This memorable RPG will blow you away with its wonderful characters, innovative gameplay, and alluring soundtrack.
The story follows protagonist Neku Sakabara as he plays through the Reaper's Game after his mysterious death. In all, it's similar to Battle Royale, except the players don't have to kill each other. That task is taken up by the Reapers, who also send out the tasks for Neku and the other players to complete each day. The players have to pair up to have any chance of surviving the Noise, the monsters of the game, often sent after the players by the Reapers. The large cast of characters is one of the best in any Square Enix game, and they're all very likable, especially after Neku develops during the middle third of the story and drops his emo attitude. There are some truly heart-felt moments throughout the plot, and epic moments spread out through the 12 or so hours of gameplay are made beautiful with the game's inspiring music. The stunning plot twists and intricate mysteries behind the Reaper's Game make TWEWY's story one of the best I've seen in a long time.
One of TWEWY's biggest achievements is its unique action and wonderful use of the DS's dual and touch screen. It takes a little while to get used to, but the fast-paced action is highly addicting and terrifically executed. On the top screen, the player controls Neku's current partner with the control pad, by pressing in the correct directions, combos and powerful attacks can be unleashed. The characters can also jump for different attacks and dodge enemy assaults as well. Matching up the character's attacks correctly can lead to punishing dual attack from both Neku and his partner. On the bottom screen, the player used the touch screen to control Neku. New pins are collected throughout the game, and these pins all contain different attacks that must be carried out in separate ways; some force you to draw a circle, or rapidly press the enemies, or press the pin's icon on the top of the touch-screen, or slash horizontally on the screen. There are some hiccups with the detection and sometimes certain pins have a hard time working, but it's in no way a crippling problem. Regular battles usually start when you scan (that is, click an icon on the touch-screen that puts you into a view that can see Noise), and then press Noise that are floating around on-screen. After a while, you can click up to four Noise at once to partake in a "chain battle" which gives you more experience and better items. Level grinding isn't needed very much, but the action is so fun that you'll find yourself doing it anyway. Most Noise aren't that tough, even near the end of the game, and as long as you have good pins, the bosses shouldn't be too difficult, especially with the option to change difficulty from easy to hard at will. The game ends with a large and satisfying final boss battle.
Along with the difficulty, your own level can be brought down any time you please. Fighting battles with a lower level rewards the players with more rare items and knocks the challenge up a bit. This is especially helpful after you finish the game and start all of the missions for your new game +. In that, bosses can be clicked on the screen when you're ready and you must defeat them at hard. It adds a great challenge for after the game, though getting to the fights can be tedious since you've already seen all of the cut-scenes by this point. Honestly, after completing the game once, it's not nearly as fun to try and do the missions during the new game +. But of course, after loading up on money from selling Noise drops, you can buy Neku and his partners up to four pieces of equipment each. The best clothing costs a lot of money, but the massive stat upgrades are a great help for boss fights during and after you complete the game. There's also a "brand system". That is, pins and clothing you wear get increases and decreases based on how popular they are in the area you are in. Fighting with certain brands on will increase the popularity of that brand in that area, and lead to stronger attack and defense. Food can also be bought at stores and each character can eat one serving at a time. Depending on how good each morsel is, they take a certain amount of battles to digest, and then give a stat bonus. There's also a fun mini-game to be played called Tin Pin Slammer, in which you must use your pins (each one has different stats for the mini-game) and knock your opponent's out of the ring. This can also be done against friends in real life, along with trading items.
TWEWY uses an anime-style look for the characters and backgrounds. It really looks good on the DS, and the punk-looking characters fit right in with the game's theme. The game looks vibrant in and out of battle, with great cut-scenes and pretty-looking attacks while fighting. The streets of Shibuya are loaded with people walking around, though obviously they're not really doing much. Still, the game suffers no slow-down except a little during the final boss, and, considering how loaded the cartridge is with music and how hectic the fighting can be, that's quite an accomplishment in itself.
The soundtrack in TWEWY is second to none. Loaded with rock, hip-hop, pop, and other tunes, every moment of the game is fun to listen to, and don't expect the tunes to leave your head anytime soon after playing. Songs can also be purchased in shops, and the sheer amount of music that was loaded into the DS cartridge is incredible. The DS simply has no other game to match TWEWY's soundtrack, and honestly, few current-gen console games can even compare. The music perfect matches the game's theme and environments, the sound effects are solid, the voice-acting (when presented) is surprisingly good, and the music moves into purely epic waters during the heart-touching and revealing parts of the storyline. As interesting as the story is regardless, the music really pushes it forward in its own fantastic way.
TWEWY's outstanding soundtrack, top-notch presentation, awesome gameplay that perfectly utilizes the DS's capabilities, heart-touching story, and lovable characters combine to make one of the greatest JRPGs in recent memory. Every DS owner with the slightest interest in anime or RPGs has to pick this up on the double. The beautiful soundtrack alone is worth the money; it's that good. There might be a lack of some replay value, but that's really just nitpicking when looking at The World Ends With You as a whole. It's about as flawless as a DS game can be, and it's one of the most exciting, thought-driven games that I've had the pleasure of playing. Don't make the mistake of missing out on this adventure.