a game i'll never forget !! this game blew my mind !
Story:
The story is about a dead boy named Neku who found himself in the middle of his town,Shuybia and can hear people's thought and not only, he gets to see red monsters among people and they're making loud voice. In the end, he ends up with a partner who makes a pact with her and tells him that this is all a game and they have to win it and the story goes from here.
The concept of the story is very nice, but as you advance through it, you get lost sometimes. But besides all that, it is unique.
9.5/10
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Characters:
You'll be involved in 3 main characters and Neku is the 4th one. The rest of the characters are sub-characters from the story such as bosses, shopkeepers, reapers and a guy who supports you&your partner during the game.
Every main character has his own background or his reason why he's in the game and you'll discover them during playing the game.
The characters are really cute, they're so natural. They act like real teenagers. Sometimes they're emotional, sometimes they're angry.. etc it's all well done with the characters.
10/10
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Gameplay:
The gameplay is very very very unique and uses the Nintendo DS' technology. you have a phone as your main menu on the top right of the upper screen and a message "for the missions" on the top left, the same screen.
The menu has different things, you can customize your both characters with clothes "which is basically like armors in another word" and food "to increase ur attributes". While customizing Neku differs from his/her partner, you have something called PIN, these pins let you have certain abilities such as slashing enemy like a sword, or firing fireballs like guns or having a drink as a bottle to restore HP and etc. like that.
the controls aren't that difficult but it is in the beginning,but it gets easier then. You can move via the D-pad or the DS pen "only Neku" when you're doing missions or exploring areas.
Entering battles is very simple, you have a main pin which you can't remove, it lets you see the monsters and in order to get in a battle you just have to click/move the monster into Neku with your pen.
When fighting a battle, you can't control Neku without your pen. YOU MUST HAVE A PEN, "i lost mine during the last boss and i tried without it and he kicked my sorry ass T_T"
and with every pin has an ability, to use them you have use the pen in a certain way to perform an attach with the pin you wanna use. It's very hard at the beginning but you have your own pins, you won't be troubled by them.
Your partner can be set automatically or manually. Manually means you get to control him/her with the D-pad "the upper screen/ Neku the lower one".
The only thing that bothered me about the gameplay is missing the objects you touch, although you really touch it/them but it goes in another way.
9.5/10
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Graphics:
hands down!! for a DS. Very impressive. it uses the manga look and graphics are really beautiful. that's all i have to say about the graphics.. they aRE beautiful !
10/10
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Longevity&Replay Value: The game as a DS RPG, it's average, the main story takes you 30 hours, but with leveling up, purchasing every clothes and doing side quests " you can do the side quests when you beat the game" it'll take you more than 40 hours.
And when you beat the game, you can keep your Level, clothes, money, and pins.
there are so many things to do here after beating the game and they're worth re-playing it.
10/10
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Overall: 9.8/10 Gamespot: 10/10
Square Enix has really outdone itself with this one and i hope for a sequel!!
and remember! do not lose your DS pen!
have a good day!