Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

For me, DS games have generally been a let down. Out of quite a sizable collection, the Legend of Zelda and Trauma Centre have been the only two to keep my attention.

That is…until I got The World Ends With You.

This is undoubtedly one of the best DS games around and really showcases the 2D capabilities of the DS. Between stylishly designed anime cut scenes you'll find yourself running and dashing and fighting in a lively Shibuya with outstanding smoothness and detail.

The story is nothing short of bizarre. Neku, our angsty, spiky haired, Japanese teen hero finds himself in Shibuya participating in 'The Game' governed by 'Reapers' and filled with enemies referred to as 'Noise'. Your mission… is to win. Really, only Square Enix could come up with such a strange story accompanied by crazy characters with catchphrases out of this zetta world!

But that's the whole charm really. Upon opening the game I must admit I was in despair at it's incredible emo-ness. Even the title seems depressing but as the story unfolded, I realised that the whole thing was just a spoof of everything about the emo culture; when you can dress the lead in a frilly dress, you know you're not dealing with Cloude Strife.

The strangeness of the game nicely leads me to the game play. Now, this made my head explode for a few hours. The duel-screen fighting system is hard, but once mastered it is well worth the work. Neku and his partner work together to defeat enemies existing in both screens but in different plains (Don't lose me here!) which means both characters must be active at the same time as to not be hurt. As your partner combos up, you can unlock a mega attack where the two work together to bring down the Noise. It's hard!! Luckily you can have your partner an auto play- its risky and they may die, but it helps ease you into this complex system.

The pin system is the real star though. These pins possess 'Psych' which are powers Neku can use. One pin can make Neku use telekinesis, whilst another can create a huge wall of fire. Levelling up these pins takes time, but very addictive. You can also customize your 'deck' to suit your style- if you prefer ranged weapons you can certainly put many pins of that type in your deck to use. The disadvantage of this system is, however, that the DS has trouble in distinguishing one scribble from the other, ruining your plans for attack.

Really, this game is a JRPG and will not appeal to those who dislike JRPG's. If however, you either don't mind/like/love this genre and are familiar with the works of Square Enix, then this game is certainly game worth trying out!