Spigot
05-31-2009, 08:40 PM
It's E3 week and that means another round of FFXIII screenshots and a slew of other announcements from the hallowed halls of Square Enix. It's a shame that the publisher has spent the majority of its time and money pursuing the twin cash cows of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest as it has meant that gems like this week's selection are very few and far between.
The World Ends With You
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3583981920_d9169ae5fa.jpg?v=0
Year: 2008
Platform: DS
Rating: Scratchy
# of Players: 1
In a move that hearkened back to the Square of the late 1990s, SquareEnix released The World Ends With You last April and while it did well, it deserves to have its praises sung at least one more time.
Are you sick of wandering through yet another generic fantasy village or sci-fi dystopia in your quest to save the world? A lot of people are, yet very few companies want to take a chance outside of those well worn settings. Thankfully Square took the plunge and gave us one of the most unique, yet mundane, settings for a JRPG so far.
The entire world of The World Ends With You is the Shibuya shopping district of modern day Tokyo. You will be sending your character running from block to block and into a variety of restaurants, shops and other hang-outs as they try to unravel the twisting plot. The game's visuals are very influenced by manga and graffiti and most of the main characters are representative of the tech and fashion savvy teens of modern Tokyo. The soundtrack is also fantastic. TWEWY has a very modern J-Pop and techno influenced sound and you'll be humming along to most of the songs within minutes of starting the game.
While playing as teenagers is nothing new in a JRPG, TWEWY has the protagonists actually act like real teens. You can even influence fashion trends which in turn gives you bonuses depending on what you're wearing and whether or not it's in fashion in that particular part of town.
The high point of the game, in my opinion, was the plot. I have been playing JRPGs since the days of the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior games on the NES and you can usually spot the plot twists and overall outcome of the story of most JRPGs long before they happen. In a refreshing change of pace, TWEWY had me guessing at what was going to happen next from the start of the game right up until the incredible ending. Unfortunately, I can't say much more about the story without ruining one of the multitude of shocking twists that you'll bump into over the course of the game. In a nutshell you play as Neku, a self-centered jerk of a teenager who finds himself alone in the mad scramble at the heart of Shinjuku with most of his memories gone and a strange timer imprinted on his hand. According to the timer, Neku has 7 days to play the 'Game' and if he fails, the world will end. And that's all I can say about the story. To say any more than that would ruin things, though I will state that Neku does change from an emo-jerk to someone you'll care about after the first few hours go by. Watching his progression out of his shell is one of the many neat characterizations portrayed throughout the course of the game.
Another stand-out aspect of the game is its unique dual-screen, real-time combat system. Using a variety of pins that you purchase, find or evolve during the game, you can pull off a multitude of different attacks. Some require you to scratch the screen, others have tossing cars and other objects around the screen using the stylus and there are even a few that use the microphone on the DS to trigger cyclones and other earthshattering attacks. You will always be partnered up with another character that you can either have direct control over via the D-pad or controlled by the AI or a combination of both styles of control. It can be rather overwhelming at first, but once you master the combat system and start building up power to pull off screen-clearing combos and special attacks, it becomes second nature.
That's about all I have to say about the game. It has a tonne of content in the game itself and once you finish the game, it still has a pile of post-game content to unlock that helps unravel many of the mysteries posed over the course of the game. Add all of that to a presentation that stands out from all of the usual sword & sorcery & laserguns that comprise the genre and you have a game that everyone should try. It's also different enough that I think a lot of people who don't like JRPGs on principle would probably enjoy it because of how far it tries to distance itself from the conventions of the genre.
Here's the trailer and this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0569Wt-cZ0) is what I consider the best song on the soundtrack.
QmLdyyFKjxQ
You can still find TWEWY fairly easily at most game retailers.
The World Ends With You
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3583981920_d9169ae5fa.jpg?v=0
Year: 2008
Platform: DS
Rating: Scratchy
# of Players: 1
In a move that hearkened back to the Square of the late 1990s, SquareEnix released The World Ends With You last April and while it did well, it deserves to have its praises sung at least one more time.
Are you sick of wandering through yet another generic fantasy village or sci-fi dystopia in your quest to save the world? A lot of people are, yet very few companies want to take a chance outside of those well worn settings. Thankfully Square took the plunge and gave us one of the most unique, yet mundane, settings for a JRPG so far.
The entire world of The World Ends With You is the Shibuya shopping district of modern day Tokyo. You will be sending your character running from block to block and into a variety of restaurants, shops and other hang-outs as they try to unravel the twisting plot. The game's visuals are very influenced by manga and graffiti and most of the main characters are representative of the tech and fashion savvy teens of modern Tokyo. The soundtrack is also fantastic. TWEWY has a very modern J-Pop and techno influenced sound and you'll be humming along to most of the songs within minutes of starting the game.
While playing as teenagers is nothing new in a JRPG, TWEWY has the protagonists actually act like real teens. You can even influence fashion trends which in turn gives you bonuses depending on what you're wearing and whether or not it's in fashion in that particular part of town.
The high point of the game, in my opinion, was the plot. I have been playing JRPGs since the days of the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior games on the NES and you can usually spot the plot twists and overall outcome of the story of most JRPGs long before they happen. In a refreshing change of pace, TWEWY had me guessing at what was going to happen next from the start of the game right up until the incredible ending. Unfortunately, I can't say much more about the story without ruining one of the multitude of shocking twists that you'll bump into over the course of the game. In a nutshell you play as Neku, a self-centered jerk of a teenager who finds himself alone in the mad scramble at the heart of Shinjuku with most of his memories gone and a strange timer imprinted on his hand. According to the timer, Neku has 7 days to play the 'Game' and if he fails, the world will end. And that's all I can say about the story. To say any more than that would ruin things, though I will state that Neku does change from an emo-jerk to someone you'll care about after the first few hours go by. Watching his progression out of his shell is one of the many neat characterizations portrayed throughout the course of the game.
Another stand-out aspect of the game is its unique dual-screen, real-time combat system. Using a variety of pins that you purchase, find or evolve during the game, you can pull off a multitude of different attacks. Some require you to scratch the screen, others have tossing cars and other objects around the screen using the stylus and there are even a few that use the microphone on the DS to trigger cyclones and other earthshattering attacks. You will always be partnered up with another character that you can either have direct control over via the D-pad or controlled by the AI or a combination of both styles of control. It can be rather overwhelming at first, but once you master the combat system and start building up power to pull off screen-clearing combos and special attacks, it becomes second nature.
That's about all I have to say about the game. It has a tonne of content in the game itself and once you finish the game, it still has a pile of post-game content to unlock that helps unravel many of the mysteries posed over the course of the game. Add all of that to a presentation that stands out from all of the usual sword & sorcery & laserguns that comprise the genre and you have a game that everyone should try. It's also different enough that I think a lot of people who don't like JRPGs on principle would probably enjoy it because of how far it tries to distance itself from the conventions of the genre.
Here's the trailer and this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0569Wt-cZ0) is what I consider the best song on the soundtrack.
QmLdyyFKjxQ
You can still find TWEWY fairly easily at most game retailers.