The World Ends With You is definitely one of the finest works on the DS so far.
The Nintendo DS has had a great number of releases over the 4 years of it's life, and it's showing no signs of death yet. A vast number of RPGs are also available, including quite a few remakes of 90's classics, but also quite a few fresh goodies. Square-Enix has highly contributed to the DS library, and The World Ends With You is definitely one of their finest works on the DS so far. Originally released in Japan as "It's a Wonderful World" in 2007, North America and PAL regions got this great title in 2008 as "The World Ends With You". This Action RPG is one of their most bizarre works yet.
The storyline is very unusual, but it's fresh and easy to follow. The World Ends With You is set in a modern day Tokyo, in the shopping district, Shibuya. This location has two alternate worlds. The alive folk remain in the Realground (RG), while the dead are taken to the Underground (UG). In the UG, the reapers are out to erase you. You can avoid erasion if you obey the rules of the missions given to you every day. Neku Sakuraba wakes up in the UG one day, unsure of how he died. He teams up with another dead person, Shiki Misaki. These two teenagers have seven days in the UG, and are required to accomplish the mission given out every day. Every day, fairly interesting events occur, adding a bit of detail to the story. These events can have a bit too much dialogue however, and sometimes some slightly pointless bull. This isn't all a bad thing, though I've always found pointless dialogue a bit tedious at times.
The characters are pretty good, and they all have interesting back stories. Neku starts off as an antisocial teenage boy who prefers music over life. This is initially a problem when he meets Shiki for the first time. When progressing through the game, Neku opens up a bit more and cares about the Reapers' Game and Shiki a lot more. Shiki is a clothes designer, and takes the form of her best friend, Eri. You will also come across another pair in the game. Beat and Rhyme, who are also playing the Reapers' Game. I'm not a fan of either, but they aren't bad characters. Joshua is another main character, and is a suspicious fellow. The reapers vary. Some aren't my favourite folk, while some are decent.
Neku and his partner will be controlled through Shibuya. Within this area, missions are completed. The noise are out to stop you. They are the enemies in the game. The battle system is action based, and you are able to fight the noise with the pins you have equipped. There is a massive variety of these pins that can be equipped to Neku to enhance his skills. The pins can also be levelled up, and become more powerful. An awesome feature with these pins is that they gain exp when your DS is turned off. So if you left the game for a while, then you may notice that some EXP has been given to your equipped pins. Your partner takes up the top screen while Neku takes up the bottom. The partner's actions can be controllers with the D-Pad. Neku also has an ability to read the minds of the people walking through the district. In order to do this, you have to go into scan mode. In scan mode, you are also able to come across noise which can be seen in this state. Simply touch the noise to fight them.
In the UG, you are practically invisible to all except for your partner, the reapers, and when you enter shops. Occasionally, you will be able to play with the minds of certain people who aren't able to see you, and you can help them with their problems in these events. There are certain ways to do this: You can find certain quotes from others and stick it in their head, you can answer questions with a little mini-game or you can defeat noise around them to clear their minds of negativity. Speaking of mini-games, there is one which is available later on in the game. Tin-Pin. You use your equipped pins, and fight it out with your opponent. But wait, it's not a regular battle. You control your pin with the touch screen, and the objective is to knock out your opponent's pins. It's an alright game, but it will entertain you. Overall, the gameplay is very good, and will definitely hook you to your DS.
The controls are pretty good, and it's one of the best uses of the touch screen. Most of the gameplay is touch-screen based. Outside of battle, you have a choice between the touch screen of the regular buttons for movement. In battle, Neku is controlled with the touch screen, while his partner is controllers with the D-Pad. The pins all have a different way of using the DS features too. Another thing worth mentioning is the saving. You are able to save anywhere you go, which has always been great for RPGs. I've always hated it when games only have one save file. Sadly, that's the case with TWEWY. In order to start a new file, you have to wipe the previous file, or else you are unable to start the game. So be careful when creating a new file. I used to have so many incidents regarding one file saves in Pokemon.
Graphics on the DS has always either been 2D or 3D. Sometimes even both. The World Ends With You is fully 2D, and actually looks quite good. If you're thinking something along the lines of "Oh brother, another DS game that looks though it's more GBA-worthy", think again my friend. These 2D graphics would not suit the GBA, and is probably too powerful for the GBA to handle anyway. The 2D is very well done in TWEWY, and the artwork by Tetsuya Normura (FFVII, VIII, X and KH) looks great! I've always liked Nomura's art, though this is coming from an anime fan. If you are a fan of the artwork from Yoshitaka Amano (FFI-VI and IX) and simply hate Nomura's work, then TWEWY won't change your mind. Due to me being a fan of both artists (though Toriyama beats them both in my opinion), I quite enjoy the graphics. There is one downside to these graphics. When your characters come closer on the screen, they get a bit pixellated and blurry. That aside, definitely some of the best 2D i've seen on the DS.
I really don't know what to say about the soundtrack. It has a similarity to Persona 3's music. At first, I thought it was decent. There was a variety of rock, pop and dance during the first Chapter. But then once I got further into the game (about the second and third chapters), rap and hip-hop came in. My two worst music genres. This is a huge downside to the soundtrack. Nevertheless, there are some pretty groovy tracks which are worth plugging in your headphones for. Two of my favourite tracks in the game are "Calling" and "Long Dream". Voices aren't entirely absent, there are a few times when you hear words from the main characters, but the dialogue is mainly text. I have no problems with this at all, seeing as I'm not a fan of English VA in RPGs.
The World Ends With You is a great Action-RPG for the Nintendo DS, and is most certainly a worthy purchase. Despite the overload of my two worst music genres, It is addictive, and very interesting. It is definitely one of Square-Enix's finest DS works so far. Let's just hope we haven't seen the last of the Reapers.