Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1958 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Square Enix
• Released on: 2008-04-18
• Platform: Nintendo DS

Product Features

Experience the coolest district in Tokyo with distinctive, high quality graphics.

Innovative combat system that makes full use of the Nintendo DS hardware!

Hip characters each with unique personalities and stylish sense in fashion, music and culture.

Use fantastic psychic powers to read and influence minds, and move objects to help you progress!

Amazing audio soundtrack with a diverse fusion of hip-hop, rock and electronica.

A creative and modern tale of friendship, hope and overcoming your challenges.

Shop till you drop! Keep abreast of the latest trends and trade items with friends in the unique Mingle Mode via DS Wireless Play.

Minigame fun for up to four players via DS Wireless Play!

Amazon.co.uk Review

Square Enix has created many impressive looking DS games, but this wholly original title, from the same team behind Kingdom Hearts, is easily their best. Nothing about the game is conventional --from the contemporary setting in Tokyo’s trendiest shopping district to a split-screen combat system in which you battle graffiti-like monsters with the stylus on the bottom screen while using the pad for a controlling a different style of action on the top screen. With great depth and a vast array of customisation options, The World Ends with You tops it all off with stunning graphics and the best DS soundtrack.

Amazon.co.uk

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU is an all-new, revolutionary adventure experience for Nintendo DS, brought to you by the makers of the critically acclaimed, multi-million-selling KINGDOM HEARTS series.

Trapped in the coolest district in Tokyo, only with the best fashions, friends and fighting skills around can you hope to defeat the Noise and the mysterious Shinigami Corporation, to restore hope to the city’s population and prevent being stricken from existence altogether!

Customer Reviews

The best RPG on the DS, bar none people!
Unbelievably lacking in hype, The World Ends With You is unequivocally the best RPG out now for the Nintendo DS. Why? Because any game that continually draws you deeper and deeper into its story and constantly draw you deeper and deeper into the game mechanics deserves all the praise it so rightfully earns itself.

You play as grumpy, irritating teenager Neku Sakuraba who has apparently just died and been planted into the world of UG Shibuya. You must survive seven days literally in a game of life or death by completing set missions that are sent to you each day. Failure to complete the mission by any of the players taking part means instant deletion.

The game has you pairing up with several characters, who appears on the top screen whilst Neku appears on the touchscreen, and has ou battling against evil monsters called 'Noise' who are essentially there to try and delete you. However, there are also the Reapers, who organise this little game (little game, who are we kidding? THEY'RE ALL GONNA DIE!) - their mission? To kill you basically.

Amazingly, despite a fairly dark undertone, the story is actually quite charming and occasionally light-hearted. There are some good characters and some fantastic character development - you may start hating Neku but you warm to him after a while as he opens up and stops being such a jackass - and some wonderful NPCs to contend with.

What really sells the game is the wonderful array of gameplay mechanics involved - there are far too many to list - all of them are perfectly implemented, never feeling forced, and always leave you wanting to know what's next. It's a deeply rewarding system and the combat, while initially confusing and difficult to master, almost becomes second nature.

It is far too fantastic a game to NOT recommend to anyone. I don't care if you don't like RPGs, I would fully recommend this to everyone I know if I had the chance to.

Here I am: The World Ends With You is the most incredible experience on the DS so far. I am saying this without hyperbole. No other game has had me up so long at night wanting to just level up. Brilliant under all circumstances.

I am completely loving this game
Amazing graphics, complex and imaginative storyline, developed characters, innovative use of the DS dual-screen capabilities all combine in this interactive manga RPG. It's great to look at and excellent to play. Highly recommended for people who like RPGs with an interesting story.

Only downside is that the fighting elements are a bit repetitive, but once you've climbed the learning curve they don't have to take too long, and you earn new skills on the way.

The game begins with you
Bright, colourful, funky and refreshing. The World Ends with You jumps out and hits you like a cold shower in a turgid swamp of grime. Square have cleaned the land of random battles, grinding and the general choreish nature of many RPGs and taken a whole new approach.

The story is set in modern times and the basic premise is that you find your character Neku awakening in an alternate Shibuya, with no memory and where only certain people can see him and he has 7 days to live. In a very small nutshell that's the basics of the story and all you need to know really, it's best to let this one fold out with as few preconceptions as possible. Be assured though that the story is both original and of high quality and, along with the visual style, quite unique. The visuals themselves are very impressive and although they don't look like they're pushing the DS to its limits they are certainly distinctive and great to look at. Think Manga-esque with the cel-shaded jagged edges and heavy black outlines of Jet Set Radio except in pure comic book 2D.

Combat takes place in real time and is actually initiated by the player rather than completely random. From initiating the fight you are taken into battle mode where you can control two characters, one on each screen. The bottom screen is controlled using the stylus to use certain equipped "pins" that allow Neku to attack the enemies on his screen in a variety of different ways. On the top screen you use the D-pad or face buttons (if left-handed) to attack the same characters but they are also represented as separate entities on the top screen. It's quite hard to describe and certainly takes some time to get used to controlling two screens at once. Should you require it though you can elect to have the computer take care of the top screen action whilst you focus on the battle below.

Levelling up takes place for both your characters and also the pins that Neku equips. The more you use pins the stronger they get and with over 300 pins to collect in the game there are a hell of a lot of options to customise your deck and find your favourite tactic for taking on the enemies.

This is by far one of the best games to grace the DS and contains many hours of game time to boot with a lot of replay value. Trying to collect all the pins in the game will likely take longer than a thorough play through of such Behemoth sized games as Oblivion. I managed to clock up 200 hours playtime and still hadn't completed everything that the game had to offer.

Games like this should be encouraged as it is seldom that such brave experiments and innovations are tested in today's mainstream risk adverse gaming market. It is safe to say that this experiment has certainly paid off by providing gamers with a rich, unique and vibrant experience unlike no other to grace a handheld.