My first game review, I'd love to hear criticisms so I know what I should change next time.
My DS is very new, only a few weeks old. It still has its glossy finish and all of the manuals are sitting intact on my desk. I purchased it with the greatest of expectations, searching for my new high in what seems to be a bit of a doldrums of gaming. The summer season rarely see's massive releases, thus I often look back in late April and early May. This time I was lucky enough to have a rather large backlog of DS games on the table. Game I have missed in my years of existing outside the handheld world. The first game that came to mind was one I had heard good things about from various podcasts, reviews and friends. That game was The World Ends With You.
You play as Neku, a young, sequestered individual who seems too loath being around people. You wake up on the streets of Shibuya after a short opening cinematic with no memories, a fairly common JRP start-up in a fairly uncommon setting. Initially there seems to be nothing strange about the world until Neku discovers a black "Player Pin" which allows him to sense the thoughts of those around him. It also attracts some unwanted monsters, and Neku quickly finds himself running.
After a very appropriately placed tutorial on how to escape from battle, Neku encounters Shiki, a pink haired, fashionable little girl who abruptly shouts for him to form a "Pact" with her. Neku, horribly confused, accepts, and the two of them team up to fight off the coming monsters. After battling alongside your new ally and another combat tutorial you learn that you are part of something called the "Reapers Game" which spans seven days. Each day provides a different mission and if the mission is not completed, all of the players in that week's game are "Erased". Anyone who wins the game and survives all seven days can leave alive, the rest are wiped out.
The World Ends With You features an interesting cast of characters, everything from Neku, the silent, individualist, to a number-crunching reaper who spews mathematical formula with every sentence. All of these characters exist in an strong storyline that highlights Death, Redemption and the Perspectives on life an how to live it.
As far as game play goes, The World Ends with You has a very interesting setup. Combat is fought with both the bottom and top screens. You control both Neku and his partner at the time (It changes as the game goes on). Both of whom share one health bar and fight independently of each-other, Apparently fighting the "Noise" as the monsters in this game are called, in two different dimensions at once. A single noise monster exists on both the top, and bottom screens, and share a health bar. Damaging the same noise on the top screen will damage it on the bottom screen and vise-versa.
Neku is controlled on the bottom screen, and utilizes pins which contain abilities called Psyches. These Psyches come in all kinds from simple slash attacks, to power attacks, to magic abilities like summoning massive icicles and calling down meteors. He is controlled with the stylus and even occasionally with the microphone. Psyches have different actions, some just ask you to tap the bottom screen, others ask you to slash enemies, and even draw shapes.
The top screen is where you control your partner. They are controlled by the D-Pad or A, B, X and Y buttons and fight through combo trees which are usually a combination of various buttons. The top screen player also determines when you can use your "Fusion Attacks", a coordinated strike between both Neku and his current partner that strikes everyone, and deals a rather generous amount of damage. Each partner Neku encounters through the game plays slightly differently in the way they attack and the way they prepare fusion attacks. It adds a bit of variety to your combat, but can sometimes be a pain when you need to execute a long combo before a certain grey shirt wearing ally will attack. Your partner can also dodge or jump to avoid attacks from noise on the top screen, which but for the most part, remain stationary. The AI will often forget it can avoid attacks though, thus why you will want to work on your ability to manage both of your characters during one of the game's heated and exiting boss battles.
This control scheme may seem a bit hectic at first, controlling both Neku with the stylus and his partner with the D-Pad. Looking and trying to focus on both of your characters can make for a chaotic, and incredibly enjoyable combat system. But if you can't take it, you can always let the AI take over control of your partner. This can be useful at times, but don't rely on it, as the AI will often sit quietly while it is being beaten into the ground by a boss.
Another important mechanic in the game are Trends. There are a number of brands of clothing and pins that you can purchase. Clothing or "Threads" taking the place of your usual armour, are all tied to various brand names. Wearing certain brand names will grant a bonus to your pins of that brand's damage if that brand is popular in your area of the city. Inversely, should it be unpopular, your pins of that brand will have their damage or abilities reduced. You can manipulate trends by fighting wearing certain brands. The more you fight while wearing clothes of a single brand, the more popular that brand becomes. Thus why it is wise to fight few random battles in an area where you know you will need to face a tough enemy or boss.
The game has some interesting graphics, and while the characters themselves are often pretty commonplace Anime styled, both the environments, and more-so the Noise, have a very unique look. Most of the enemies almost look like Tattoos, having parts of their body appearing as tribal art. This creates a unique creature out of what were often common animals. The Environments have a very stylized urban look to them. Though there isn't much variety in locations, being the entire game takes place in what seems like about twenty city blocks of the Shibuya district, the art style does what it can to create very slightly varied environments, but unfortunately you will see a lot of city streets, and a lot of buildings. There is also a lot of retreading, making these same-y environments grate after a while.
The World Ends with You is a game with an interesting story, and takes a usual fantastical genre and places it in an everyday setting. It manages to maintain an epic feel and a rather enclosed space. It has its drawbacks, such as the combat being easy to learn, but difficult to master, and the environments being rather same-y, with a good amount of retreading. But despite this, this has to be one of the most enjoyable games to come out of Square-Enix in a long time.
