The World Ends With You

Square Enix’s latest RPG breaks away from an endless stream of Final Fantasy games to offer one of the most unique titles in recent memory; The World Ends With You for the Nintendo DS. The story centers around Neku Sakuraba, a teen entrenched in Japanese culture. Neku awakens one day to find himself in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, and realizes he has the ability to hear the thoughts of the people around him. Neku meets others with the same incredible ability and discovers that he become a participant in the Reaper’s Game, which forces him to wage war against the “Noise”, which are representations of man’s negative thoughts in the form of beasts and objects enshrouded in evil. Neku is left without much of a choice, as anyone who does not compete will be obliterated from existence.

“The World Ends With You”, which comes from the creators of Kingdom Hearts and has an online component, features a number of elements that give it a distinct personality in a crowded genre:

• The game is an action RPG that requires you to control two characters at once, one on the top screen and another on the bottom.
• Developer’s desired to create a game that anyone could play, and have included a “difficulty meter.” If a level is too hard, or a boss battle simply too daunting, one can lower the difficulty, beat the boss, and raise it again afterwards. Playing on a higher difficulty nets you more prizes, but there is no penalty for taking it easy.
• Your characters gain experience even when the game is off, to encourage players who have left the game for a week or two to come, and find that Neku has become significantly stronger.
• In spite of a dark and mysterious story, the game is kept lighthearted with plenty of character interaction, a soundtrack that features a blend of J-Pop and English music and tons of references to the youth culture in Tokyo.

Set For Release: April 22, 2008