Wonchop
22-04-2008, 02:34 PM
For a console that made itself noticed with it's dual screens, there haven't actually been a lot of actual 'dual-screen' games for the Nintendo DS. They've mostly been used for simple stuff like inventories, high scores, or as a simple extension to the other screen. But Square-Enix have decided to bring us a title that not only fully qualifies as a true dual-screen game, but becomes an accomplished RPG and one of the most exciting games this year that's not a sequel or port.
You play as Neku, who ticks the box for spiky haired lead character with personal issues, who wakes up in the middle of an alternate Shibuya, with no memory and a weird bunch of pins (badges to Brits). He then gets a text telling him to complete a mission in 60 minutes or else be erased, and then gets a freaky timer embedded on his hand. Before he has a chance to figure things out, he is chased after by Noise, the enemy fodder for this game, in one of the best non-FMV opening sequences in any game. On his own, he's pretty much doomed, but then he teams up with fellow player Shiki, and thus a pact is formed and the true dual gameplay starts.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/131/935689_20070512_screen002.jpg
Neku on the bottom screen, Shiki on the top screen, Befuzzled player not shown
For the relief of those who hated random battles from Final Fantasy and pretty much every other RPG since, this game has the complete opposite of that. With the exception of battles that come up during cutscenes, battles are entered by your own choice. This is done by using your Player Pin to scan the area, which not only lets your read people's thoughts, but also shows up Noise symbols, which are different in size depending how tough they are. If you want to battle one, just tap it, and the battle starts.
So in terms of actual fighting, you actual fight both enemies on two screens using each character. How the heck the enemies exist in two screens is beyond me, but whatever. On the bottom screen, you fight with Neku using the stylus, and you fight with your partner on the top screen with the D-pad (or face buttons if you're a lefty.) You both share a health bar, which KOs you if it meets in the middle, so even if Neku doesn't get hit an awful lot, if your partner takes a beating, you're screwed.
Neku's abilities are reliant on him wearing pins which, like FFVII's materia, give him the power to fight, can be levelled up with battles and are activated by different means. For example, there are pins that let you do simple melee attacks by slashing the enemies, projectiles fired by tapping the screen, and flames by dragging across empty space. There are even pins that use the DS's microphone. These pins have a limited use and a reboot time, so you'll have to strategise what moves to use so you won't be left open to attack.
Your partner, which at first will be Shiki, but you will get other partners in later chapters, fights on the top screen, by pressing the D-pad left or right to fight the enemies. While simply button bashing left or right will general get the job done, carefully matching up shapes at the end of combos to the cards at the top of the screen earns you fusion points, which lets you do a fusion attack that damages all enemies and restores a little health. Another aspect of the partnership is the Light Puck, which is passed along at the end of a combo, making attacks stronger through successive passing.
This system can be a bit overwhelming at first, but thankfully the way battles are thought are completely customiseable. Not got a hold of the partner control? Then let the computer take over after a certain amount of time. Getting your butt whupped? Set the battles to easy. Feel like a challenge? Then increase the difficulty and lower your level to make things harder but earn more pins and PP (used to level up your pins). Also, whilst your HP is generally restored at the end of the battle, you can chain multiple battles during scanning to earn more rewards at higher risk.
http://kotaku.com/assets/images/gallery/9/2007/12/medium_2088681181_90160120bc_o.jpg
Flying cat plushies ftw
But TWEWY isn't just about fighting. It's about style. There are different brands throughout Shibuya relating to pins and clothing. Unlike other games with change your physical appearance but does little else, clothing here doesn't actually change what you look like in-game but affects your battle stats, and also have abilities that will require you to make friendly with the shopkeeper selling the goods. At the beginning, just browsing through the items will reveal some of these abilities, but if you wanna get more, you'll need to buy things. Also, wearing some items require the right amount of bravery (particularly when it comes to girly items.) There is also food to be eaten which improves your natural stats and increases your bravery.
In terms of actual money, they come in pin form that you trash in the pins menu to get some cold hard cash. However, some items require pins and materials instead of cash, so you'll have to find a balance of getting some much needed dough and keeping the pins for when you need them.
Another aspect of the brands comes when fighting with pins. Each district of Shibuya has their own fashion chart, which determines how your pins play out in battle. The hottest brands will give you an attack boost whilst the most unpopular one will make your attacks weaker. Playing numerous battles in an area however boosts the popularity of the pin, which is required to solve some tasks. You can also inplement memes into the heads of people to make them think straight, but this bit's strictly for missions.
Whilst most of the time you're free to explore Shibuya and pick your fights to your liking, there are guys in red hoodies called Reapers that block off your path with a psychic wall. To remove these and progress, you'll have to complete a task which ranges from beating all the noise in an area to wearing a particular brand of clothing from head to toe.
http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/12/worldendswithyou.jpg
A desperate scream into the air. Every RPG protagonist must do it at least once.
In terms of presentation, it oozes with style. You can instantly tell the designer behind Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts was behind it. There are some neatly drawn sprites, wonderful cutscenes, some good voice acting that, thanks to being a text-driven game, doesn't great much, and some neat tunes. The story is wonderful and involving, and makes you care about the characters, even if they turn out to be downright jerks when you first meet them.
So any flaws? A few. Mainly relating to the battle system, particularly if you're wearing too many pins with similar stylus actions, it can be tricky to get the desired attack you want. Also, in situations where you'll really start to need your partner's help to get you fusion points or the light puck, s/he'll be getting her/his arse kicked a fair amount in a row if you don't put in the time to learn the dodging mechanics. Besides that, the music, whilst neat, can get a little repetitive after so many battles.
