Joystiq

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

System: DS

The Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days video showed a lot of cut scenes featuring more familiar faces such as Roxas, Axel and Ansem. There seems to be a strong focus on a new, black-haired female Organization XIII member. Roxas is the star of this game, but it looks like she will play a central role in the story's development.

Since this game takes place during the time when Roxas was an Org XIII member and before KH2, all Org members are alive and well and will make appearances in the game (as their appearances in the trailer suggests). They might all even be playable, though we didn't see all of them in the in-game footage. We did see Marluxia, Axel, Vexen and Xaldin as characters that can be used in the game. Speaking of which, most of that in-game footage that was shown off was of the 4-player co-op. It's this mode that will enable gamers to control Axel and company for the very first time.

The title doesn't look visually as great as the PSP KH game, but the co-op mode which lets you play as fan-favorite Org members looks promisingly fun. The game is set for a February 2009 release in Japan.

11/10/08