The World Ends With You

I was hoping to start this game after I head to Ireland, but I couldn't resist its calling. Besides the ported Final Fantasy and Chrono trigger games, this is perhaps the best RPG on the DS.

Plot Summary: Neku Sakuraba is an anti-social teenager who, in a nutshell, wants no one and needs no one in his life. One day, he wakes up in the middle of the streets of Shibuya with all his memories, save for his name, gone. On top of that, monsters start appearing from weird symbols and attacks him. Fortunately, a girl named Shiki appeared and forged a pact with him, allowing them to gain the power to defeat the monsters. Neku then learns that he is now a player in the Reaper's Game and he has to survive for seven days while clearing missions or face erasure.

SPOILER WARNING!!

This part should only be read if you're sure you don't want to play the game.

The story actually centers around human relations rather than a fight for survival. For one, the monsters don't even attack you unless you pick a fight with them, except the bosses and the Taboo Noise (which are introduced in Round 2).

Now, for a brief description of the Reaper's Game. The game goes on for a span of 7 days. Players have to survive the 7 days by clearing missions on each day while avoiding the Noise summoned by Reapers. Those who survive the 7 days are graded and those who are worthy are given a second chance at life. And forgive me for not mentioning that the Players are all people who just died. Of course, entrance isn't free. You have to bet the most valuable thing to you if you want to enter. You will, of course, get it back if you survive the 7 days, regardless of whether you are reborn or not.

Oh, and if you think that this game only has 7 days, you are very wrong. Neku did not just enter the game once nor twice. He entered it 3 times. So he had to bet thrice. Poor guy.

The first time, he bet his memory since it was the only thing actually precious to him. The 2nd round, he had to bet Shiki because he grew attached to her and she was returned to life in the 1st round. The 3rd round is just plain absurd. Neku started caring about every Player who entered the Reaper's Game and made it his duty to protect them. So... his participation fee for the 3rd round was... EVERY PLAYER IN THE GAME!!

Why is that bad, you ask? Players can only play the game and avoid the monsters by forging a pact with another Player. In other words, you must participate as a team of two if you hope to even live for 5 minutes. With every Player gone... holy hell! Well, he got through that somehow, but I'm not telling. You just have to know that there was one small loophole.

END OF SPOILERS!!!

Now for gameplay, it's very easy to pick up and very easy to play, but it IS UNGODLY HARD to master. Why? Because you have to control 2 characters in real-time combat, one with the stylus, and the other with the directional pad (though he will become AI-controlled if you don't control him for some time). And each character fights in a different screen.

Neku fights with psychs, which he gains by wearing different pins. Pin have different types of abilities. The ones I've encountered so far are Shockwave (slash-type), Pyrokinetic (flame), Force Rounds (projectile), Telekinetic (moving objects), Recovery (healing) and some others I've never really used.

Your partner fights using buttons on the directional pad. 3 rounds means that Neku had 3 different partners, and each of them has a different style of combat. All three of them has one common point. They only have three different combinations in one combo attack, and each final strike in one combo will show different symbols.

There is also a special ability called Fusion. Basically, you have to fulfill certain requirements which involve matching the symbols on top of your partner's screen using different combos. When you acquire a certain number of stars by matching the symbols, you can throw out a Fusion attack which damages all opponents and heals HP. But thanks to the dual screens and characters, it is REALLY hard to actually match the symbols, especially since the AI is stupid and Neku will get beaten into a pulp if you decide to spend longer than 10 seconds focusing on your partner.

This game also introduces the Trends system, where wearing pins or equipments of certain brands will increase or decrease Neku's power. Well, the game is located in Shibuya, Japan's capital of trends, so this probably shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

The BGM and other music consists of mostly modern day pop and rock. I can find them either catchy or irritating depending on my mood. That's the gist of it since I'm not really a music fan.

OK, you guys who are using DS emulators can try this game, but I wouldn't recommend setting the difficulty to any higher than Normal. You might not be able to control Neku fast enough. But at least you'll have less problems controlling both characters since the screens are so close together (unlike the DS). Oh, and pray that it doesn't lag like Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.