The World Ends With You

It’s all too easy for RPG fans to only talk about Final Fantasy, especially when talking about Square Enix, that franchise’s creators. However, Final Fantasy isn’t the only title in the company’s catalogue, and people often forget that not only did they create the daddy of the genre, they also arguably spawned said genre as well. So rather than re-hash another FF for a remake, Square Enix have done something a little more daring: they’ve created a whole new IP, and probably the best RPG currently available on a handheld system.

The World Ends With You tells the story of Neku, a fairly stereotypical RPG protagonist to begin with. Neku is grumpy, dislikes people and is only concerned with himself. That is however, until he finds himself in a very strange version of Shibuya, a district of modern day Tokyo, the games setting. Attacked by strange creatures called the Noise, Neku is forced to make a pact with various people as he learns the truth of the Noise, his new found friends and the alternate Shibuya.

While to begin with the tale is fairly generic, as the character of the game starts to seep into every pore it becomes a fantastically epic tale. Yes, Neku can be an annoyingly selfish git to begin with but his inner thoughts and feelings, and his changing sensibilities, really give the character weight. Apart from the story, The World Ends With You is a technical feat on the DS. Its use of voice, music and special effects is outstanding, proving that while its 3D capabilities maybe lacking, you can make a brilliant 2D game on the system, and a brilliant game this is.

This brilliance permeates down to the core battle system, which most RPG’s live and die by, luckily though The World Ends With You’s system is innovative and fresh, using all of the DS’s capabilities. When you enter battle (done by using a scanning mechanic to see what noise are in the area and then tapping the icons), the screen changes as normal for an RPG, but since Neku is always accompanied by a companion, they appear on the top screen with Neku on the bottom.
Neku uses a series of ‘Pin’s', which give him various powers or ‘psychs’, ranging from slashing an enemy to firing a spread of energy bullets to encasing himself in protective shields, and they are all activated by various actions on the touch screen, such as pressing the stylus on Neku, slashing across him, tapping an empty space or enemy or drawing circles. They are even some that require you to blow or shout into the microphone to send out shockwaves.

Neku’s partner is controlled using the D-pad, and by tapping various directions and following an on screen series of Icons, the partner attacks the same targets that appear on both screens. If the partner hits the right icons in the right way, they earn Fusion stars, which allow both characters to unleash a devastating combined attack. It can be difficult to work out how to earn such stars at times though, and in the heat of battle it is possible to forgot how to do it altogether and simply attack as much as possible.

After each battle, the Pin’s used earn PP (pin points) which slowly level up the pins and may possibly let them evolve to more powerful versions. You also, rather ingeniously, earn PP by not playing the game, as the pins get better when rested. This encourages breaks and rewards you even though you haven’t played, and while you cant evolve your pins totally by just leaving it a few days, is a neat touch.

Another interesting mechanic is the light puck, a green ball of light that passes between the characters as they score successful attacks. This puck increases with each pass, and the longer you keep it in play and keep it being passed, the more powerful your attacks become, encouraging thoughtful and slightly rhythmic game play.
Each area of Shibuya also has affinities to the various brands in the game, and if an area likes one brand it can up to double your attack power, but if it doesn’t like another brand your attack can be halved. This can be solved by fighting battles wearing clothes (the games equivalent of armour) and pins of the lower brand, thereby increasing the area affinity with that brand.

You can earn pins after each battle as well, and these are either useful battle pins or ones that can be traded in for extra cash. You can get quite a few duplicates but by selling these it won’t fill your pin list with twenty of one type or another. The cash is used in various stores to buy the clothing used to outfit your characters, however, though each item of clothing does have a special ability, some you can only found out by buying items from the store, or sometimes a completely different one to earn respect with the clerk who will then let you know about an item.

This game isn’t just about great RPG battling though, and has a rather good multiplayer mode as well. Though it can only be played over local wi-fi, Tin Pin slammer uses your currently equipped pins in a futuristic game of pog, with each pin having a certain and a certain number of special moves it can perform. This moves are the same for all pins, creating a large hammer, bloating and turning spiky among them, but can be used for a set number of times per pin.
The goal of Tin Pin slammer is to simply knock an opposing pin out of the ring. While it is a bit simplistic it is very addictive and can prove to be really fun with the right people.

In all The World Ends With You is a superb RPG, and one of the finest new IP’s on the DS. It is a technical marvel and while it does have the odd slight issue such as it can be hard to remember where to go on missions and what parts of Shibuya are where, this can be over looked easily. A truly brilliant title.

Danny Moore