Bottom Line: It may be slightly flawed, but The World Ends with You delivers a great story, blended with one of the best combat systems I have ever seen in a JRPG. Despite its few flaws, the game is an instant classic for those who enjoy the genre.
Verdict: If you are looking for an enjoyable JRPG, I recommend that you buy The World Ends with You. If you are just looking for a fun experience with a strong storyline to back it up I strongly suggest at least renting it.
My DS is very new, only a few weeks old. It still has its glossy finish and all of the manuals are sitting intact on my desk. I purchased it with the greatest of expectations, searching for my new high in what seems to be a bit of a doldrums of gaming. The summer season rarely see's massive releases, thus I often look back in late April and early May. This time I was lucky enough to have a rather large backlog of DS games on the table. Game I have missed in my years of existing outside the handheld world. The first game that came to mind was one I had heard good things about from various podcasts, reviews and friends. That game was The World Ends With You.
You play as Neku, a young, sequestered individual who seems too loath being around people. You wake up on the streets of Shibuya after a short opening cinematic with no memories, a fairly common JRP start-up in a fairly uncommon setting. Initially there seems to be nothing strange about the world until Neku discovers a black "Player Pin" which allows him to sense the thoughts of those around him. It also attracts some unwanted monsters, and Neku quickly finds himself running.
After a very appropriately placed tutorial on how to escape from battle, Neku encounters Shiki, a pink haired, fashionable little girl who abruptly shouts for him to form a "Pact" with her. Neku, horribly confused, accepts, and the two of them team up to fight off the coming monsters. After battling alongside your new ally and another combat tutorial you learn that you are part of something called the "Reapers Game" which spans seven days. Each day provides a different mission and if the mission is not completed, all of the players in that week's game are "Erased". Anyone who wins the game and survives all seven days can leave alive, the rest are wiped out.
The World Ends With You features an interesting cast of characters, everything from Neku, the silent, individualist, to a number-crunching reaper who spews mathematical formula with every sentence. All of these characters exist in an strong storyline that highlights Death, Redemption and the Perspectives on life an how to live it.
As far as game play goes, The World Ends with You has a very interesting setup. Combat is fought with both the bottom and top screens. You control both Neku and his partner at the time (It changes as the game goes on). Both of whom share one health bar and fight independently of each-other, Apparently fighting the "Noise" as the monsters in this game are called, in two different dimensions at once. A single noise monster exists on both the top, and bottom screens, and share a health bar. Damaging the same noise on the top screen will damage it on the bottom screen and vise-versa.
Neku is controlled on the bottom screen, and utilizes pins which contain abilities called Psyches. These Psyches come in all kinds from simple slash attacks, to power attacks, to magic abilities like summoning massive icicles and calling down meteors. He is controlled with the stylus and even occasionally with the microphone. Psyches have different actions, some just ask you to tap the bottom screen, others ask you to slash enemies, and even draw shapes.
This control scheme may seem a bit hectic at first, controlling both Neku with the stylus and his partner with the D-Pad. Looking and trying to focus on both of your characters can make for a chaotic, and incredibly enjoyable combat system. But if you can't take it, you can always let the AI take over control of your partner. This can be useful at times, but don't rely on it, as the AI will often sit quietly while it is being beaten into the ground by a boss.
Another important mechanic in the game are Trends. There are a number of brands of clothing and pins that you can purchase. Clothing or "Threads" taking the place of your usual armour, are all tied to various brand names. Wearing certain brand names will grant a bonus to your pins of that brand's damage if that brand is popular in your area of the city. Inversely, should it be unpopular, your pins of that brand will have their damage or abilities reduced. You can manipulate trends by fighting wearing certain brands. The more you fight while wearing clothes of a single brand, the more popular that brand becomes. Thus why it is wise to fight few random battles in an area where you know you will need to face a tough enemy or boss.
The game has some interesting graphics, and while the characters themselves are often pretty commonplace Anime styled, both the environments, and more-so the Noise, have a very unique look. Most of the enemies almost look like Tattoos, having parts of their body appearing as tribal art. This creates a unique creature out of what were often common animals. The Environments have a very stylized urban look to them. Though there isn't much variety in locations, being the entire game takes place in what seems like about twenty city blocks of the Shibuya district, the art style does what it can to create very slightly varied environments, but unfortunately you will see a lot of city streets, and a lot of buildings. There is also a lot of retreading, making these same-y environments grate after a while.
The World Ends with You is a game with an interesting story, and takes a usual fantastical genre and places it in an everyday setting. It manages to maintain an epic feel and a rather enclosed space. It has its drawbacks, such as the combat being easy to learn, but difficult to master, and the environments being rather same-y, with a good amount of retreading. But despite this, this has to be one of the most enjoyable games to come out of Square-Enix in a long time.
Bottom Line: It may be slightly flawed, but The World Ends with You delivers a great story, blended with one of the best combat systems I have ever seen in a JRPG. Despite its few flaws, the game is an instant classic for those who enjoy the genre.
Verdict: If you are looking for an enjoyable JRPG, I recommend that you buy The World Ends with You. If you are just looking for a fun experience with a strong storyline to back it up I strongly suggest at least renting it.
