The
World Ends With You is a Japanese Role Playing Game released on the
Nintendo DS, and created by the very same team that created the well
know Kingdom Hearts series. So, just how is the KH team's first original
title? Can it compare to Kingdom Hearts, or is it just another one of
them JRPGs that will get lost in the sea. Well...
You have 7 days:
Neku
Sakuraba is your standard anti social 15 year old, who flat out just
doesn't "give a crap" about anyone but himself. He walks around with
head phones to block out the rest of the world, he doesn't care about
anyone's values except his own, and as far as he's concerned, everyone
else can just vanish and never come back. Neku truly doesn't care about
anyone else, and all he wants is to be left alone. "Out of my face!
You're blocking my view... Shut up!!! Stop talking... Just go the hell
away!!! All the world needs is me... I got my values, so you can keep
yours, all right?"
After going off on his little "all the world
needs is me" speech, Neku soon finds himself laying in the middle of the
Shibuya crossings with a strange black pin in his hand. How did he get
there? What is this black pin? Neku has no idea, but after tossing the
black pin in the air, the thoughts of the world rush into his mind, and
everything changes. A countdown timer appears Neku's hand, frogs appear
out of thin air, people around Neku scream as they vanish, and before he
knows it, Neku himself is under attack!
Not
knowing what else to do, Neku decides to run for his life, and
hopefully escape the crazy frog monsters that are chasing him; however,
he soon finds out that it is useless. At least, until Shiki came along!
After being told by a strange girl to make a pact with her, Neku finds
that all of the frogs have vanished, and he is once again "safe." Even
so, Neku still has no idea what is going on, and to make matters worse,
he now has this "annoying" Shiki girl yelling at him, telling him what
to do.
Although Neku doesn't want to believe it, he is dead, and
he is being forced to play what is known as the Reaper's Game. With his
"entry fee" to play the game being his memory, Neku truly has no idea
what is going on around him, and all he knows is that he must do
whatever he can to survive. He has 7 days to survive, and each day he
must complete a mission with the help of his partner, or else he will be
erased.
Soon,
what starts out as a "simple game" of fighting to survive evolves into
much more, and Neku finds himself at the center of it all. Just who is
in charge of this game? How did he die? What about the other players?
Just what is the deal with this Shiki girl? Neku will work his way to
getting to the bottom of all of these questions, while uncovering the
true nature of the Reaper's Game in the process. It's going to be a long
7 days.
F (for fabulous) everything:
The
World Ends With You is not your standard JRPG, and on top of that, it
has a very "pop" culture type setting. The game takes place in the
Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo, and because of that, fads are
EVERYTHING! Every single area in Shibuya has a fad chart, which actually
plays a major role in the game.
Every
piece of clothing, and every pin (which will be touched on a bit later
in this review) has a brand name, and different brand names are popular
in different areas of the city. By wearing different brands in popular
areas of the city, your stats will actually be boosted, and Neku will
preform much better in battle; however, if you wear hated brands in
different sections of the city, Neku's stats will take a major blow. By
wearing different brands of pins, and by battling with them in different
areas, you can actually influence which brands are popular, but
sometimes it may just be easier to change your clothing.
Clothing -
Like
armor in other JRPGs, the clothing system in TWEWY is basically your
standard equipment set up; however, there is still a bit more too it
than that. Besides the whole style system, each piece of clothing has
different effects depending on who wears them, and there's a "bravery"
system as well.
As you buy clothing from different shops, you can
actually become friends with the workers, and in return, unlock clothing
abilities. Sometimes these abilities are unlocked just by looking at a
piece of clothing in the actual shop, but other times shop owners will
actually like the clothing you have on, and that will unlock it's
ability. Like I said before, there are quite a lot of different
abilities out there, but not all of them actually work for every
character. Some may work only for Neku, some may only work for Shiki,
and others may only work for other partners. Although all pieces of
clothing add stats, it's sometimes best to just stick with what works
best for each character.
The bravery system is another major
feature when it comes to clothing, and it is also a system that can
really limit you for quite awhile. Depending on what a piece of clothing
looks like, just like in real life, each character has to have at least
some brave part in their body to even try it on. While simple/standard
clothing like a T shirt is something everyone is willing to wear, a
samurai outfit just is not. As you go through the game, and level up,
characters will become a bit more braver, which will allow them to put
on these different types of clothing, but until then, you're stuck with
playing it safe.
