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IGN Review of The World Ends With You
Most gamers out there would probably agree that the world of role-playing games has been stuck in a specific rut for quite a while. We're not talking down on games like Fire Emblem and Advance Wars on DS (RPG-like tactical games), or the still-remarkable Final Fantasy series, but rather the hundreds upon hundreds of RPGs out there that don't dare to be different. We can understand a few "period piece" role-playing games, but does every story-heavy adventure out there need to revolve around swords, bows, magic, castles, and hoards of monsters emerging from some sort of ultimate evil? It's fine in moderation – and when done extremely well, games go beyond any preconceptions – but the RPG world could use a little kick in the pants to get it moving, and that's exactly what The World Ends With You is. Square Enix – more specifically Team Jupiter, the creators of Kingdom Hearts – has challenged every facet of the RPG genre, and the result is one of the best pocket games we've played in years, and one of the top DS experiences out there.
More than any other DS title out there we could write volumes on the features and intricacies in The World Ends With You, so while we'll be covering every aspect in this final review, we urge players that want to know more to check out our latest in-depth hands-on with the game, as it too has a wealth of information to read through.
Like we mentioned, The World Ends With You (formally called It's a Wonderful World in Japan, but changed due to licensing issues with the name) is out to challenge everything you'd commonly expect from a RPG experience – especially one on DS – and it flourishes because of it. The story is set in common day Japan, more specifically in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, following the story of an introverted (to a fault) teen by the name of Neku who wakes up mysteriously in the middle of the city streets. Within minutes he receives a text message on his phone that states that he has only a few minutes to complete the first stages of "The Game" or face erasure. Unaware of his past, and unable to communicate with anyone on the busy streets of Shibuya, Neku is thrust into a ghost-like world where he and his partner must complete daily challenges, destroy evil entities known as "Noise" which are the embodiment of stress and social distortion in the world, and attempt to regain his life back one day at a time. Along the way the game's referees and designers, The Reapers, give Neku and his partners new missions, and force them to run the rat race that is The Game.
Since the story is so completely "out there," especially for a pocket RPG, it'll take a while for players to warm up to the storytelling, characters, and design of The World Ends With You. The game has a very specific art style that you'll either love or hate, but for those on the fence about it we encourage you to give the game a shot, as there's far more depth here than anywhere else on DS, and that's no overstatement. Everything from the battle system, unique world interface, storytelling, music, and interactive "out of game" elements make The World Ends With You a must-play experience, and the visual style is just the beginning.
The most exclusive aspect of The World Ends With You is the battle system, which combines the use of d-pad and touch screen to control both Neku and his active partner at the same time. Since the Reaper's Game is all about having teams of two compete, Neku instantly meets his first partner Shiki, and the race is on. As the player, you'll need use Neku's advanced psychic power to harness "pins" that are found throughout the world (over 300 in all) to do specific stylus actions, while also putting in d-pad combos for Shiki on the top screen. The same enemies exist in each world, so it's a matter of juggling back and forth with both characters, passing a combo puck from player to player with each attack and building up insane combos.
The battle system is extremely daunting at first, and the game even encourages you to take it one step at a time until you feel comfortable playing both sides at once. There's an auto-battle system for your partner on the top screen, so if needed, players can drop the d-pad control for a slower (but still helpful) automated system. The action can get extremely hectic, but once you master the dual screen combat it'll prove exactly why The World Ends With You can only exist on a system like DS, and it's a remarkable battle mechanic in the end. Not only will you have touch controls and d-pad battle, but also on-the-fly mini-game aspects such as roulette wheels and card-matching puzzles, each of which lead to use super-attacks that deal tremendous damage. There's no beating around the bush with the game's difficulty though; it's hard, and meant only for the hardcore.
While a crazy battle mechanic is all well and good, it doesn't make for an instant classic on its own, and Jupiter realized that. Visually the game is extraordinary, making use of moving manga panels and dual-screen cinematic presentation very reminiscent of something like Jet Set Radio, with story elements taking place on the top screen via character portraits. The only major letdown with the presentation is that character art and text tell the story, rather than using any VO or scripted sequences. Still, the display of text boxes and the shifting of character portraits on the top screen recreate the manga feel, and it works. More than that though, it's the seamless blending of visual style, impressive (and realistic) audio that captures the sounds of Tokyo, and one of the best soundtracks we've heard on DS.
