Review: The World Ends With You | Teenage drama

The first time I saw The World Ends With You was back when it was titled It's A Wonderful World and had no plans of a UK release date, and I was in love. It's quirkiness. It's unique look. A DS game that had caught my attention in a way that nothing really had done since Mario Kart.

But then doubt set in. I wanted to protect my fragile expectations. I become concerned that the sharp art style would out-do the substance. And that behind the A-grade looks, would like an F grade game. After all, Square Enix y'all.

Fast-forward, and I had the game. And within moments of switching it on, I was completely absorbed, and knew I was about to play witness to something special which was going to rob me of hours of my time.

The World Ends With You has a really good story. In fact, it has a great one. Beneath all of the hip designs, bold splashes of colour and the young cast, lies a really dark tale of life, death and despair. You don't really see any of it coming, and expect the game to 'happily-ever-after' you, or pull a 'just-kidding', but it never does. The plot throws you some serious twists within its first few chapters; each one cliffhanging, and compelling you to play just a little bit more to see how things will unfold further. Parts of the story, the antagonists, the premise and the feel of some of the enemies are rather similar to Kingdom Hearts, which is no surprise given the 3 directors behind The World Ends With You all worked on the popular Disney crossover series. The comparisons (aside from the character designs) aren't glaring, and I can't go into specifics without ruining the whole game. But if you've played Kingdom Hearts, you will see the similarities. And where ever you think the plot or the story might go based on that, it does. Basically, if you liked Kingdom Hearts, you will like this game and latch on it very quickly - even though in terms of play style and overall concept, The World Ends With You and KH couldn't be any more different from one another.

The characters are your typical Tetsuya Nomura designs. Spiky hair, big feet, chains, skinny legs, jewellery, with fashions bordering on trendy at an extreme. 

Neku is an Emo ginger haired hero with that same broody reluctance that Cloud, Squall and Lightning from Final Fantasy have; carrying around what looks like a tampon around his neck. Beat looks like Kingdom Heart's spin on Seifer with a skateboard. And the bad guys you encounter could all be members of Organisation XIII without the black cloaks. Shiki is one of the very few wholly original character designs, who fights with a magical stuffed cat. Comparisons to other Square Enix characters aside, they are all a great bunch, and you really do grow attached to them as they try to make sense of everything. Even the bad guys are likeable...well, up until you have to fight them. They're all sons of bitches in battles.

The gameplay is really fun and addictive. Despite the game area being so small, so much happens to keep on your toes. The World Ends With You features enough familiar RPG traits that you can familiarise yourself with the genre, but also has enough unique twists to help define itself from being just another SquEnix RPG. There are a couple of gameplay quirks which feel tacked on and bring some sections down, but more works than what doesn't.

As solid as the game is from a playing standpoint, the adventure does tend to drag on for several chapters too long. A theme within the game is Groundhog day. At the start of each chapter, Neku finds himself back where he'd started before; trying to make sense of everything and unravel the new mysteries which arise. This is cool for the first few chapters, but it eventually gets old and stops being fun - even though the story which is unfolding in the midst is really good.

The World Ends With You's battle system is ingenious, and one of a kind. You battle between the two screens: your assisting character at the top, and Neku at the bottom. You use the stylus to execute Neku's attacks, and the D-pad to execute your partners' attacks. It makes zero sense at first, and you won't fully get your head around it for a while. But you do hit a point in the game where it clicks, you find the rhythm battles, and you acclimatise to the co-ordination which is required to battle effectively.

A major part of what sold this game to me was the style. It's striking. The whole time I was playing it I was in awe of the art style and the way in which it all comes together. The World Ends With You reminds me a lot of Jet Set radio - where a unique art style, play style, soundtrack and a setting of Shibuya came together to create a fun and original experience.

The entire game is presented in 2D, but makes use of parallax scrolling to give the areas a sense of depth, and has backdrops drawn from really crazy perspectives, making the smallest of areas look vast and even the most mundane pockets of Shibuya look grand. The game is set within the real life Tokyo ward of Shibuya, and the area is faithfully represented. There's no reason why it shouldn't be, given Square Enix's HQ is there. But they do a great job recapturing the hustle, bustle and hip fashion focused ward, to so much of an extent that it makes you want to see it for yourself first-hand.

The audio is top notch. The World Ends With You features full speech in the intro, with all of the character voices in-game limited to grunts, yelps, Hey!'s and name calls. It works really well, and the lack of speech helps the dialog shine on the merits of how well its written. The banter between characters is always witty and fun. The soundtrack is all kinds of awesome. You'll bop you head to the music, sing-a-long during battles, spend money in shops buying the records so you can spin them in the sound test, and you'll probably be naughty and hit up isohunt to download the damn soundtrack. In a nut-shell, the audio rocks; and really helps set the tone of the game and encapsulate the world it is set in.

The World Ends With You is a brilliant game, which is another example of Square Enix showing that they can deliver something wholly worthwhile which is not Final Fantasy.

So much of this game shouldn't work. The battle system is anything but normal. The game area is small. The characters are nut cases. The story is convoluted beyond belief. But it works. Everything manages to come together in a package that feels so well considered and proud of the fact that it isn't your regular-schmegular RPG tale. 

Amidst all of Square's (progressively worsening) Final Fantasy games, it's great to see that they can still deliver a enthralling title which takes risks and bucks trends. If you own a DS, you need this game. An essential purchase whether you're an RPG lover or a fan of something that's a little bit different and quirky.

👍🏾 Great graphics
👍🏾 Kick ass soundtrack
👍🏾 A unique battle system
👍🏾 A nice dark story

👎🏾 The game drags on longer than it should
👎🏾 Some boss battles can be frustrating
👎🏾 On a couple of occasions, you'll find yourself wandering around aimlessly

Verdict: A great, original adventure with lots of style and flair.