This month’s issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly features an article called “Nomura’s Heroes.” Within that article, EGM describes 358/2 days and Birth By Sleep:

358/2 DAYS REVIEW
Platform: Nintendo DS, Release: 2009

“An ambitious multiplayer take on Kingdom Hearts, the oddly named 358/2 Days wasn’t nearly impressive as Birth by Sleep. Square-Enix may simply be asking too much of the humble DS hardware, and lack of an analog controller hurts too. Worse, rather than making enemies clever and challenging for four players to take down, the developers simply bumped up their hit points. There’s hope for this one, but it definitely needs work.”

BIRTH BY SLEEP REVIEW
Platform: PSP Release: 2009

“The standout title at the DK£3713 event, Birth by Sleep brings the polish and craftsmanship of Final Fantasy VII:Crisis Core to the oddball Square/Disney fusion of Kingdom Hearts. Oddly enough, this side story doesn’t star Sora, Roxas, and the usual gang but rather a trio of unknowns named Terra, Aqua and Ventus. It still plays like the PS2, but the skill system seems to have been derived from Chain of Memories for GBA- which is a good thing.”

As you can see, EGM wasn’t very thrilled with 358/2 Days, however, Birth By Sleep does sound very promising.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t tell us as much as we would like to know about these two games. However, It’s a nice thing to see that American magazines are keeping their eyes one these games.

Thanks to KH Insder for this info!