But that's just visuals. On the gameplay front, The World Ends With You is truly imaginative, and while you'll run about Shibuya in common, Zelda-like fashion, the overworld control is where traditional game design ends, and innovation begins. Interacting with characters is as simple as tapping anyone on the screen, but more than that Neku's mind-reading ability opens the doors of the world in a big way. With a quick tap of an on-screen pin icon, players dive into Neku's mind, with a blue aura flooding the bottom screen, revealing thought bubbles for people in the city, and floating noise battles. Touching thoughts launches both story and non-story thought sequences for characters, many of which are in there just for a little casual reading. You get a feel for who these NPC characters are, where they're going, what they're doing, and how they feel about being stuck in Shibuya. Rather than going from person to person to talk, you're reading the minds of a very populated, very alive Tokyo, and it's a really neat experience.
The World Ends With You also breaks the bonds of regular DS titles in a big way, specifically making use of the DS internal clock and local wireless to add to the gameplay substantially. When the system is off, for example, you earn experience for each day you didn't play (starting huge, and then dropping off for seven days until minimal), and while you won't want to spend time away from the game just to level up – the yield isn't that high – it's a great way to encourage players to come back to the game after a brief pause. We've touched on the food and fashion system before, but to sum up those aspects of the game players can gain attributes by eating food items, but actually need to digest the food before effects take place, so you'll eat a hot dog, feed your partner a hamburger, and then need to battle to work down the counter. Each piece of food takes a certain number of bites to eat though, and you can only use 24 bites in an actual day; yet another way the game blends the RPG world with real-time, Animal Crossing inspired sim aspects.
Fashion also plays a gigantic role in The World Ends With You, with each district in the game having preferred brands. Not only will you need to equip both your characters with the best items to boost stats, but you'll also need to pay attention to trends in the world. Use the right pin attacks and clothing in the right district and you'll nearly double your effectiveness in battle. Fail to pay attention, however, and you can be crippled instantly. We weren't sure what we thought of these very "out of the box" gameplay aspects at first – they could just have easily been a gimmick as anything else – but they've really grown on us, and it makes for a much stronger RPG experience having them in the game.
And it's really the attention to the little things that makes this such a unique and rewarding experience. Shop venders, for example, grow on you the more you shop at their store, dropping prices, giving you access to special, exclusive items, and giving you tips. There's also an "imprinting" system tied with the mind-reading system we touch on earlier, which allows you to learn phrases and ideas to imprint into the minds of the people in Shibuya. This is used constantly in story advancement, and adds an interesting mechanic into the mix.
The level of depth continues as you dive into the level progression and user interface of the game, including some truly inspired, user-determined character growth. You'll level up just like any other RPG, but will only truly thrive in The World Ends With You by dropping your level via a slider, and exchanging those levels for an increase of drop rate. Just like DS Castlevania model, each enemy you encounter has different drop rates for items or pins, and to get the truly rare drops you'll need to lower your levels substantially (we played a huge chunk of the game as a level one team, sacrificing all HP and damage for the chance at big cash, and incredible items) to essentially go big, or go home. More than any other RPG out there we've played, The World Ends With You combines an incredible mix of risk vs. reward.
That same user-determined risk continues throughout the game, as you can change the level of difficulty on the fly (again adding better items for more risk), can set the AI for your partner based on how much dual screen gameplay you want to tackle, and will need to determine which pins to level up and use during combat. With over 300 total pins (each with their own slide, tap, or drawing technique, and experience-based level system), there's a tremendous level of depth in just the battle mechanic alone. If that wasn't enough, the ability to chain together battles also adds yet another level of depth to the game, as you can trigger not just one, but multiple battles all in a row, using the same health bar but gaining an insane amount of pins and items if you can complete each of the fights in a row. With the right level of risk factored into the match, you can gain dozens upon dozens of pins in a single chain of battle. Granted that can include the general currency pins, which are used to exchange for money, and aren't the 300 battle pins in the game, but there's a huge difference between taking the easy way out, gaining a few hundred credits to spend at a shop, or risking it all to find rare items, new battle pins, and upwards of 30,000 in cash all in one daring fight.
It should be obvious at this point that we've had a blast not only playing the dual screened battles and messing with the huge risk/reward system in The World Ends With You, but there are some friendly warnings we have as well. We mentioned the style in the game is very "love it or hate it," and you'll find that the characters suffer from the same issue at times. The story is very interesting, as Jupiter managed to create a whole world full of its own rules, characters, and style, but the localization isn't much higher than a generic anime or manga, with many of the cutscenes leaving characters feeling a bit on the shallow side. In addition, the main character is very introverted and often irrational, and with no actual branching paths in the core story it's a little tough to get behind him at times; particularly when he's being a dick for seemingly no reason. Still, those issues pale in comparison to the rest of the well-crafted story, and luckily Neku has a pretty strong arch throughout the story, and eventually turns into the character we'd rather have played as from the start. It makes sense given the game's commentary on society (it is, after all, a modern-themed RPG), but you'll have to deal with characters that think and act differently than what you might do, and at times it did feel like we were watching a story, rather than truly living it.