Food -
Another unique feature TWEWY brings
is the whole food system. Once again, TWEWY is one of them games that
tries to bring in the real world, and food is just another part of that.
By eating different types of food, you can actually easily increase
your characters stats, but there is a catch. Each piece of food takes so
many bytes to eat, and the more bytes you take of something, the longer
it takes for it to digest. Yep, you heard me, digest.
Every
single time you enter a battle, Neku or his partner will digest a piece
of the food they ate. Normally it'll only take 8 or so battles to
digest each piece of food, but larger "full" meals will actually take
much more time, and this can be quite the problem. Like in real life,
characters get full, and there's only so many times you can eat a day.
Although you can in fact eat food over and over again until you reach
the map, you are normally limited to eating only about 3 times a day,
and that's what keeps you from boosting your stats non stop. The game
does in fact keep track of what time it is in real life, and the food
system is just one of the ways it is put into use.
Shibuya Pop -
Like
I said earlier, Shibuya has the whole "cultural pop" deal going on, and
it is clear around every corner. People walk through the streets
talking about the latest fad, everyone has a great sense of style,
street art can be seen drawn on walls, and to top it all off, the game
has an amazing soundtrack!
Although near the start of the game
you'll only be hearing the same tracks, as time goes on many more open
up, and before you know it, you'll be singing along. The soundtrack is
mixed with Jpop (both in English and Japanese), and rap, and it just
flat out sounds great. Even if you're not a fan of the Jpop or rap
genre, I myself actually hate rap, you'll be shocked to find yourself
actually enjoying the game's soundtrack.
Everything about Shibuya
really does pop, and because of that, TWEWY has a truly unique style,
and one of the best video game settings you'll ever see; especially in a
JRPG!
Around Shibuya and fighting the Noise:
The gameplay in TWEWY is also another one of it's very unique features, that really helps set it apart from other JRPGs.
Shibuya -
At
the start of each day you'll find that Neku and his partner is at a
different section of Shibuya, and each day they will receive a different
mission on their cell phones from the Reapers. Although each mission
will state you are on a time limit, time in game actually only passes as
you see different story cutscenes. In other words, you can never run
out of time during a mission, and you are in fact free to explore
Shibuya and do whatever you want; however, once again, there is a catch.
Each
day different sections of Shibuya will be locked by invisible walls,
and the only way to open these walls is to talk to the Reapers guarding
them, and complete their missions. These missions can range from "bring
me food" to "clear out of all the noise in the area," but either way,
they normally end up being something simple. For the most part you will
be required to open these walls to gain access to different areas to
complete the mission, but from time to time you will come across extra
walls as well. While actually in the city, you can move Neku around the
map by either using the touch screen, D-Pad, or the face buttons, but in
battle Neku's movements are completely controlled by the touch screen.
Besides
actual navigation, the touch screen is also used for a number of other
things in the city as well. By tapping on the little "player in" icon at
the bottom right of the touch screen Neku can read the thoughts of the
people around him, and also battle the Noise which build up in the area.
Depending on how strong each noise cluster is, their icon will larger
or smaller, with special pig noises for side quests, and special blue
noises for extra bosses. The game never pulls you into random battles,
that are not story related at least, so by using Neku's scan ability,
you can freely pick when you fight, and when you don't. It really is a
nice system, and it really does help speed up the game.
From time
to time you'll also be able to talk to NPCs in Shibuya, but most of the
"standard talking" will actually come from reading peoples thoughts.
Since Neku is dead, and in what they call the "Underground," he can't
actually interact with the people around him. The only characters he can
actually talk to are Reapers, and players, with the people in the real
world mostly only interacting with each other.
Fighting Noise -
The
Battle System in The World Ends With you is one of them battle systems
you will either love or hate, and it takes multitasking to the extreme!
As I said before, you will actually control Neku on the bottom screen
with touch controls, but that is actually only half of the battle
system. Since both Neku and his partner battle in different dimensions
against the same enemies, both characters must be controlled at the same
time, both characters share the shame health, and both characters will
be attacking the same enemies at the same time. So just how does this
work? Well, with the top screen of course!
