A very fresh and rewarding action RPG, that breaks the mold in many ways.
The World Ends With You does that, and does it well. Starting off you play as a teen aged boy named Neku, i'll start off right the bat. Neku at first seemed like a Squall Leonhart rip off. With his loner attitude, and how his style seemed reminiscent of Sora from Kingdom Hearts. At first, to tell the truth, I did not like him.
Then as the game progresses, I began to really like him. He had a huge character growth and development that alot of protagonists lack. It was nice, and in time, I really liked him, and was glad he was the lead. He became rather deep at times, and was just a great character over all. You have a limited cast, but each character is well fleshed out and done. You should like each character, a rarity, but they obviously did quality instead of quantity.
The story is quite gripping and in most respects, one of the best plot lines in a RPG in years. I rank it up there with Final Fantasy VII and X's. It truly does start very interesting at the start, and grips the player the entire way through, with many genuine plot twists, that I just did not see coming. It feels a bit like The Matrix, but that's a good thing, for it has it's own fresh on originality too.
The gameplay is quite addicting. It's an action RPG. Yet it is built so you use both screens in combat. It may sound confusing, and it took me half way to truly get it, but once you get past the learning curve, it is a blast in all respects. It's challenging, fun and flashy. It has many difficulty modes to.
I played it on normal, which was easy for the first half, but in the second half got harder. Also more difficulty modes appear in the game, and with a feature that when you beat it, to allow you to go back to any chapter, is rewarding. It gives it a serious replay value. It even features some of the most cool boss fights i've experienced.
Battles are not random, you can fight whenever you want, which is a good feature, and the combat is very entertaining that, you will want to seek out fights. If it has one complaint, it is though that there just is not enough environments. You just explore one city, that's it. Most of the game you go to the same locations. It feels like missed opportunity.
The graphics are nicely done, hand drawn with detailed sprites. It goes to show that 2D games can and still look good on the DS. I am infact glad at the art style, rather than it being 3D [which the DS isn't that good with.] and everything is nicely detailed, and animated. The graphics feel a bit like Chrono Trigger meets Kingdom Hearts in a way, which may sound odd, but they work, well.
The sound is pretty good. There are a few bad tracks, but for the most part, the J-pop and J-rock works well in the context of the game, though it's a love or hate it affair. I really liked a few songs, but were annoyed by a few.
All and all. The World Ends With You has addicting game play, a complex story, and replay value. Great production values too. If you like action RPG's it's a must have. If you have a DS, get the game, it's very well worth it, and is probably one of the best games for the DS, or in awhile.
Story:10/10
Graphics:10/10
Gameplay:9/10
Sound:9/10
SCORE:9.5/10