The World Ends With You--Nintendo DS

The World Ends With You, known in Japan as It’s a Wonderful World, is an action RPG for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console.  The game features a distinctive art style inspired by the aesthetics of Shibuya youth culture.  Set within the modern world of Shibuya, Tokyo, Neku Sakuraba awakes to find himself in a struggle for his existence within a mysterious game constructed by a group known as the Reapers.  Neku has a seven day time limit to complete missions assigned to him along with an eclectic group of people playing the Reaper’s game.

The gameplay mainly focuses on finding clues and battling Noise.  Battles are player-chosen encounters.  The player scans the area for fights at any time, however, during some parts of the game, there will be Noise that are aggressive and initiate battles that you cannot escape.  Another feature of the game is a flexible difficulty curve.  A player may alter the game’s difficulty in order to influence item drop rates.

The game is divided into three chapters, called Shiki, Joshua, and Beat.  An extra story called “Another Day--This Day Ends With You” is accessible after clearing the main game.  Players can use new abilities by collecting pins scattered throughout Shibuya, and the pins are obtained either by defeating Noise or purchasing them in stores.  Different pins allow Neku to use different abilities.  Players can also buy clothing and food for Neku and his partners in the stores located across Shibuya.  These purchases increase Brave points, offense and defense points, and synchronization percentage.  HP between Neku and his partner is shared, and when Neku and his partner lose all their HP during battle, the game is over.