Chrona\'s Video Game Review - The World Ends With You

Introduction and first impression
I was getting a little meh with Square Enix (Note - This was BEFORE they royally fucked over their fans and lost my respect) since their games were starting to get a little sub-par. I enjoyed FF12, but it just wasn't as good as the older games. However, I decided to pick this game up. Literally out of the blue, the ONLY thing I knew about it was its box art which I looked at before downloading.

The first thing I was saw the DS icon - It was what looked like a coin with a skull shape on it. Pretty nice =p. I loaded up the game, and was greeted with a catchy tune, that included a piano track and some other things. Also, the title screen looked rather nice.

I hit New Game, and started off playing the role of some kid who lost his memories, that apparently nobody can see. Some girl who's stomach and/or legs are showing apparently sees me, and helps me defeat some monsters that appeared out of nowhere. Afterwards we find out that they've died, and gave up what matters most to them (In the main character's, Neku's case, his memories) to have one chance to get back to life - By playing the Reaper's Game, which gives you seven day's worth of tasks to prove yourself worth a second chance at life.

Here's the introductory video =D



Battle System and controls
This game makes excellent use of both the DS screens. In battles you control two characters - Neku, the main character, and your partner. You control Neku on the touch screen, doing certain things to attack. To attack, you equip Pins and do what they say. For example - You start with a Pyrokinesis pin, which makes a wall of flames appear as you drag your stylus across the touch screen. There are hundreds of pins, some of which are upgrades, healing pins, etc. They're activated in different ways too - Some just want you to tap an enemy, some want you to slash across an enemy, etc.

The partner is controlled on the top screen, but you can have the AI control the top. It's usually more efficient to do it yourself if you're trying to get them to do certain attacks, but the AI isn't that stupid =p. The game is leftie-friendly in this regard - the D pad and the X/Y/A/B buttons do the same thing, controlling your partner.

Whee

Characters
The characters in this game are actually pretty cool. There is the FUCKING AWESOME Sho, who talks in math slang, for example. I don't want to spoil too many things, but the characters are just win.

Graphics and music
I enjoyed the graphics in this game. The characters are anime style, and stuff. Also, the world of the game is the actual Japanese region of Shibuya =)

The music in this game...is simply WIN. There is nothing else to say. In fact, it is the only game (Other than a few Final Fantasy games) that I have the complete soundtrack to, and actually listen to regularly. Most of the tracks are catchy and voiced, a combination of J-Pop and hip hop.

Story
The story was pretty interesting. I gave a bit of an intro in Introduction, so screw it, this post is getting long. Point is, it's good.

Ending
Without spoiling anything, I can say that I enjoyed the ending. It made me smile =)

Extra
One of the best things about this game is the random jokes thrown around. Especially "Another Day", which is a sidequest unrelated to the story, where the main character broods over his emoness and figures out that his purpose in life is to play Tin Pin Slammer (Which is a Beyblade like game).

The game gets a 10/10 for me, it's the ONLY reason I still give SquareEnix any credibility.

Here are some quotes from the game to keep you guys entertained, probably horribly distorted by my memory

"I suppose you have to be a coward sometimes" - "I suppose you're an ass...all the time"
"I can't believe she got the wrong idea! I just wanted to play some Tin Pin Slammer with her..." (I'll leave this to your imagination, forumers)
"This is subtracting from my arts and crafts time."
"(You want to be a Crayon Warrior?)"
"(Must...Resist...Emo...Urges...)"
"(Apparently he not only names things after Crayons, he EATS them too...)"
"Is it true steroids shrink your... Nevermind"
"You have a ramen doctor at your secret ramen base?"
"NOOOOO! NOT THE HEADPHONES!!!"
"The pig moves on it's own? What if it's possessed--waiting to pork-chop us in the back of the head?"
"And more importantly, who thought that costume was OK? Guy's got a ram on his crotch. What is this, Freak Fashion Friday? Tin Pin, yours is a mysterious world..."
"Your shorts. Take them off!"
"I should be Pink, because Pink is love and a humanitarian like me loves people."
"Whatever keeps you happy Yellow. Blue already has the emo position filled."
"I don't see how this is my fault. You're the one who refuses to call me Pink."
"Understanding other people isn't hard, Neku. It's impossible."
"Very impressive, Neku. Show those fifth graders who's boss."
"To write the countless thongs of...dammit!"
"Uhh, I'm not good with crowds... Crowds bring out those symbols- the weebers! I can see them everywhere! There! Clinging to that guy's back- WEEBERS!!! Weebie weebie weebie..."
"Tutorial Box. Out."
"3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164 062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095."

cool may check it out

You should

Fuck, forgot to add in a review of the battle system. I'll add it in right now =)

yay
i hope its cool

Posted controls, along with the intro vid

TO buy or not to buy?

It's definitely worth a buy

And seeing me, Chrona, say that about a Square Enix game after what they did, means it must be a fucking good game

It could be a trap.

...if it was a trap, I'd try to trap you into buying a game from a company I support =p

This game is very good. The only thing I don't like is the battle system. Actually, it's ok I just don't like using both the stylus and the buttons on two different action screens. I would have liked it better with just the bottom screen. The battle system for both screens aren't a little shallow, instead of having two kinda shallow battle systems they could have made one REALLY great battle system. Other than that it's amazing.

The plot twists just really mess with your mind.

Also, about the music, at first some of it was annoying. I really don't like J-Pop, and listening to asain kids trying to rap really made me laugh(no offense), but eventually it grows on you.

Yay