"A hard game to ask for by name."

Kingdom Hearts is a series that is starting to have more “side stories” than numbered games. The latest entry, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, takes place after an event that happened most of the way through the first game and spans all the way up until Kingdom Hearts 2 begins (with Chain of memories taking place in parallel). But enough about time-lines.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days tells the story of Roxas and his time spent in Organization XII. Following a popular trend, the intro takes place in the middle of the game before starting at Roxas’ beginnings. However, I’m not entirely sure why this was done since unlike other examples of this technique, the glimpse into the future was completely uninteresting.

"You'll see these three eat ice cream many more times than you want to."

As a member of Organization XIII, Roxas must complete missions to support their cause. Each mission you take on will progress the game by one day until you get to the magic number, 358. But that isn’t to say there are 358 missions. There are a few time lapses throughout. Also, not all missions are required in order to progress the game’s story.

Battles are not card based, nor do they use any other odd gimmick. If you’ve played either of the numbered entries, 358/2 Days is going to feel very natural to you. In fact, I was very impressed at just how well they were able to translate the 3D action RPG gameplay of the series into a handheld with no control sticks and less buttons.

What makes the core battle mechanics of 358/2 Days unique is the panel system. This is a grid of squares where all of your abilities will be equipped. As you progress through the game, you will unlock more panel slots which will allow you to equip even more abilities. Usable items, equipable items, individual casts of magic, new moves, and even experience levels all must be put in the panel system to take effect.

"The panel system feels very fresh and enjoyable."

Some panels take up more than one slot and can even have additional panels link inside them to enhance their effect. Inversely, some large panels are enhancements themselves, doubling or even quadrupling the effect of the panels placed inside them. For example, if you equip two “Fire” panels, you can cast a fire spell twice before needing to use an ether. But if those two “Fire” panels are within a “Doublecast” panel, you will be able to perform four spells. The panel system allows for a lot of customization to suit your play style and it is very satisfying to use. It is, by far, my favorite aspect of the game.

Unfortunately, the panel system was more exciting than the actual missions I was to use it in. While there are a number of different mission types, you won’t be visiting any worlds you haven’t already seen in previous games. Combine that with the fact that you’ll be revisiting a very small number of worlds over and over again and things start to get repetitive. Fortunately, blocked areas force missions to take place in different areas of this world, but it still can’t shake all of the monotony.

The game feels like it was geared more toward multiplayer than singleplayer. The story moves at a snail’s pace, and even when you’ve unlocked all its mysteries feels completely unnecessary. Chain of Memories was a much needed bridge to the story between the first two games in the series, but 358/2 Days really adds nothing to the over arching lore of the series as a whole and with the exception of a few key moments, is largely uninteresting.

"Controlling the other members of Organization XIII is much more fun than playing as Roxas."

While the story mode forces you to play as Roxas, the mission mode (both in singleplayer and multiplayer varieties) allows you to control any member of Organization XIII as well as a few unlockable characters. Even when playing alone, the ability to switch to different characters gave the game a much needed sense of variety that the story mode so sorely needed. Each of the Organization members has a unique flow to their attacks as well as different strengths and weaknesses. Had story mode allowed you to switch characters, it would have been a much better solo experience.

Back on a positive note, 358/2 Days has some of the best 3D graphics I’ve ever seen on the DS platform. They did not resort to using super deformed proportions as seen in the Final Fantasy remakes. Models have a very reasonable amount of detail, and everything is fluidly animated. It’s just a shame we’ve already seen these worlds with higher poly-counts in times past.

If you’re looking for an epic RPG with a good story, I would not recommend Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. However, if you’re looking for an action RPG that you can play in very short bursts either by yourself or with up to three friends, it will probably satisfy you with more polish than Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

On a very special fortieth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Krishna Sadasivam from PC Weenies stops by to class up the joint. Krishna tells us about his history as a gamer, a cartoonist, and a family man.

We reminisce about the early days of gaming in both the intro and in our look back at DuckTales for the NES in honor of last week’s Friday Old Games. We also talk about the latest games that we’ve been playing, like Dragon Age: Origins and Uncharted 2.

In the news, Jesse shares with us some samples of the upcoming Mega Man Battle Network Remix Project. We also talk about the extended edition of Resident Evil 5, our expectations for Project Natal, Final Fantasy XIII finally getting a date, and much more.