Neku's
partner is actually controlled with either the D-pad or face buttons
(depending if you're right or left handed), and all of their combat will
take place on the top screen, while you're also playing as Neku on the
bottom. By pressing left/right, as well as up and down, you can navigate
through different combo trees to preform different attacks with your
partner, but at the same time there's a "puck" and special attack system
you need to worry about as well.
At the end of each combo tree
there is an icon which has different effects based on who your partner
is. For example, while Shiki's combo trees lead to icons which you need
to match with the panels shown at the top of the screen, another
character's icons are actually cards that play out in a poker like
style. Either way, it doesn't matter which character you use, by playing
your combo trees right, you can unlock a special limit break attack,
which will freeze time, and cause both Neku and his partner to go full
out. It's a pretty deep system, but keep in mind that your partner is
only half of the battle system.
While you're going through combo
trees on the top screen as your partner, a puck will actually be passed
from your partner to Neku, and in return, it will power up Neku's
attacks. Every single time either Neku, or his partner, pulls off a
combo, this puck will be shot from screen to screen, and if you keep up a
nice rhythm, it's power will keep growing and growing. In the end, if
you can pull it off, both Neku and his partner will be fighting together
while keeping a set beat, and getting stronger and stronger with each
puck pass. Still, this is only a minor part of the larger battle system.
Still, if you're not a fan of the multitasking aspect of the game, you
can turn it off and let the computer take over for your partner.
The final aspect of the battle system is Neku himself, but Neku's battle system really isn't that simple...
Neku and the Pins -
Pins
are objects that play a major role in The World Ends With You, and
without them, Neku wouldn't even be able to attack! There are actually
HUNDREDS of pins in this game, and every single pin has its very own
use, and it's up to you to decide which type of pins you want to use.
Although
you can only hold six pins in your deck at a time, the pin system never
really seems limiting, and it is easily a system you will spend a LOT
of time with. Each pin has its own type of attack/ability attached to
it, and they also have a limited amount of uses in battle before they
must be recharged, but what makes these tins fun is how they are
actually used! Each pin requires a different input on the touch screen
to pull off, and because of that, battles can become quite hectic!
From
slashing across enemies to, well, slash them, to flicking them up in
the air to create ice spikes, to taping on the screen to warp to that
spot, to tapping on an enemy to shock them with electricity, to dragging
the stylus to create a path of fire, to drawing a circle around Neku to
bring up a shield, and so on; there are a lot of different types of
commands to go along with the hundreds of pins, and there are MANY
different combos you can pull off! Still, that isn't all!
There
are in fact many different types of pins, but these very same pins can
level up to become stronger, and even evolve into other pins by doing
different things! After each battle, Neku's pins will actually gain some
EXP of their own, and once that EXP hits max, they will level up;
however there's also different types of EXP, and different pins will
evolve from gaining different types of EXP. For example, while one pin
may actually evolve from battling with it, another pin may evolve by not
even playing the game at all! Yep, by using the real time clock, TWEWY
actually tracks how long you've kept your game offline, up to 7 days,
and reward your pins with PP based on that time. In other words, the
game actually rewards you for not playing as well!
Pins
really are a deep and advance system, and they can take quite a lot of
time to manage. Although you really don't start out with too many pins,
as you unlock more later on in the game the battle system evolves, and
it becomes one of the most addicting gameplay experiences out there! The
World Ends With You doesn't require grinding or anything, but with this
combat system, you might just want to fight.
EXP and Drop Rate -
The
final aspect of the battle system is actually the level up system and
drop rate. Just like in most JRPGs, Neku will level up as he fights
enemies and gains EXP, but leveling up isn't really used in the way you
might expect.
With each level up Neku's health actually grows, but
that's really it! Yep, you might as well just stick to eating food that
increases your health and not even worry about leveling, that is if you
don't care about getting drop rates! Unlike in most games, you can
actually change your level at any time in the game, and by doing so you
can increase the drop rate of rare items. For example, if your max level
is 49, but you have your level set to 1, you'll actually gain a times
49 drop rate making it easier to get them rare items!