But in the end, we simply can't walk away from The World Ends With You without a laundry list of high points. As one final aspect of the game that caught our eye, its "out of game" experience is really entertaining, allowing players to gain experience while away from the system, but also go beyond that. In mingle mode, the game engages wireless transmission and looks for other DS units in the area. In games like Nintendogs (bark mode) this was a neat concept, but not actually something that was practical. The chances of you running into someone with their DS system in bark mode was laughable, but in the case of The World Ends With You, it works. The reason being that mingle mode has multiple levels of complexity. Run into someone else with the game in mingle mode and you'll swap player cards and data, so you can check out what your friends have seen and done in the game thus far. Beyond that you can also create a custom shop that can be visited even while away from your friends, so when you connect you're importing new shops, can purchase items, and then exchange cash again when you meet up with your buddy for a second time.
It goes deeper than that though. When in mingle mode, your DS also seeks out any DS wireless in the area, so if you're at an airport and see people playing wirelessly, turn on your system and "leech" off them to gain new items and experience. Let it run as long as you want, even with the DS closed, and you'll be gaining experience for finding other people. This still may not happen that often, but we can promise you we'll have our mingle mode on at Comic-con and E3 this year. Where there's DS action to be had, we'll be profiting off it. There's even a third form of communication called "alien," which we assume picks up other wireless signals of some sort, but haven't seen that one active yet. We tried PSP systems and Wii consoles, but neither had an effect. Intriguing nonetheless.
As for the overall presentation, you won't find many DS games that can trump The World Ends With You. Visually the game is a mix of beautiful, strange 2D sprite art on a 3D world, using basic models to distort and slide objects on the screen in a very strange fashion that needs to be seen to understand. The effects animations in battle are amazing, and we never saw the game take a technical hit during exploration or while fighting. On the audio side, more VO would have been nice, but you're still treated to one of the most diverse and fresh sound tracks on DS, mixing hip hop and rap with full lyrics. We need to get the sound track for this game, and from the sound of it Square Enix knows this, as it'll be hitting iTunes shortly according to the official game site. The uber-hardcore gamers out there that have imported The World Ends With You have their particulars about how the music has changed from Japan's release to Europe and the US, and while we agree that the Japanese tunes had a slight advantage, the US version still tears it up as far as sound production goes.
©2008-04-16, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
More than any other DS title out there we could write volumes on the features and intricacies in The World Ends With You, so while we'll be covering every aspect in this final review, we urge players that want to know more to check out our latest in-depth hands-on with the game, as it too has a wealth of information to read through.
Like we mentioned, The World Ends With You (formally called It's a Wonderful World in Japan, but changed due to licensing issues with the name) is out to challenge everything you'd commonly expect from a RPG experience – especially one on DS – and it flourishes because of it. The story is set in common day Japan, more specifically in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, following the story of an introverted (to a fault) teen by the name of Neku who wakes up mysteriously in the middle of the city streets. Within minutes he receives a text message on his phone that states that he has only a few minutes to complete the first stages of "The Game" or face erasure. Unaware of his past, and unable to communicate with anyone on the busy streets of Shibuya, Neku is thrust into a ghost-like world where he and his partner must complete daily challenges, destroy evil entities known as "Noise" which are the embodiment of stress and social distortion in the world, and attempt to regain his life back one day at a time. Along the way the game's referees and designers, The Reapers, give Neku and his partners new missions, and force them to run the rat race that is The Game.
Since the story is so completely "out there," especially for a pocket RPG, it'll take a while for players to warm up to the storytelling, characters, and design of The World Ends With You. The game has a very specific art style that you'll either love or hate, but for those on the fence about it we encourage you to give the game a shot, as there's far more depth here than anywhere else on DS, and that's no overstatement. Everything from the battle system, unique world interface, storytelling, music, and interactive "out of game" elements make The World Ends With You a must-play experience, and the visual style is just the beginning.
