Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Trailer Impressions

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days' storyline is centered on Roxas from Kingdom Hearts II, and it takes place between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Unlike previous installments in the Kingdom Hearts series, the game tells more of the franchise's story from the Organization XIII's side. The trailer was considerably shorter than the one for the PSP's Birth of Sleep, but it had a number of new scenes.

In the first cutscene, the Organization's leader Xemnas introduces a 14th member to his group, whose face can't be fully seen though it has the soft features of a girl. In another scene, the 14th member gets beaten by Riku. As she lies on the ground, Riku comes over and takes off her hood. He has a surprised expression on his face but is unable to recognize her and asks her who she is and why she has a key blade.

In the last cutscene, the 14th member meets up with Namine from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Namine is able to recognize her as Shion. Shion takes her hood off, and the trailer ends before her face is shown.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days' trailer also showed some in-game footage, particularly the multiplayer mode, where you take on missions together with three other players as Organization XIII members. The characters were seen fighting with their trademark weapons from the Kingdom Hearts installments. While you essentially cooperate with the other players to beat the enemies, you'll also be competing against one another in terms of score. The results screen should be interesting for Kingdom Hearts fans. The game makes use of the DS's double screen, and you see your characters shooting up through the screen on their white meeting-room chairs. The height of the chair changes, depending on your score result. If you've scored badly, you see yourself at the bottom, holding your head in disbelief. If you've scored high, you see yourself in a chair that's higher than the rest of the players.