Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is somthing for everyone for KH fans and RPG fans alike.
358/2 Days was announced back at Tokyo Gameshow 2007 and was released back in May just this year in Japan and has made its way over here keeping fans and gamers busy just in time for the Holidays.
Main story might be a bit confusing for new gamers, but fans will know the main plot and story. You'll be playing as the role of Roxas who just recently joined Organization XIII as its thirteenth member. After wondering who he is and wondering why he is there, Axel who is Roxas's best friend they both hang out at the Twilight Town clock tower eating Sea-Salt Ice cream and having a laugh. A few days later another member joins called Xion but she too can use the Keyblade just like Roxas and she becomes friends Roxas and Axel as well.
Gameplay: If you've played through the series before on PS2 and GBA, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is pretty much the same as you would as in the series. You'll be using the D-pad to move around, A to attack, B to jump and Y to Dodge Roll and use Guard. X is used for scrolling down your commands when you're out exploring worlds you can use Magic on enemies such as Fire, Thunder, Blizzard and Cure. If your HP is low you can use Limit Break where you can do some critical damage on all enemies on the battle field.
Most of the worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series have mainly been Disney worlds such as Wonderland, Halloween Town and Beasts Castle. Fans of the series would know straight away to know where they need to go if there on a mission or hunting down Heartless. There's a good variety of Missions and Bosses in 358/2 Days some will keep you busy for a couple of hours.
The cleverest thing about 358/2 Days is Panel System where you can put in and take out abilities, weapons, magic spells, items and Levels for your character. The more you install in the panels the more likely you'll take down Heartless and Bosses easily. You can buy and synthesize Panels and you can link them together say if you have a Level 2 Panel that has 4 slots in them you can put a few level 1 panels in and your levels will increase. You will be swapping around panels a lot sort of feels like a jigsaw mixed with Tetris.
There is Multiplayer if you want to play with your friends; you can play up to 4 players if they have a DS and a copy of the game. You can play as your favourite Organization XIII character such as Roxas, Axel, and Vexen, most of the multiplayer missions are the same as the ones you've been playing through on Story but it can be more fun playing with friends. So it's one of those Co-Op type games where you and your friends and work together to take down foes.
Graphics and Sound: If you've played through the series before the graphics look pretty much similar to the PS2 version, they less high quality as you would see on the PS2 version. Most of the Disney worlds you'll visit are pretty cool and fantasy almost close to the films were if you have watch those films when you were a kid or if you've go kids that is.
There was one thing I found annoying in 358/2 Days pretty much the same you've seen in other games is the camera control making it hard to see where your enemies are, you can use the Touch screen to move the camera around or hold down the select button and using the directional pad to move around. You can target lock enemies if you just want to focus your attacks on making it easier for you to attack.
The voicing does a well done job for a DS game if you're a fan of the KH series you've still got the main voice actors for most of the charcters that were played in 358/2 Days. Music was all composed by Yoko Shimomura where most of her music has always been in the KH series, there is some new music added in 358/2 Days making you having mixed emotions when listening but very well done.
Another thing that would have made 358/2 Days perfect if they changed the Theme Song because almost everyone was specting a new theme song for 358/2 Days but instead they've used "Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru" her theme music has also been with the KH series but it would have been nice if there was a new theme song based on the events of 358/2 Days.
Overall: Main story can take you up to more then 15 hours at least, but there are plenty of missions that can keep you busy for days. There are challenges and special missions where you can earn points and you can use them to get new items or charcters which you can unlock for Multiplayer.
What I really like about 358/2 Days was the intense story keeping you on the edge of your seat and addictive gameplay with a good amount of Bosses and Missions. I would highly recommend 358/2 Days for KH fans and RPG fans out there who own a DS especially if you thought The World Ends With You was a fun game.