The most exclusive aspect of The World Ends With You is the battle system, which combines the use of d-pad and touch screen to control both Neku and his active partner at the same time. Since the Reaper's Game is all about having teams of two compete, Neku instantly meets his first partner Shiki, and the race is on. As the player, you'll need use Neku's advanced psychic power to harness "pins" that are found throughout the world (over 300 in all) to do specific stylus actions, while also putting in d-pad combos for Shiki on the top screen. The same enemies exist in each world, so it's a matter of juggling back and forth with both characters, passing a combo puck from player to player with each attack and building up insane combos.
The battle system is extremely daunting at first, and the game even encourages you to take it one step at a time until you feel comfortable playing both sides at once. There's an auto-battle system for your partner on the top screen, so if needed, players can drop the d-pad control for a slower (but still helpful) automated system. The action can get extremely hectic, but once you master the dual screen combat it'll prove exactly why The World Ends With You can only exist on a system like DS, and it's a remarkable battle mechanic in the end. Not only will you have touch controls and d-pad battle, but also on-the-fly mini-game aspects such as roulette wheels and card-matching puzzles, each of which lead to use super-attacks that deal tremendous damage. There's no beating around the bush with the game's difficulty though; it's hard, and meant only for the hardcore.
While a crazy battle mechanic is all well and good, it doesn't make for an instant classic on its own, and Jupiter realized that. Visually the game is extraordinary, making use of moving manga panels and dual-screen cinematic presentation very reminiscent of something like Jet Set Radio, with story elements taking place on the top screen via character portraits. The only major letdown with the presentation is that character art and text tell the story, rather than using any VO or scripted sequences. Still, the display of text boxes and the shifting of character portraits on the top screen recreate the manga feel, and it works. More than that though, it's the seamless blending of visual style, impressive (and realistic) audio that captures the sounds of Tokyo, and one of the best soundtracks we've heard on DS.
But that's just visuals. On the gameplay front, The World Ends With You is truly imaginative, and while you'll run about Shibuya in common, Zelda-like fashion, the overworld control is where traditional game design ends, and innovation begins. Interacting with characters is as simple as tapping anyone on the screen, but more than that Neku's mind-reading ability opens the doors of the world in a big way. With a quick tap of an on-screen pin icon, players dive into Neku's mind, with a blue aura flooding the bottom screen, revealing thought bubbles for people in the city, and floating noise battles. Touching thoughts launches both story and non-story thought sequences for characters, many of which are in there just for a little casual reading. You get a feel for who these NPC characters are, where they're going, what they're doing, and how they feel about being stuck in Shibuya. Rather than going from person to person to talk, you're reading the minds of a very populated, very alive Tokyo, and it's a really neat experience.
The World Ends With You also breaks the bonds of regular DS titles in a big way, specifically making use of the DS internal clock and local wireless to add to the gameplay substantially. When the system is off, for example, you earn experience for each day you didn't play (starting huge, and then dropping off for seven days until minimal), and while you won't want to spend time away from the game just to level up – the yield isn't that high – it's a great way to encourage players to come back to the game after a brief pause. We've touched on the food and fashion system before, but to sum up those aspects of the game players can gain attributes by eating food items, but actually need to digest the food before effects take place, so you'll eat a hot dog, feed your partner a hamburger, and then need to battle to work down the counter. Each piece of food takes a certain number of bites to eat though, and you can only use 24 bites in an actual day; yet another way the game blends the RPG world with real-time, Animal Crossing inspired sim aspects.
Fashion also plays a gigantic role in The World Ends With You, with each district in the game having preferred brands. Not only will you need to equip both your characters with the best items to boost stats, but you'll also need to pay attention to trends in the world. Use the right pin attacks and clothing in the right district and you'll nearly double your effectiveness in battle. Fail to pay attention, however, and you can be crippled instantly. We weren't sure what we thought of these very "out of the box" gameplay aspects at first – they could just have easily been a gimmick as anything else – but they've really grown on us, and it makes for a much stronger RPG experience having them in the game.
And it's really the attention to the little things that makes this such a unique and rewarding experience. Shop venders, for example, grow on you the more you shop at their store, dropping prices, giving you access to special, exclusive items, and giving you tips. There's also an "imprinting" system tied with the mind-reading system we touch on earlier, which allows you to learn phrases and ideas to imprint into the minds of the people in Shibuya. This is used constantly in story advancement, and adds an interesting mechanic into the mix.
The level of depth continues as you dive into the level progression and user interface of the game, including some truly inspired, user-determined character growth. You'll level up just like any other RPG, but will only truly thrive in The World Ends With You by dropping your level via a slider, and exchanging those levels for an increase of drop rate. Just like DS Castlevania model, each enemy you encounter has different drop rates for items or pins, and to get the truly rare drops you'll need to lower your levels substantially (we played a huge chunk of the game as a level one team, sacrificing all HP and damage for the chance at big cash, and incredible items) to essentially go big, or go home. More than any other RPG out there we've played, The World Ends With You combines an incredible mix of risk vs. reward.
