Lol, I Figured I’d start contributing to the Forum in some way, and that way being in the form of game reviews! Yay for game reviews.

The first and hopefully not the last of my game reviews.



The World Ends With You.
A review by Ando (Ericj418)

Intro
Good video games come and go, but great ones offer a lasting impression.  Rpg’s are usually games that offer life lessons prepackaged in the form of Monster Hunting, bad guy bashing, video games, and more often than not, the story is so condiluted that it’s just a game about random spews of ideas.  The World Ends With You, however delivers its’ message while providing a great experience at the same time.  
More Often than not when picking up a Square Enix RPG, e.g. Final Fantasy, one would expect to be thrust into a dystrophic world with social and political turmoil, with a run of the mill but handsome warrior thrust into the decision of changing/saving the world.  This highly successful formula, with the addition of hot female leads, has been countlessly redone over and over again, however Square takes a different approach this time, even so far as deviating from it’s habit of throwing in absurd love stories.
Story
The World Ends With You, takes you into world of Shibuya Japan and the life of Neku Sakuraba, a “shibuyanite” with a lackadaisical feel to the world around.  Neku with his huge soon to be Iconic headphones (in game), can care less about the world about him, so long as he is left to his own devices, is suddenly thrust into a mysterious game called the Reapers Game.  Within the Reaper’s Game he meets many strange characters, such as Shiki, Rhyme and Beat, as well as the mysterious Joshua.  While fighting off weird monsters called Noise, Neku meets the antagonists of the game, the Reapers.  The mission of the reapers and the game is to find a player who is worthy enough to return to life.  Neku must fight his way through 7 days to prove his worth to escape the purgatory that is Shibuya’s underground.
Gameplay
Apart from a well worked out story, The World Ends With You’s game play makes great use of the Nintendo DS hardware.  For the most part the game is operated with the touchscreen.  From moving your character to interacting with the NPC’s, the touch screen control is near flawless.  The Battle system aptly called the Stride Cross System, where you have direct control of the two characters in your party.  The bottom touch screen is used to control Neku, attacks are issued through a series of touch input, from zigzag lines, to tapping the screen, where as the d-pad and ABXY buttons for the control for your partner character.  The battle system aside, TWEWY provides your typical RPG fair, with a lot of character customization.  Players can choose to outfit Neku and his gang in a variety of clothes, as well as weapons called pins, that affect the characters stats and stat growth, as well as “feed” them food.
Sound
On top of a great story, and game play, the clincher to TWEWY, is the music.  Whether or not you’re a fan of jpop, techno, and all around pop music, The World Ends With You provides great quality background music, and on top of that pretty decent voice acting. This is one of those games where headphones are a good choice.  The catchy beats and the uplifting melodies will sure take away the monotony of level grinding, making the game much more enjoyable.
Conclusion
Overall Square Enix has delivered a knock out game.  Solid in game play, captivating in story, phenomenal in music, The World Ends With You, is a must have for any DS Library.  


Score out of 40
Story - 9    Though the story is aptly written and captivating ther are still some plotholes
Graphics - 9 Tetsuya Normura of Final Fantasy VII fame’s linear Anime style is perfect for the fashion world of shibuya but the Noise sprites could’ve been better.
Game Play- 10
Sound - 10 The OST is worth downloading if you enjoy the game, but definitely worth buying

Total - 38  Must Own