The World Ends With You

The World Ends With You

We’re so used to endless videogame spin-offs, sequels and me-too imitations that when a title comes along that’s genuinely different it can feel like a splash of cold water to the face.

The World Ends With You is just such a title, a DS game stuffed to the gills with fresh game design ideas and wild creativity. Stitching together all manner of ideas plucked form different genres and cultures, Square Enix has created an action game that’s near impossible to pin down to a single game style. And with one of the most assured and focused art styles seen from the company in many years, it’s a novel recipe that slips down easily too.

Set in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, the vibrant popular haunt of Japan’s too-cool-for-school teens, the game is clearly aimed at a certain MySpace-using young demographic. The story focuses on the exploits of a moody protagonist Neku, a young man who is deep into his difficult teenage years, trying to work out who he is and what he’s going to do in the world.

At the start of the game Neku is drawn into an esoteric seven-day competition hosted by a mysterious group of hooded gamesmasters known as the ‘Reapers’. Each day he receives a task to perform via text message. If he fails to complete the task within this time limit he risks being ‘erased’. Unable to leave Shibuya and with a Logan’s Run-style timer etched onto the back of his hand, Neku has no option but to play the game. You control him as he rushes from street to street, listening to the thoughts of the general public, battling esoteric monsters and gathering clues as to what he must do next.

The action mechanics are deep and interesting and unusually make use of both of the DS screens at once. During fights you control Neku and his current team-mate simultaneously. Neku is controlled with the stylus, different gestures executing different types of attacks (known as ‘Psychs’). The moves available to you depend on which badges are equipped and, as you collect and level-up the 300 badges within the game so your move set increases. The second character is controlled on the top screen using the D-pad, combination button inputs dictating which moves they perform. It’s all a little overwhelming at first (and thankfully you can hand control of the top screen character to the A.I if you’re finding it hard to cope), but in time the system becomes magically manageable and fun.

Every fight is reviewed and rated and you can kit your characters out with myriad outfits purchased from the game’s trendy boutiques. The game is stuffed with good ideas, such as the ability to set Neku’s level to either make badges more easy to obtain or enemies harder in order to reap more experience. You even earn experience in the time you're not playing the game as it calculates the amount of days/ hours/ minutes since you last switched on and awards you based on how long it's been. The game’s story is compelling and intriguing and, once you get your head around its many colourful complexities, you’ll discover these are depths well worth plumbing.

4 out of 5