That same user-determined risk continues throughout the game, as you can change the level of difficulty on the fly (again adding better items for more risk), can set the AI for your partner based on how much dual screen gameplay you want to tackle, and will need to determine which pins to level up and use during combat. With over 300 total pins (each with their own slide, tap, or drawing technique, and experience-based level system), there's a tremendous level of depth in just the battle mechanic alone. If that wasn't enough, the ability to chain together battles also adds yet another level of depth to the game, as you can trigger not just one, but multiple battles all in a row, using the same health bar but gaining an insane amount of pins and items if you can complete each of the fights in a row. With the right level of risk factored into the match, you can gain dozens upon dozens of pins in a single chain of battle. Granted that can include the general currency pins, which are used to exchange for money, and aren't the 300 battle pins in the game, but there's a huge difference between taking the easy way out, gaining a few hundred credits to spend at a shop, or risking it all to find rare items, new battle pins, and upwards of 30,000 in cash all in one daring fight.
It should be obvious at this point that we've had a blast not only playing the dual screened battles and messing with the huge risk/reward system in The World Ends With You, but there are some friendly warnings we have as well. We mentioned the style in the game is very "love it or hate it," and you'll find that the characters suffer from the same issue at times. The story is very interesting, as Jupiter managed to create a whole world full of its own rules, characters, and style, but the localization isn't much higher than a generic anime or manga, with many of the cutscenes leaving characters feeling a bit on the shallow side. In addition, the main character is very introverted and often irrational, and with no actual branching paths in the core story it's a little tough to get behind him at times; particularly when he's being a dick for seemingly no reason. Still, those issues pale in comparison to the rest of the well-crafted story, and luckily Neku has a pretty strong arch throughout the story, and eventually turns into the character we'd rather have played as from the start. It makes sense given the game's commentary on society (it is, after all, a modern-themed RPG), but you'll have to deal with characters that think and act differently than what you might do, and at times it did feel like we were watching a story, rather than truly living it.
But in the end, we simply can't walk away from The World Ends With You without a laundry list of high points. As one final aspect of the game that caught our eye, its "out of game" experience is really entertaining, allowing players to gain experience while away from the system, but also go beyond that. In mingle mode, the game engages wireless transmission and looks for other DS units in the area. In games like Nintendogs (bark mode) this was a neat concept, but not actually something that was practical. The chances of you running into someone with their DS system in bark mode was laughable, but in the case of The World Ends With You, it works. The reason being that mingle mode has multiple levels of complexity. Run into someone else with the game in mingle mode and you'll swap player cards and data, so you can check out what your friends have seen and done in the game thus far. Beyond that you can also create a custom shop that can be visited even while away from your friends, so when you connect you're importing new shops, can purchase items, and then exchange cash again when you meet up with your buddy for a second time.
It goes deeper than that though. When in mingle mode, your DS also seeks out any DS wireless in the area, so if you're at an airport and see people playing wirelessly, turn on your system and "leech" off them to gain new items and experience. Let it run as long as you want, even with the DS closed, and you'll be gaining experience for finding other people. This still may not happen that often, but we can promise you we'll have our mingle mode on at Comic-con and E3 this year. Where there's DS action to be had, we'll be profiting off it. There's even a third form of communication called "alien," which we assume picks up other wireless signals of some sort, but haven't seen that one active yet. We tried PSP systems and Wii consoles, but neither had an effect. Intriguing nonetheless.
As for the overall presentation, you won't find many DS games that can trump The World Ends With You. Visually the game is a mix of beautiful, strange 2D sprite art on a 3D world, using basic models to distort and slide objects on the screen in a very strange fashion that needs to be seen to understand. The effects animations in battle are amazing, and we never saw the game take a technical hit during exploration or while fighting. On the audio side, more VO would have been nice, but you're still treated to one of the most diverse and fresh sound tracks on DS, mixing hip hop and rap with full lyrics. We need to get the sound track for this game, and from the sound of it Square Enix knows this, as it'll be hitting iTunes shortly according to the official game site. The uber-hardcore gamers out there that have imported The World Ends With You have their particulars about how the music has changed from Japan's release to Europe and the US, and while we agree that the Japanese tunes had a slight advantage, the US version still tears it up as far as sound production goes.
©2008-04-16, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved