During Kingdom Hearts II's development, Tetsuya Nomura was approached by Square to create a game specifically for the Nintendo DS. He and his team got to talking about it and imagined a game that would use all of the DS's capabilities. Inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei series, they decided to make a game fueled by Japanese culture. After two years and a half in development, "The World Ends With You" was released to critical acclaim. It doesn't have many fans but the small fanbase is very passionate about it. Let's take a look:
The Story:
This game tells a modern Sci-Fi fantasy story of a boy born and raised in Shibuya named Neku who one day wakes up in the middle of a street with no memory of how he got there or who he even is. He notices that no one can see or hear him so he has to figure it out alone and gets attacked by monsters. He's forced to partner with a girl he meets in order to survive this mysterious world, and figure out what's going on and how to get back home. This game has an absolutely wonderful story. It explores various themes like overcoming your own internal fears and looking beyond the obvious to discover great stuff about the world. It's extremely well written and has surprisingly complex and compelling characters.
Overall it's a fantastic story with wonderful characters.
10/10
The Gameplay:
This game has a somewhat linear nature since you won't always be able to go anywhere in the city, but it's not like in games like FFXIII where you just walk in hallways. What helps in making the player care about saving Shibuya is an ability Neku has to read the thoughts of everybody in Shibuya. Through this mechanic, you get to learn about them, their dreams and ambitions, which compliments the story beautifully. Not since FFVI has Square made a game with story and gameplay complimenting each other so well. By the time this game was over i was incredibly happy i saved the city.
The game is divided in 3 chapters, each chronicling a week storywise. Each day of the week you get a specific mission that can vary from fighting a monster to solving a puzzle. You go through the city fighting monsters and the villain characters until the 3 weeks are over.
What really makes this game unique is the combat system. Combat takes full advantage of the DS's capabilities. Neku fights in the bottom screen and his partner fights in the top screen. The partner is controlled by the buttons and you take actions playing a card game mechanic. Some players might find overwhelming to do this while controlling Neku but the developers thought of that, as you can put the partner in Auto-Play so you can just focus on Neku. Neku is controlled via the touch screen using various offensive and defensive abilities that are executed by using the stylus in various ways like sliding it across the screen to burn monsters or blowing into the mic to create shockwaves.
The abilities you have during combat depend on which pins Neku has equipped which brings me to the development system.
Taking a cue from FFVII, Neku can equip various kinds of pins that you get from battles or shops. They work like the materia system. Each pin has a category and a specific combat ability that becomes usable when equipped. After each battle you get Pin Points which makes pins stronger and eventually makes them evolve into stronger versions. Combining different pins for different situations is key in getting through the game, as the battles can get pretty tough. The Pin system is great, as it allows for alot of customization which of course encourages the player to be strategic in the way he/she plays.
My only problem with the gameplay is again the tacked on minigame "Tin Pin Slammer". I just don't get why Square always feels the need to put these minigames that have nothing to do with the core gameplay of the game. It's basically a Beyblade ripoff except you use pins. It's not bad, but like Triple Triad and Tetra Master, it adds nothing to the game. Fortunately it's completely optional as you don't really need to win any matches to move through the story.
Despite that, the gameplay is excellent. It's unique, fast, strategic and customizable to the player's comfort level.
9.5/10
The Audio:
Because the game draws a lot from Japanese culture, the composer from Dissidia and the Compilation of FFVII Takeharu Ishimoto went for a JPop style. I'm not exactly a fan of this kind of music, but i have to admit, after listening to these tracks for hours they grew on me and i found myself bopping my head to the nice rhytm they have and singing along with the vocals. This OST is not for everyone, but it definitely matches the world and setting of the game. The voice acting, while minimal, is excellent, specially in the movie sequences. The actors do a fantastic job of breathing life into the characters.
8/10
The Graphics:
The visual presentation is absolutely phenomenal as expected from a Square Enix game. The artists used hand drawn sprite animations to get around the DS's limits and still create what is in my opinion the best looking game on the platform. At times it really feels like you're watching an anime. The world of this game is just brimming with life and character thanks to the amazing attention to detail of the artists. Speaking of the artists, Tetsuya Nomura is of course our character designer, and this time he's joined by Gen Kobayashi, who did character designs in remakes of older FF games. Their character and monster designs are fantastic and very creative.
10/10
Overall this is an excellent game with an amazing story, unique gameplay and wonderful presentation.
Final Grade: 9.3/10
