Not the best in the series, but it will grow you on eventually ;D
Genre: RPG-Action
Developer: Squareenix
System: Nintendo DS
Total Score: 85/100
Value Score: 8.5/10
• Story: 9/10
o The storyline of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days takes place before Kingdom Hearts II, however the first few parts of the game take place from when Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories was taking place towards the end of COM. Majority of the game takes place between COM and II, giving more detail on how the Organization performs their duties, who each of their members are. Each organization member's motives, what they did during COM, their suspicions etc were all explained throughout this game. Pretty much what the player does throughout the game is that you control Roxas who must commit to missions for the Organization, majority of it being slaying heartless to open the way to Kingdom Hearts which plays a major role in KH2. Eventually the main character Roxas ends up in a friendly relationship between Axel who played a cunning role in KH COM and a new character never before seen in the series, Xion. Throughout the game, Roxas questions the organization's role, their motives, whereabouts of both Axel and Xion, and his origin.
• Characters: 10/10
o Pretty much, the game focuses on the organization XIII members, Roxas, and Xion mostly, although some disney characters do make an appearance in the game, they do not play as much of a major role as KH1, infact, all contact with disney characters are far more limited than what happened in KH COM. There are some dialogue between disney characters to other characters and some rare dialogue between disney characters and the Organization members. Regardless of the fact, not a lot of disney characters were included in this game unlike the past two games. Majority of the worlds from the last two games don't even make it to this game. Speaking of characters, in relation to Final Fantasy characters, the only FF characters seen in this game are the Moogles.
• GamePlay: 7/10
o Gameplay is similar to Kingdom Hearts I, and not at all like COM, which is a good thing. The game plays a bit more like KH2, however because of the NDS controls, movement and reaction time might be a bit off or tedious to pull. Because of the lack of a Joy stick, using the D-Pad kinda makes it difficult to move in a 3D environment unless your moving in a straight line. Other than that, the leveling up system has been torn apart from the game, along with the skill/magic system of the previous games. You are instead replaced with the Panel system, which you can purchase panels , receive panels via missions or during storyline scenes. Each mission you complete unlocks a panel section for you to equip a panel, you can pretty much de-level in others. Equipping a weapon, magic, skills, and power ups also are through panels, you can buy panels via heart points from which you can get from defeating Emblem heartless (Emblem heartless are heartless with different forms, developed in other words, pure blood heartless are like the shadows). Zenny is back in 358/2 days and the only use for it is to synthesize items. The storyline progresses through days which are altered by missions you commit yourself to, you can redo the missions again with new challenges or to gain exp. When you level up from getting exp, you get a leveling panel however.
• Graphics: 9/10
o Graphics of the game are probably one of the best aspects of the game, it brings out the full potential of the NDS just like COM did with the GBA. However because of the lack of a decent graphics system within the DS, there are some noticeable blemishes within the graphical designs such as the character sprites, their facial expressions etc. Regardless they should not be that noticeable. Worlds are nicely done, each world which is presented within 358/2 days fully showcase the full world as if you were playing KH1 or KH2, with little to no difference. The game runs through a similar graphic system order like KH1 and KH Re:COM did, with first being Normal graphics, than cutscene graphics, and of course CG.
• Sound: 8/10
o The sounds within 358/2 days are a lot more better than what you would expect in a NDS game, clear cut through sound effects, there are voice overs in the game, but limited due to the power of the system. There are the occasional grunts and laughter within the characters during regular cut scenes however. As for fighting sound effects, they are a bit off in some parts of the game, but hardly noticeable.
• Music: 10/10
o The music is once again the best aspect of the 358/2 Days just like the predecessors of the game. Each tune is just like the original from KH1 and KH2, along with that, they added a few new remixes of several tracks from KH2, and of course added a few new tracks. Overall, one of the best OSTs, bringing a lot of the action feeling and sentimental feeling as well.
• Length: 7/10
o Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, the length of the game can be enhanced depending on how well you play, whether you choose to complete missions 100% and collect every treasure chests will often yield more missions which can be unlocked. However in terms of the main storyline, despite the fact that the game's storyline takes place of one year, the game's length is limited like the last two games, despite that fact, the game is a bit longer than the main storyline of COM.
• Replay Value: 7/10
o Throughout the game, you will often unlock new characters which can be used to play Multiplayer mission modes or if you want solo, with whichever character from the Organization even the ones who have died in COM. You also have the chance to play as Xion, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Sora. You can re-do missions, add some challenges, or watch the theatre mode feature which was introduced in KH Re: COM.
• Player Value: 8/10
o Overall, the game was a good one, in terms of gameplay it was a bit better than COM, however, the gameplay was a bit repetitive to the point where there were more gameplay than actual storyline, due to the amount of missions, some of the missions were just plain dumb (I.e. collecting emblems). Despite that, the storyline was pretty decent, characters were memorable, music was amazing, sound was ok, cut scenes were incredible, length was average, Replay value was the same. Good game to play, recommended to get it if you want to understand the storyline of the Organization abit more than what was explained in KH2.