The World Ends With You

Set in the trendy Shibuya district of Tokyo, The World Ends With You is as frenetic and fast-paced as the city that it takes place in. But don't let the break-neck pace of the game fool you: World Ends is a worthy addition to Square-Enix's impressive portfolio of titles and it has enough to please even die-hard traditionalists.

ADHD to the Max

In World Ends, you play as Neku, a typical angsty teen who wakes up in the middle of a crowded Shibuya intersection with nothing but a few pin badges in his pocket and the ability to hear other people's thoughts. Before Neku can get his bearings, he finds himself partnered up with a girl named Shiki and battling his way through a mysterious game run by "Reapers." The story is somewhat typical RPG fare but thankfully, the game's battle system helps set it apart.

Dubbed the "Stride Cross Battle System", it employs both halves of the DS screen during battle. You control Neku on the bottom screen while simultaneously controlling a partner character on the top screen. While you're swiping and tapping away at the bottom screen, you must input arrow commands with the D-pad for the top screen. It's a pretty daunting task at first but if you can wrap your head around it, the system adds tremendous depth to the gameplay even if the system isn't perfect-the touchscreen can be a bit flaky and in the midst of your stylus-mashing, you will sometimes fire off the wrong attack.

Death Becomes You

There's also plenty of depth inherent in the rest of the game. In true Square Enix fashion, there are a myriad of things to collect, purchase and level up, from pins to clothing and food items. There's a quirky trend system that dictates your battle stats according to fashion. Clothes and pins are branded with logos and if you're caught wearing the wrong one, your battle stats will take a hit. This could have degenerated into a never-ending equipment swap as almost every area has a different popular brand, but you can actually affect trends by wearing certain pins and fighting battles, and can add a bit of strategy to the way you play and what you wear.

World's End is also fast, not only in combat but in plot development and game flow. Mission days are short, and any intermediary quests can be completed quickly, but for those looking to pump more time into the game, there are scores of enemies to battle, item drops to discover and badges to level up. You also have complete control over the game's difficulty setting, meaning you'll never really have to take time out to level up to advance-though there are perks if you do challenge yourself. In fact, you still gain pin exp for the time your DS is switched off.

Life Is Short

The briskly moving plot and the unique battle system adds up to yet another winner for Square-Enix. Tetsuya Nomura's trademark character designs work well with the game's urban concept and the quick pace keeps you engaged while the J-Pop music provides a nice backdrop. Though the many of the nods to real-life specifics of Shibuya will be lost on American gamers, the creativity, depth and unusual battle system will shine through no matter what.

PROS: Features a ton of content and things to do. Nomura's art style and the music work together well.
CONS: The battle system is overwhelming at first. Stylus input isn't particularly precise.

Comments [19]

post a comment

Wired22

wow, you're an idiot it's got 2 things working for it 1 it's made be sqare enix2 It successfully realizes the power of the 2 screens. You are a sony fanboy who his overcome with the fanboyism that you can't see that the company that made on of the playstations best games can make a good game for another platform.

knossos

WIRED22 TALK BAAAAAADDDDDD!!!!!!! HAHA LOL YEA THIS GAME LOOKS GOOD BUT VERY CHAOTIC

Cruxis

The game definitively shines with it's excellent style and very upbeat pop music. I will agree that the controls are a bit hard to get used to, and the trend system is pretty much a bore. I still have my partner on auto just because it gets really hard for me to manage two battles at once (I spend more time trying to survive with just one hero than I have to coddle two of them). All in all, an extremely addictive game that I'm having a tough time putting down. If you were or are a fan of Final Fantasy-esque games or Kingdom Hearts, I would highly suggest you give this one a try.

TheHunter182

This is one of the most amazing games I have ever played. It's very hard to get used to and play battles in, at first-but after a day or two, what was once so odd becomes second nature and you're chaining combos and doing fusion attacks like nothing. The story is also great, unexpected too. I agree though-the stylus can *sometimes* be a little wonky, but all in all, awesome game.

Post a Comment