Kingdom Hearts. A strange concept some were skeptical about at first. Disney meets Final Fantasy? Really, what? Despite predictions that the series was a dumb idea, it wowed everyone in 2002 by getting rave reviews and a well-written story, along with excellent gameplay. 2 years later, the story continued with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the GBA. It lacked voice acting and instead featured text with a picture of the character talking. Battles were reworked, now using a card-based battle system that was well-implemented and worked in the context of the game. And the story served as a bridge between the first Kingdom Hearts and the then-as-of-yet released Kingdom Hearts II.
That game came out 2 years after Chain of Memories. It heralded the return of the classic battle system and voice acting, and introduced new character Roxas and the Nobodies. Not to mention Organization XIII. Now three new games have been announced. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, for the PSP; Kingdom Hearts: Coded, for mobile phones; and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, for the Nintendo DS. This time, we'll take a look at 358/2 Days.
Starring Roxas, voiced by Jesse McCartney in KH2 and most likely in 358/2 Days as well, the game follows his days with Organization XIII, a group made of 13 powerful Nobodies. Roxas, who is number 13 in the organization, befriends Axel, number 8 (I think). As such, Axel will be prominent in the game. Also featured is the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, named Xion. Maybe her name is a play on the word Scion? Who knows.
Anyways, announced worlds are Twilight Town, where Roxas is recruited for the organization, Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, and Agrabah. And the game will consist of Roxas' daily life in the organization, and will consist of missions. Roxas will also take forms upon entering some worlds, like Sora does with Atlantica and the Pride Lands.
The game also features multiplayer, and missions beaten in the single-player mode will be available in multiplayer. Judging from past SE titles on the DS, I'd say that multiplayer will feature WiFi and local multiplayer. That, however, is my guess. Whether or not it is true will be revealed in time. And now, screenies.
(http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/897/897664/kingdom-hearts-3582-days-20080808022611000.jpg)(http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/897/897664/kingdom-hearts-3582-days-20080808022612234.jpg)(http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/897/897664/kingdom-hearts-3582-days-20080808022613062.jpg)(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2007/12/27/pc_fc_n_gs/071228khds04.jpg)(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2007/12/27/pc_fc_n_gs/071228khds02.jpg)(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2007/12/27/pc_fc_n_gs/071228khds01.jpg)(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2007/12/27/pc_fc_n_gs/071228khds05.jpg)
(http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/897/897664/kingdom-hearts-3582-days-20080808022614000.jpg)(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/dakirbymaster/screen1.png)
[spoiler=Big Image/56K Warning](http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/61161020080806_102542_0_big.jpg)
As you can see, they are returning to the headshot-style from Chain of Memories. And the lower screen in battle shows basic info, such as map, mission info, area info, and target info. This is all that I know about this game. If you find any more info, please post it here. Next time, I'll preview Birth by Sleep, the PSP game. Until then, game on!
Sources: Famitsu (http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1212800_1407.html), GameKyo (http://gamekyo.com), IGN (http://media.ds.ign.com/media/964/964462/imgs_1.html), A lot of stuff from pages 25-27 of this topic (http://forum.rockmanpm.com/index.php?topic=72.625)