Kingdom Hearts addition leaves little to love
Only love of past games will motivate gamers to proceed.
Published Oct. 9, 2009
How strong is your heart? How hard would you cling to the things you love, even in the face of complete and utter nothingness? Even the staunchest of Kingdom Hearts series fans might wind up asking themselves the very same questions after picking up "358/2 Days," the newest lovechild of developer Square Enix and Disney, the Uncle Moneybags of all things entertainment, for Nintendo's DS.
"Days" functions as a prequel of sorts. It takes place between the original "Kingdom Hearts" and its sequel, as well as at the same time as "KH: Chain of Memories," the previous installment for the Game Boy Advance. The game follows Roxas, the Nobody of the original protagonist, Sora, as he figures out exactly who and what he is as a part of Organization XIII, the antagonists introduced in "Kingdom Hearts II."
As the game soon reveals, a Nobody is what's left of a person after their heart is stolen. Because they technically cannot feel or express emotion, the Organization is a group of Nobodies who have come together to create one massive heart (aka Kingdom Hearts) so they can once again be complete.
The game is clearly intended for players already familiar with the series who want to delve deeper into the plot leading up to the second game. (If you can make perfect sense of all the information above, congratulations you fall into this category!) Even so, the game takes quite awhile to get started.
Like the rest of the series, a lengthy walkthrough that introduces every menu, submenu and possible button function makes reading the instruction manual hardly necessary. There are roughly 10 starter missions that are nothing if not unfortunately dull. The upside: You can save your game between missions if things get frustratingly boring. I did.
As in "Chain of Memories," which introduced a completely new card-battling system, "Days" tries to bring something new to the KH experience. The main departure from the PS2 versions, however, is instead of learning magic or equipping accessories, you get to customize Roxas with "panels" between missions. The silliest of these is the level up one, which just seems plain unnecessary when you're also trying to fit potions and other items onto the grid.
Control-wise: Although the X and Y buttons bring it closer than any other previous Nintendo handheld, the DS is a sad replacement for the PS2 controller — the developers simply try to do too much with too few buttons. This and the panel feature create something that feels more like a sad imitation of the original games than a shining new addition — it's neither simple nor clean.
As for progressing through the game: Even with the option to replay previous missions, the player will miss the more sandbox-style worlds of the PS2 games.
But to render all of the above unimportant: "Kingdom Hearts" has never been about gameplay. The franchise's main draw has always been the extensive storyline, memorable characters and gorgeous cutscenes complete with adorably cheesy lines about love and friendship. Because of this, longtime fans will more than likely be able to forgive the awkward parts of actually playing the game.
One of the few downsides to the story is "Days" does not include many Disney or Square Enix characters at all (the thought of not getting to see the spiky-haired Cloud is still a fresh wound on my heart). The game should not stagnate, though: Organization XIII's 14 unique characters certainly provide a lot of material for dialogue and character development, which has always been one of the series' winning points.
Although whether I will be able to foster as deep an emotional connection with "Days" remains to be seen, all of the fun I've had playing through the past three games is motivation enough to continue on. My prediction is other fans will most likely feel the same way.