Every single
enemy in the game has four different drops, one for each difficulty
(which also means you'll want to play on both easy and harder settings),
and thanks to the whole level up system and drop rate system, it's
actually much easier to get them rare drops. Sure you could play through
the entire game at max level, but you really aren't doing anything but
making the game easier.
You can also chain battles together to
increase the drop rate as well, but that option doesn't become unlocked
until later on in the game.
Tin Pin Slammer:
Tin
Pin Slammer is another gameplay mode which can be accessed pretty early
on into the game, and it basically just serves as an extra mini game as
well as an extra way to get EXP for your pins. Basically every single
pin in the game has "Tin Pin Stats" to go along with them, which
actually tell you how well they will preform in the game.
To play
Tin Pin Slammer, the rules are simple. Your pin is put in a battle arena
with other pins, you click and line up your pin with others, and then
release to launch them into the others, to hopefully knock them out of
the arena! Yep, that's all there is too it! Think of it as this games
version of one of them "battle top" games which were pretty popular in
the 90s and early 2000s.
Although
there are power ups that your pins can use, such as a spike ball and
hammer, to try and win, the main aspect of Tin Pin Slammer is in fact
slamming your pins into other pins, and hopefully knocking them off of
the arena before time runs out. It really is a pretty fun, and
addicting, mini game, but it's also a mini game that can be completely
passed up. Outside of a few story events, the only time you'll actually
play Tin Pin Slammer is if you actually go to the Tin Pin arena during
your free time.
The Day Ends With You:
Normally
I wouldn't bring this up in a video game review, but The World Ends
With You is, like always, special. Although you can actually beat the
game in about 15-20 hours, the game actually opens up much more once you
complete it! Besides an extra mini story mode being unlocked, alternate
missions/quests become open during the main game, and you can freely
replay any of the older chapters!
Although the extra stories, and
extra missions aren't actually required to complete the game, they do
greatly expand the game's length, and it gives you a reason to actually
replay it. Once you complete the game, it basically doubles in size, new
items and clothing are unlocked, you can still play Tin Pin Slammer,
and to top it all off, there's also the hundreds of pins to collect and
level up. Heck if you want to spend even more time with this game,
there's a lot of secret reports to unlock as well to help expand/improve
the game's story!
In short, if you truly wanted to beat this game, you're looking at at least one hundred plus hours of gameplay.
The Good and the Bad:
The
World Ends With You is unique (I'm pretty sure I've got that point
across by now), but because of that, there is a LOT of good and a LOT of
bad.
TWEWY is an amazing game, it has hundreds of hours worth of
content, the battle system is amazing, pin collecting and leveling is
crazy addictive, Tin Pin Slammer is a pretty nice mini game, the game's
unique pop style is VERY refreshing, the music is outstanding, the story
is great and filled with a lot of twists and turns, and the game does a
lot of other things most JRPGs are scared to even try. The World Ends
With You does its own thing, and because of that it easily stands out
above ALL of the other JRPGs out there. Still, this isn't always a good
thing.
If
you are looking for a standard JRPG with a standard level up system, a
standard battle system, a standard world map, with a generic story, and
all of them other standard features you've come to know and love, then
you'll be disappointed. The World Ends With You is NOTHING like the
others, and that may be it's down fall. If you're looking for something
new and unique, go for it, but if you're looking for the same old same
old, this isn't where you'll find it.
So in the end, like a long
dream, TWEWY is a satisfying game that will be calling you to play it!
It is a non stop rush hour that will have you imprinting people with
memories, slashing and slashing your way through enemies, getting
together with friends, and fighting for your freedom as you also try to
recover from amnesia! Sure at times you'll find Neku in despair, but the
underground is a unique fashionable world, and fighting them noisy
noise monsters will never get old! The game truly is unique with it's
fad and economical shopping system, and although it can be quite
challenging at times, you'll never be sad, or get that empty feeling,
when you get a game over.
In short, The World Ends With You is a
master piece of a game that will have you dancing in the streets, and
maybe someday, everyone will give this game all the love it deserves.
Sure not everyone will enjoy it, but it's still up to you to decide if
this game makes it or breaks it.
The World Ends With You gets a perfect
10/10!
It's so wonderful, a Wonderful world!