At the end of the show, we pick the winner of our Nostalgia giveaway, so stay tuned for that!

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

The PC Weenies

Uncubed: The Life and Times of an Indian Guy Named Krishna

Mega Man Battle Network Remix Project

On a very special thirty-ninth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we use our imaginations to transport to new and exciting worlds with the cast of Metal Gear Solid. We all learned a valuable lesson, that if you just close your eyes and make believe, you can be anywhere!

This week we’ve been playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days & RE: Chain, Nostalgia, DJ Hero, Torchlight and the Valkyria CHronicles 2 Japanese Demo. For Friday Old Games, Jesse brings us up to speed on Bio-Miracle Bokutte Upa, a game most of us have never seen or heard of.

In the news, we talk about the new albums from Overclocked ReMix, the possibility of a 3G enabled DSi, the unofficial teaser for Alice 2, and much more.

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned

Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed

Jonah’s NaNoWriMo Profile

Motion Plus in Wii Zelda

"This party's over!"

On a very special episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Mickey is here to kick ass and take names… and he’s all out of names! It’s up to the WingDamage crew to save the day once again.

There are a few technical difficulties this week as we tried a new technique for recording. As it turns out, one of us breathes REALLY loud (it’s up to you to guess which one) and Jesse is recording from another dimension (impressive!).

I am really sorry to not have time to write my usual description, but I am already behind on my book for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), so here is the quick and dirty breakdown of what is in this week’s show:

“What We’ve Been Playing” consists of Nostalgia, Torchlight, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, DJ Hero & Nick Chase: A Detective Story. We also talk about Paperboy in our “Friday Old Games” section.

Then there is the usual news of the week, where we talk about the DSi XL, Netflix on PS3 and much more!

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Jonah’s NaNoWriMo Profile

Excite Bike World Rally

DSi XL

On a very special thirty-fifth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast, we are once again joined by our good friend WeJo, who is apparently calling the show from space. Brittany also returns to tell us about her new obsession, De Blob, in our “What We’ve Been Playing” segment.

Here we also talk about Mario Galaxy, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, World of Goo and more. Later in “Let’s Play Together”, some co-op Words With Friends and Battletoads and Double Dragon have been played by various members of the show.

In the news, Jesse and Jonah do a dramatic reenactment of the 3D Dot Heroes FAQ that was recently released. We also discuss the recently re-announced Epic Mickey and the sure to be craptastic King of Fighters film that just released its behind the scenes trailer.

All this, the announcement of our PAX Pack #3 contest winner, and a whole lot more on this week’s episode of Barrel Roll. Join us, won’t you?

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps
3D Dot Heroes FAQ
Epic Mickey
King of Fighters Trailer

"Quick, Sora! Summon Simba! He's good with numbers!"

On a very special thirty-forth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we are joined by one of the newest WingDamage contributors, Nathan Thunder. Together with the Gregory brothers (not those ones), he discusses how easy it is to spend way too much on iPhone games. Sure they’re only $1 each, but after 4GB of downloads, it starts to add up.

In our talks of what we’ve been playing, Jonah has finished not one, but two games! Giving his PS3 a workout, he has finished both Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and is here to tell you why these exclusives to Sony’s gamebox are still must-plays. Jesse has been keeping busy with the Square-Disnix’s latest in their crossover franchise, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and also checking out the new DSiWare JRPG/Chess-ish hybrid title Dragon Quest Wars.

In “Let’s Play Together”, Nathan and Jonah walk us through the swearsploitation, cursestravaganza that is House of the Dead: Overkill; where it’s not enough to shoot zombies in the face, you have to tell them to eff off first.

While it was a bit of a slow news week, there were a few stories that have the internet’s collective Nerd Rage in full effect. This starts because of the recently announced Super Street Fighter IV and is further fueled by the latest details on Nintendo’s Demo Play. On a more pleasant note, we talk about how much we all want 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Then we talk about stuff in our appropriately titled “Let’s Talk About Stuff” segment. This week’s topic is anticipated games of Q4 2009. This goes hand in hand with the series of articles we’ve been posting over the last few days. You can read more by following the tag. You can even read along at home.

You know kids, reading opens a whole new world of knowledge. Just ask Run DMC.

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps
ARMCANNON – Rygar Medley (Song in the Middle of the episode)
Nostalgia trailer
Crystal Bearers Trailer
Bullet Hell Video