Nonetheless, in this day of gaming where every other game is either an fps, sequel or non-games for all ages, The World Ends With You brings something fresh and exciting to the mix, with some good execution I might add. It's one of those rare games that adds a lot of novel ideas, but never feels gimmicky. I definitely reccomend you give this a go, as it's like nothing else on the DS.
You play as Neku, who ticks the box for spiky haired lead character with personal issues, who wakes up in the middle of an alternate Shibuya, with no memory and a weird bunch of pins (badges to Brits). He then gets a text telling him to complete a mission in 60 minutes or else be erased, and then gets a freaky timer embedded on his hand. Before he has a chance to figure things out, he is chased after by Noise, the enemy fodder for this game, in one of the best non-FMV opening sequences in any game. On his own, he's pretty much doomed, but then he teams up with fellow player Shiki, and thus a pact is formed and the true dual gameplay starts.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/131/935689_20070512_screen002.jpg
Neku on the bottom screen, Shiki on the top screen, Befuzzled player not shown
For the relief of those who hated random battles from Final Fantasy and pretty much every other RPG since, this game has the complete opposite of that. With the exception of battles that come up during cutscenes, battles are entered by your own choice. This is done by using your Player Pin to scan the area, which not only lets your read people's thoughts, but also shows up Noise symbols, which are different in size depending how tough they are. If you want to battle one, just tap it, and the battle starts.
So in terms of actual fighting, you actual fight both enemies on two screens using each character. How the heck the enemies exist in two screens is beyond me, but whatever. On the bottom screen, you fight with Neku using the stylus, and you fight with your partner on the top screen with the D-pad (or face buttons if you're a lefty.) You both share a health bar, which KOs you if it meets in the middle, so even if Neku doesn't get hit an awful lot, if your partner takes a beating, you're screwed.
Neku's abilities are reliant on him wearing pins which, like FFVII's materia, give him the power to fight, can be levelled up with battles and are activated by different means. For example, there are pins that let you do simple melee attacks by slashing the enemies, projectiles fired by tapping the screen, and flames by dragging across empty space. There are even pins that use the DS's microphone. These pins have a limited use and a reboot time, so you'll have to strategise what moves to use so you won't be left open to attack.
Your partner, which at first will be Shiki, but you will get other partners in later chapters, fights on the top screen, by pressing the D-pad left or right to fight the enemies. While simply button bashing left or right will general get the job done, carefully matching up shapes at the end of combos to the cards at the top of the screen earns you fusion points, which lets you do a fusion attack that damages all enemies and restores a little health. Another aspect of the partnership is the Light Puck, which is passed along at the end of a combo, making attacks stronger through successive passing.
This system can be a bit overwhelming at first, but thankfully the way battles are thought are completely customiseable. Not got a hold of the partner control? Then let the computer take over after a certain amount of time. Getting your butt whupped? Set the battles to easy. Feel like a challenge? Then increase the difficulty and lower your level to make things harder but earn more pins and PP (used to level up your pins). Also, whilst your HP is generally restored at the end of the battle, you can chain multiple battles during scanning to earn more rewards at higher risk.
http://kotaku.com/assets/images/gallery/9/2007/12/medium_2088681181_90160120bc_o.jpg
Flying cat plushies ftw
But TWEWY isn't just about fighting. It's about style. There are different brands throughout Shibuya relating to pins and clothing. Unlike other games with change your physical appearance but does little else, clothing here doesn't actually change what you look like in-game but affects your battle stats, and also have abilities that will require you to make friendly with the shopkeeper selling the goods. At the beginning, just browsing through the items will reveal some of these abilities, but if you wanna get more, you'll need to buy things. Also, wearing some items require the right amount of bravery (particularly when it comes to girly items.) There is also food to be eaten which improves your natural stats and increases your bravery.
In terms of actual money, they come in pin form that you trash in the pins menu to get some cold hard cash. However, some items require pins and materials instead of cash, so you'll have to find a balance of getting some much needed dough and keeping the pins for when you need them.
Another aspect of the brands comes when fighting with pins. Each district of Shibuya has their own fashion chart, which determines how your pins play out in battle. The hottest brands will give you an attack boost whilst the most unpopular one will make your attacks weaker. Playing numerous battles in an area however boosts the popularity of the pin, which is required to solve some tasks. You can also inplement memes into the heads of people to make them think straight, but this bit's strictly for missions.
Whilst most of the time you're free to explore Shibuya and pick your fights to your liking, there are guys in red hoodies called Reapers that block off your path with a psychic wall. To remove these and progress, you'll have to complete a task which ranges from beating all the noise in an area to wearing a particular brand of clothing from head to toe.
http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/12/worldendswithyou.jpg
A desperate scream into the air. Every RPG protagonist must do it at least once.
In terms of presentation, it oozes with style. You can instantly tell the designer behind Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts was behind it. There are some neatly drawn sprites, wonderful cutscenes, some good voice acting that, thanks to being a text-driven game, doesn't great much, and some neat tunes. The story is wonderful and involving, and makes you care about the characters, even if they turn out to be downright jerks when you first meet them.
So any flaws? A few. Mainly relating to the battle system, particularly if you're wearing too many pins with similar stylus actions, it can be tricky to get the desired attack you want. Also, in situations where you'll really start to need your partner's help to get you fusion points or the light puck, s/he'll be getting her/his arse kicked a fair amount in a row if you don't put in the time to learn the dodging mechanics. Besides that, the music, whilst neat, can get a little repetitive after so many battles.
Nonetheless, in this day of gaming where every other game is either an fps, sequel or non-games for all ages, The World Ends With You brings something fresh and exciting to the mix, with some good execution I might add. It's one of those rare games that adds a lot of novel ideas, but never feels gimmicky. I definitely reccomend you give this a go, as it's like nothing else on the DS.