The World Reallly Needs You
How to begin. The World Ends With You (TWEWY from now on) is an amazing game. Though it may not be a masterpiece, it advances the RPG genre forward in ways that haven't been done before.
TWEWY starts in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, with the main character Neku waking up without some of his memories. He meets up with a girl, Shiki, who explains to him that he is part of the "Reaper's Game" in which players must complete 1 mission for 7 days or face "erasure". The story unfolds from there, and has a few twists and turns that will keep the player guessing. The whole aesthetic is really Japanese, and the style may seem a little overbearing to people, but this game is brimming with just that: Style. From the comic book like cutscenes to the characters designs, to the enemies of the game (the mystical "Noise), this game is super-stylish.
This style also carries over to gameplay. Attacks and items are governed by "Pins", which grant you mystical powers, with all control done by the stylis. The controls feel really responsive, though at sometimes the game will just miss the fact that your rubbing on the screen as hard as you can. This happened very few times to me, but its worth noting. While all this action is happening on the bottom screen, you are also controlling your partner on the top screen, by inputting a series of commands using the D-pad or the A,X,Y,B buttons (depending on if you're left or right handed). Both you and your partner are fighting the same enemies, so you work together to defeat them.
The game also has the typical RPG setup of leveling up, gaining better weapons (in this case, Pins), but this game takes all of those mechanics a step forward. As you level up, you can go into the main menu and lower your level as low as you want at any time. The lower your level, the better and rarer your pickups after battles will be. Plus, you have different clothes you can wear to influence your stats, but these clothers are also influenced by which brands are popular in certain areas, which can either decrease or increase your clothings' effects. You can also eat food to raise your stats, but you can only eat so much in one day.
All in all, there are a lot of things going on in this game, from the battles to the art design, to the characters and their attacks. But unlike some RPGs, it doesn't feel overwhelming. The game allows you to save at any time, and to lower the difficulty at any time as well. The World Ends With You just does so much, and so much of that is good, whats not to like?
