Video game: The World Ends With You

My thoughts on a DS game.

I wasn't all that struck by 'The World Ends With You'. The coolest thing about it was that it was set in Shibuya - and I started playing it one night after being in the real Shibuya! But the gameplay irritated me for two main reasons.

First, it felt too restrictive. I always felt like there was always a very specific thing I had to do for every task. It would give you the illusion of giving you the freedom to run around and explore and solve puzzles, but actually you'd be restricted to a few screens with few real options to try out.

The second was the battle mode. I know it's innovative, having two characters fighting on separate screens of the DS at the same time. But it's distracting! The battles move too fast to really get 'used' to the controls and become more skillful. By the time I realise 'control' has passed to Shiki, the key combinations have flown past and it's back to Neku, who's probably getting beaten up since I took my eye off him for one second.

I like the dual-combat idea in theory, but in practice I just can't get the hang of it. And battles usually seem to be a random thrashing of the DS screen, requiring more luck than skill. And I don't like having to control Neku's movements AND attacks with the DS stylus. I'd like to control his movements with the keypad, and his attacks with the stylus. Anyway, just my gripes. That's why I gave up on this game quite quickly.

I would probably be more forgiving of the controls if the game's story had gripped me just a little more. Actually it's made by the same people who did Final Fantasy, and it kind of shows. The main character is that typical closed-off 'I don't need friends', loner 'cool' guy. But even despite my small experience with RPGs, he is too stereotypical to be interesting. When he says 'I don't need anyone,' despite having just seen otherwise, I just feel irritated, rather than intrigued. Like 'oh yeah, you're so original...'

The other thing I don't like about the storytelling is the lack of filling in details. I noticed this with Final Fantasy 8, the only other Square Enix game I played. Extremely strange or puzzling events would happen, yet none of the characters would properly discuss or question them. Here, I kept wanting Neku to say: 'okay, so, Shiki, could you tell me all about this 'Game', tell me everything you know about it. How did we get involved? Who are these 'Reapers'? How did all of this start?' But he never does, and it's irritating.