Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – Review

After Kingdom Hearts 2, many players and fans to the series eagerly awaited the arrival of Kingdom Hearts 3 but sadly we weren’t to be graced with the third entry of the series (even though it’s in development now, 11 years after the release of Kingdom Hearts 2). So, to keep the fans tided over, Square Enix released this side story in 2009.

Chronologically, this game falls before and alongside the events of Chain of Memories and leads directly into the events of Kingdom Hearts 2.

Instead of Sora, Roxas is the main protagonist of this game. Roxas shares a very special connection to Sora and like Sora, Roxas is a Keyblade wielder. Throughout the game we follow Roxas as he works for the mysterious Organization XIII and his relationships with his best friend Axel and the enigmatic girl Xion, who like Roxas, shares a special bond with Sora.

Although Sora himself isn’t in this game physically, he is mentioned quite a lot and he is seen as the driving force of the story due to his memories and heart being able to directly influence the heroes of this story.

As the plot progesses we see the Organization members being pulled apart by betrayals, hidden agendas and blooming friendships between the main trio of the game. Riku, Namine and DiZ also make appearances as supporting characters as they are important to this crucial side story.

The games’ mythology into the nature of the heart is explored even further as we learn more about Nobodies. When a person with a strong heart becomes a Heartless, the leftover body and soul then become a non existent creature called a Nobody.

As with all other entries in the series, new game mechanics were included; so the players could adapt to using the game on a Nintendo DS console. One of which is the Panel system which gives Roxas his levels, strength, magic and defense.

Instead of relying on keychains like Sora did, Roxas uses gears to modify his Keyblade to adapt to a variety of different opponents as there are Keyblades that are used for brute strength, extra combo attacks and aerial combat.

Coming next week we go back to the origins of Sora and Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.