The World Ends With You Impressions [Minor Spoilers]

So, after a few weeks, I was finally able to finish The World Ends With You, or It's A Wonderful World if you are playing the Japanese version. I started it after I finished Hotel Dusk, and I was hooked! It's the first DS game since Pokemon that I've been able to say that about. There is even a quite lengthy after-game that allows you to unlock secret "reports" that give you a deeper insight into what was going on behind the scenes of the main story.

Anyhow, I could see how people would think it appealed to the "emo" crowd, Neku is as emo as can be when the game starts, but it really doesn't focus on that. It focuses more on the "urban" lifestyle of Japanese youth living in Shibuya. The plot is a bit confusing at first, but when the first twist is dropped you'll never want to put the game down until you've beaten it.

My absolute favorite part of the game, however, is its flexibility. What enemies you face and how you face them is completely up to you. You can even adjust your level to increase/decrease the drop rate, though this is mainly for pin collection as harder enemies drop better pins.

Pins are what you use in the game to defend yourself with. They are what makes the game so deep as each pin has its own special stats and ways to use it. Such as one pin may allow you to do a double slash attack by slashing an enemy with the stylus, while another pin allows you to do a double slash by blowing into the mic. The two pins are basically the same, it just depends on your play style as to which one you choose.

Going back to the "urban" style of the game. Scattered across the city are various stores that sell both name brand and unbranded prducts, clothes and accessories. Certain brands are more popular or less popular in certain areas of the city, which can effect your stats or your pins in different ways. Each of the game's characters must also eat to give themselves stat bonuses and each character has their own specific tastes.

The game play varies, like I said previously, depending on what pins you are using, but the constant is that you control the main character, Neku, on the bottom screen with your stylus and one of his partners on the top screen with the control pad, or the letters if you are a lefty. As Neku and his partner fight, a "light puck" is passed between them that can double, triple, quadruple, etc. their attack power. This is very useful in manipulating as the puck will disappear and start over if it isn't passed after a certain amount of time.

Overall, I loved The World Ends With You, and I hope to see more like it from Squenix. I would even go as far as to say that this is the best title the DS has to offer and if you don't have it, you are really missing out. I give The World Ends With You for the Nintendo DS a perfect 5 out of 5.