is easy to pick up and work with.
Aside from the main story, there’s plenty of extra missions to do, and mostly they will allow for obtaining more materials and rarer ones in order to synthesise new panels to improve Roxas’ abilities. Aside from the game’s optional missions in the regular mission selection, the game also offers Holo-Missions, which allow you to repeat any missions you have completed, and you can also unlock missions for Challenges and Mission Mode as well. Challenge mode allows you to attempt harder versions of missions in order to unlock Challenge Sigils, which can be used to unlock extra panels at the shop.
Mission mode offers a few nice additions, however – accessed by the main menu, you may select from any of the Organisation members to play as – as well as a few secret characters who can be unlocked – and repeat missions either solo, or using the DS’s wi-fi to play 2-4 player. The concept is interesting, and it’s fun to try out the other characters, but I think the mode would still get rather dull after a while since you are essentially repeating the regular missions again.
The game does offer a long game time, although sadly it feels as though it has been purposely stretched to make up for it’s shortcomings – many of the missions are very similar or repetitive, and involve going through areas you have already explored. Although the game offers some extra mission types, such as doing recon by examining areas, or collecting emblems as quick as you can, it feels a little forced at times, as if there’s not quite enough content to make a full title. Also, since Roxas has to operate without influencing the characters outside of Organisation XIII much, there’s little interaction with any of the Disney characters – seeing as the character’s largely portray the worlds’ personalities, most of the different lands seem to merely offer different backdrops to fight in than give much in the area of plot.
Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game is the lack of any Final Fantasy characters – although the Organisation and Disney characters offer a fair range of cast, I feel that Final Fantasy is a big part of the Kingdom Hearts series and I really did miss this aspect, being a big fan of the FF series. It doesnt seem unfair to expect a few cameos, especially since it would be possible to add previously unseen FF characters in order to avoid complication, but the story does still work without them, anyway.
In conclusion, I’d say that Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a bit of a mixed bag – it has some real quality with it’s fluid engine, good storyline and quality emotional content, but feels somewhat mired by a lack of variation and generic missions . Really, if you’re not a KH fan, it would probably offer little sense in plot, and rather repetitive gameplay – so I’d really only recommend the game to fans of the series, since the character and plot development was the main aspect that made me feel satisfied once I’d completed the game – don’t get me wrong, there were parts I thoroughly enjoyed, yet some bits did leave me feeling a little bored.
- Leon
