I didn't see a thread on these games yet, but if there is I am sorry. The Kingdom Hearts series is one of the best series that was ever released on the PS2. It spawned one gameboy advance game, Chain of Memories, as well as a remake of the game for PS2. In September, the Kingdom Hearts series took a new turn on the DS with the release of 358/2 Days. This game is easily the best hand held Kingdom Hearts game to date between itself and Chain of Memories. The story in a nutshell is that you take control of and live the life that Roxas lived during his time in Organization XIII. Every day you do missions, kill heartless, do recon, or train at the Collesium. The story is gripping as Roxas tries to find out why he exists and just who he is. He'll fight through the loss of his comrades (This game occurs during Chain of Memories so several Organization members are killed off throughout.), betrayal by friends, and even loosing his two closest friends. While he's doing all of this a mysterious 14th member joins the group and basically turns the Organization upside down. Some people say that the game is repetative with multiple mission objectives repeating itself, but the fact is this is a different kind of game. Rather than trying to stop Ansem or stop the Organization, your doing a job throughout the game. It's a game of life as much as it is a game about killing heartless. To say it's repetative does make sense as all of our lives probably are a little repetative as well. Through the repititon though I feel that this game has an incredible replay value as there is all kinds of things to do after you've finished the game.
Another huge plus of this game is the addition of multiplayer. Up to 4 people can take control of their favorite Organization member plus a few extra characters and complete the missions that you do in story mode. The missions though have an increased difficulty and some become very hard to complete without a partner. You also get rewarded for doing these missions again with free items that do all kinds of stuff. During multiplayer players can choose to either work together and help each other, or they can attempt to kill each other off as there is friendly attacking. The weapon and level up system is pretty strange and takes some getting used to, but by the time you get about halfway through the game you'll be very comfortable with it. What you do is make a deck out of panels that contain your magic, abilities, weapon, items, levels, and armor. The catch is there is limited space in your deck so picking what panels to use is an interesting strategic addition. In multiplayer and mission mode the limited deck strategy is even more important as some characters such as Larxene have very low attack power, but high magic. As the game progresses your deck will grow. The fighting style is the same as in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Overall I give this DS game a 9.5 out of 10. The only thing I would have liked to see improved in this game is a little more variety in the missions, but again this is not a normal adventure game, it's a life simulator of Roxas's time in the Organization.
The next game to be released in this series is the PSP title Birth By Sleep. This game is going to be a prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts and will probably answer some questions that players may have such as what may have happened between Ansem and Xehanort as well as how Xehanort became a heartless. Players will control 3 different characters through 3 different story modes. It is said that this game will be the longest in the series and average completion time should be around 45 hours. The fighting style has been revamped, but apparently will somewhat resemble that of Re: Chain of Memories. The story will focus on three new characters named Terra, Ven, and Aqua. The three characters are all in training (as is King Mickey by Yen Sid) to be keyblade masters, but Master Xehanort has gone missing. The three set out to find him while fighting a new enemy called the Unverse. These creatures are thought to be pre-heartless. Ven looks a lot like Roxas and even appears to wear a mixture of Roxas's and Sora's clothing. This game is slated to come out in Jan. 2010 in Japan and be released in the summer in North America. Overall I think this game looks great and should answer some questions as well as get the main Kingdom Hearts story ready to begin.
Another huge plus of this game is the addition of multiplayer. Up to 4 people can take control of their favorite Organization member plus a few extra characters and complete the missions that you do in story mode. The missions though have an increased difficulty and some become very hard to complete without a partner. You also get rewarded for doing these missions again with free items that do all kinds of stuff. During multiplayer players can choose to either work together and help each other, or they can attempt to kill each other off as there is friendly attacking. The weapon and level up system is pretty strange and takes some getting used to, but by the time you get about halfway through the game you'll be very comfortable with it. What you do is make a deck out of panels that contain your magic, abilities, weapon, items, levels, and armor. The catch is there is limited space in your deck so picking what panels to use is an interesting strategic addition. In multiplayer and mission mode the limited deck strategy is even more important as some characters such as Larxene have very low attack power, but high magic. As the game progresses your deck will grow. The fighting style is the same as in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Overall I give this DS game a 9.5 out of 10. The only thing I would have liked to see improved in this game is a little more variety in the missions, but again this is not a normal adventure game, it's a life simulator of Roxas's time in the Organization.
The next game to be released in this series is the PSP title Birth By Sleep. This game is going to be a prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts and will probably answer some questions that players may have such as what may have happened between Ansem and Xehanort as well as how Xehanort became a heartless. Players will control 3 different characters through 3 different story modes. It is said that this game will be the longest in the series and average completion time should be around 45 hours. The fighting style has been revamped, but apparently will somewhat resemble that of Re: Chain of Memories. The story will focus on three new characters named Terra, Ven, and Aqua. The three characters are all in training (as is King Mickey by Yen Sid) to be keyblade masters, but Master Xehanort has gone missing. The three set out to find him while fighting a new enemy called the Unverse. These creatures are thought to be pre-heartless. Ven looks a lot like Roxas and even appears to wear a mixture of Roxas's and Sora's clothing. This game is slated to come out in Jan. 2010 in Japan and be released in the summer in North America. Overall I think this game looks great and should answer some questions as well as get the main Kingdom Hearts story ready to begin.
