The World Ends With You

[dinkdude]

(The japanese cover, called "It's a wonderful world")
When I first heard about this game, I couldn't wait for the next new Square Enix franchise. I was looking for a fun game to keep me occupied untill Starcraft 2 or any other game that might come out in the near future. What I got was WAY more than I payed for.

Story
While I don't want to ruin this amazing story (which is one of the game's best aspects), I can tell you this. You play as Neku, emo child abandoned my the world. He wakes up one morning with no recollection of his life, other than his name. After he gets a mysterious text message, and meets some really creepy guys in cloaks, he finds out that he's in over his head. After joining a girl named Shiki as his partner, he must complete each days missions for a week or face "erasure". Telling you anything more would be a diservice.


Gameplay
I'd have to say this is one of the most unique combat systems I have ever seen. On the bottom screen you play as Neku, who's attacks are in the form of spells that he casts using "pins". You can equip up to 3 (then 4, 5, eventually 6) pins at a time. Pins are activated by doing various things from tapping the screen and scratching the screen, to blowing on the mic. Meanwhile, on the top screen, you play as your partner. You use the arrow buttons (or letter buttons) to put in commands in a slight DDR fashion. If you get enough combos in the correct sequence, you can pull of a screen killing move. But if that all sounds too complex, you can always just let the computer control the top screen. If you find this too hard, you can also change you level. Higher health= lower drops, and vice versa. Theres also a lot you can do outside of battles. You can raise your stats by eating (which goes down in "bites" that you take after battles), collecting various items and pins, and shopping. I'd say this is one of the most hardcore shopping systems I've seen in a game. The more you buy from a certain shop, the higher the friendship increses between you and the store keeper. The higher that gets, the more abilities and items you can see. Clothes don't always do too much, and they usually can't make or break you, but they also have their place in the whacky scheme of things. In diffrent zones of the city, there are diffrent fashion styles. Wear clothes that are fashionable, and your stats will double. Wear clothes that are out of style, and you stats will half. Same goes for pins. Theres also tin pin, mingling, and openning a shop, but I'll leave all that a suprise for later.


Graphics
It all depends what you're into, but I like the graphics in The World Ends With You. The style is of a manga comic book. Except for the cutscenes, most of the game looks like your in a really well animated comic book. The graphics are somewhere between 2D and 3D, but if you walk too close to the screen, you can see they're real form. SPRITES!


Music
As with the graphics, it depends what your into. There is a large sountrack of about 30 something songs. They are mostly in the style of Japanese pop music. For the most part, i enjoy it, but occasionally I just turn off the sound. You can also buy all the songs in in-game shops so you can listen whenever you want.


Replayability
Very high. If you plan on getting all the pins and clothes, you have to change your difficulty and replay it. Luckily, that becomes easier after you've beaten the game. You can go back and play individual days. Each day, theres a secret item, pig noise, and a boss that you can go back and beat to get the secret report for the day, which tells you a little something going on behind the scenes of the story.

Overall
I loved this game. Fun battles, interesting story, nice graphics, and great concept. I completely recomends this to any fans of RPG's, fighting games, or anime. Go out and buy it. Now.

Rep is apprectiated

[FriedToad]

Great review.


DESTROY THE NON BELIEVERS!



but i have dibs on the onikiri pin when we do.

[taco31]

Good review. My friend has this game and says its the best on the DS and he spent like 2 weeks trying to get one cuz they were all sold out here.

[dinkdude]

Lol i went to 4 diffrent stores before I could find it. I seriously rummaged thru the whole mall to find it. totally worth it. o, and friedtoad. i got dibs on eden XD

[FriedToad]

A thousand curses apon thee!


do i get to have D+B earthquake, then?

[dinkdude]

lol go ahead, but i get tin pin bahummut