Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Drifting away from their usual RPG roots, Square Enix decided to create something entirely fresh and unique for the DS in the form of The Worlds Ends With You. Sure, the game headlines a morbid title, but the game, surprisingly, isn’t quite that dark. While most Square Enix titles take place in the distant future in fantasy worlds, The World Ends With You takes place in modern day Tokyo. Players will venture forth through the Shibuya region, the fashion district of Tokyo, and this plays a huge role within the game itself but we’ll get to that in a bit. The World Ends With You puts you in control of the young emo-esque Neku, whom believes he is the superior human on the planet and that other people will only hinder his progress. Unfortunately, things change for the worse for our depressed friend when he receives a message on his cell phone stating: Clear this Mission…..or face erasure. Upon receiving the message, Neku is thrust into a life-or-death Game. After being thrown into the Game by the Reapers — a mysterious organization that controls the Game — Neku must make the choice of opening up to others…or get killed.
What’s Hot
If you like the style of the Kingdom Hearts universe then you’ll love the world of Shibuya. The character animation style and actions are very reminiscent of the style in Kingdom Hearts, minus the Disney influence. Each character has to complete the Game in 7 days or else they are erased. To hinder your progress in the Game are the Reapers and their minions known as the Noise — think of the Reapers as Organization 13 from Kingdom Hearts and the Noise as the Heartless. The main questions asked throughout the game are: why are the characters in the Game, and what happens when the 7 days are over? Again, very Kingdom Hearts-esque.
The World Ends With You features many unique characteristics surrounding its gameplay department. What standouts the most is its highly unique battle system. Gone are traditional weapons and armor; welcome the use of pins and stylish shirts. As you progress in the game you’ll run across a variety of different pins, each with their own unique characteristics. Some pins will be used for money, while others will be used as an attack. The pin system is quite intimidating at first but works remarkably well in the end. The different name brand shirts offer unique power-ups and stat upgrades like you would expect from traditional armor in regular RPGs. Essentially, clothing serves the exact same purpose as armor but this time relates to the modern era.
Unlike any game out there, players will control two characters at the same time via the top and bottom screens on the DS. The bottom screen is strictly controlled by the touchscreen, whereas the top-screen is controlled using either the face buttons or D-pad. This may sound like a lot to handle initially but fret not because the game handles this well. The touchscreen is handled by performing the necessary swipe or slash with the stylus to activate the pins attack power, while the D-pad controls like a rhythm based game where arrows lead to the best button presses for attacks. Doing these two separately is a lot easier than together but, thankfully, the game does have a feature that allows the computer to take control of the top screen automatically if you don’t feel like you can handle both simultaneously. It might sound like a workout to some, so be thankful that the game doesn’t feature any random battles. Instead, there is a scanning system, which allows you to scan the area for Noise and you then tap on them to engage in battle with.
Now aside from the gameplay and battle system, The World Ends With You features a remarkable voice-cast and music. With a number of upbeat Japanese pop and rock songs, The World Ends With You captures the teenage youth of Japan experience, but, at the same time doesn’t over do it to frighten those of us who aren’t fans of J-Pop or J-Rock. The tracks fit the style of the game and are really nice to listen to during gameplay sessions.
What’s Not
Sadly, the game does feature a couple minor flaws. The gameplay is very intimidating at first glance, which will be enough to scare off some gamers. Some of the options found within the game consist of lowering your characters’ level in order to gain better items during battles. Now, this feature isn’t a negative side effect; however, for some it may seem like a harsh element and will fundamentally turn you away from pursuing further in the game. Along with the dual screen battle system and pin system, the game can appear to be a lot deeper than it truly is.
I was very surprised to discover that the game only supports one save file. This isn’t a major flaw against the game itself, but it is disappointing. The World Ends With You is a very unique game that should be enjoyed by as many as possible, but that doesn’t mean it should limit you to only one save per cartridge. I can’t condemn the game due to this feature, because Nintendo has also done it with all the handheld Pokemon titles.
Final Word
The World Ends With You is a very unique and stylish RPG that all DS users should try out, at the very least. With a very unique and fun battle system, upbeat Japanese pop and rock music, The World Ends With You is incredibly stylish and is a treat for handheld owners to try. Be forewarned: initially the game may scare you with all the mumbo-jumbo it talks about, but press on and you’ll find the game isn’t as deep as it tries to make itself out to be. All in all, if this is how the world is going to end, then at least we’ll go out with some style.
