The outcome of this hand-held Kingdom Hearts game turned out terrifically better than "Chain of Memories".
If you've played the previous Kingdom Hearts games, you're in for a great ride. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days follows the story of Roxas, a "Nobodie" without a heart who originated from Sora, the protagonist of the previous games. The plot falls in the timeline of the series between Kingdom Hearts I and II, and partially occurs at the same time as Chain of Memories. The game delves into Roxas's time with Organization XIII, the antagonist-group of Kingdom Hearts CoM and Kingdom Hearts II.
First of all, the story is simply amazing. It's highly advisable that one should play the other games first before trying out Days, because the game will prove very confusing otherwise. That being said, the player will also then have a general idea of how the game plays out already. However, this isn't a problem, as Days has many, many twists and makes an art of the plot-line that was suggested in later games.
The members of the Organization are very interesting to learn about as well in Days. As the game follows alongside them, more is revealed about themselves than ever before. The only downside was that the cast of Chain of Memories had little time for appearance before the "events" of said game. It was an easy rut to overlook, though.
The setting of Days takes place in various areas original to the Kingdom Hearts series, but, as is a trademark of the games, also features worlds from Disney movies. While Days doesn't draw as heavily into the storyline with the Disney worlds as in previous games, the areas themselves are used very frequently for missions and events for the game. The lesser use of the Disney characters themselves actually helped the plotline, though, as it gives Days a much more serious and solemn atmosphere for the storyline that it has in store.
The way that the gameplay works is this. The playtime of Days is divided into "missions". From the Organization headquarters, the player chooses from a list of missions (usually, only one is available at a time) and then Roxas is transported to a certain area to carry it out. Missions mostly include the task of defeating a certain number or species of Heartless (the monstrous enemies of the series), but also range from collecting items or doing reconnaissance. This helps the game stretch on for as long as possible, given the limited amount of worlds featured in Days and the fact that too many additional features could conflict with the already-released Kingdom Hearts II.
For battling, Days uses generally the same system as Kingdom Hearts I and II. A menu is shown in the corner of the screen, with the main option being "Attack". The player can also scroll through the other options of Magic and Items to help aid in combat. Keeping the original battling style of the series was a good move by the creator, as it helped make the game much more tolerable than the last portable KH game.
Leveling and abilities are very different in Days, though. Instead of leveling up permanently in level and obtaining abilities to use any time, Days uses the Panel system. A grid is displayed and the player places panels in the squares to equip the effects of said panels. There are the Level-Up panels that are obtained from gaining EXP, the Gear Panels for equipping new weapons, Magic and Ability panels to allow Roxas to use them on missions, and more. At first, only a small number of panels can be equipped at once, but more slots are opened up through the game.
While it sounds like a shoddy, tedious way of managing the character, it really becomes quite easy and entertaining. The Panel system allows the player to customize the character like never before, and can even be a sort of puzzle when trying to arrange the multiple-block panels to efficiently use the space.
The graphics and sound of Days are just as expected. The graphics are cartoonish, but still beautiful. The music is fantastic, (if not the same as from Kingdom Hearts II) and the voiceovers do justice.
Once the storyline is completed, the game is still not over, fortunately. The player can access Challenge Mode, which is essentially redoing missions, but with a handicap and challenging goal. For instance, Roxas may be prohibited from performing magic in the mission and challenged to finish it in a certain amount of time.
There is also Mission Mode, which is, again, redoing past missions. The catch here is that the player can use any character in the game, instead of only Roxas, as well as certain characters who hadn't reappeared in Days. What's more, Mission Mode also has a co-op feature, so for the first time ever in the series, players can team up to take on their foes.
The camera in Days was a little faulty, however. Oftentimes, the view was at a very awkward angle for no particular reason and was hard to return to normal. Also, while the lock-on feature for battling against enemies is useful for landing attacks, it didn't always help when the enemy the camera was following got too close to a wall at just the right angle to trip the camera out completely.
Other than that, the only real change I would have made in this game would be to add at least a little use of the DS stylus.
Overall, this game is a fantastic release for the Kingdom Hearts series. The gripping, bridging storyline, the missions, and the enemies all add up to hours of excitement. Any fan of the series should definitely give it a try.