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I am a fan of Square games. No, I am not talking about games that come on cartridges specifically (although in this case the game IS square as well as made by Square/Enix). I have been there for whatever Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts game is up for release each year. My addiction started back in the days of the SNES and has been reinforced by each quality game released through the years. The World Ends With You is no exception to this, although it is a bit different that what I have experienced in the past.

The World Ends With You was designed by Team Jupiter, the same team responsible for bringing us the Disney-Square mash-up known as Kingdom Hearts. Their little design touches can be seen throughout this modern-setting handheld RPG. They have taken a little section of Japanese culture and put their fantastic twist on the traditional console RPG.

The game takes place in a part of Tokyo called Shibuya, but as you play you quickly realize that this is not Shibuya proper. It's more of a side dimension that has been setup to host a strange game where the penalty for losing is death. The game is hosted and controlled by beings known as Reapers who share the responsibility of both controlling the missions and attempting to catch lone players to "erase" them. All of these sound rather strange at first, but as you progress you find out much more of the well-written plot and how your characters tie into things.

There are two main characters you will play. The first is Neku - the primary character - someone with a few issues to overcome. He wakes up in the street of this alternate world without his memory and has no idea what is going on around him - unlike the other players you run into through the course of the game who seem to at least know why they are there even if they don't know what they should be doing. Neku is quickly joined by Shiki who quickly informs him of the requirement of working as a duo to complete the missions. You do find and interact with other characters and players in this twisted game but these will be your main characters.

The two-player team is also the main style of combat. Forgoing the normal turn based staple of previous RPG titles, a system has been de you fight two separate battles at once. Neku battles are represented on the bottom screen of the DS in which you use the stylus to move and use a multitude of attacks by drawing on the screen. Your partner fights his/her battles on the top screen using an interesting technique that involves either moving the D-pad or the face buttons (I'm left handed so I was happy to see the option) in the directions of a pattern for varying attacks. According to the discussions in the game your two characters are fighting the same enemies but on two different planes, and that is the only way to defeat the "Noise" which are the encounters in the game. This mechanic takes some getting used to as you have to split your attention to the two tasks but luckily there is a built in mechanism that allows for the AI to take over the top screen if you let it sit for a period of time.

Entering battles is more interesting than having them simply pop up randomly. The powers in the game are based on pins which you collect from fights or through plot driven cut scenes but as you begin the game you have only one, your player pin. This pin has a specific power: to read the minds of the people of the real world. When you tap the button on the screen the world turns blue and any of the people milling about the area may show they are thinking. In addition to this invasion of inner-most thoughts the Noise, or enemies, exist in this place and show up on the screen as floating symbols that can be tapped to initiate a fight.

The game is full of subtleties that only enhance the overall experience. The fashion element is unique: Brand names of clothing and accessories cause different effects on battles in each district. There is a collection of items related to the pins that give you different attack types. This is made even more interesting based on the adjustable difficulty that allows for more item drops if you sacrifice some overall experience gain.

There is even a system where players can eat different meals that give bonuses to various stats. But in addition to the immediate bonuses, there is another bonus based on fighting fights and digesting the meal you have eaten. Even while you are not playing the game you gain experience. The game looks at how long you were away from it and awards you experience based on that.

Then there are the ton of little multiplayer elements from a mini-game you can play with others on Wi-Fi, to a detection mode that will look for others that are using their DS in Wi-Fi even if they aren't playing the game and allow you to gain experience based on that interaction. All of these little additions flesh out an already wonderful game experience. If you like to keep things simple, it can be slightly overwhelming to juggle some parts of the game.

Visually, the game design is very different than many other games I have played. It is laden with style … so much that it becomes a focus in the overall gameplay. You see elements of design from Kingdom Hearts but I also see some style found in the Jet Set Radio games. Either way, the art direction is top notch. It's the little details make it that much more appealing.

The World Ends With You has a great soundtrack although has little in the way of other sounds that I noticed. The music is so appealing that I found myself on the internet looking for a track listing. There is very little in regards to voice over work but what there is, is well done.

This game has much to offer anyone that is a fan of the genre - and even some to those who are not - that I recommend you run out and pick this up and play it. It's a fun little game with multitudes of additional things to do within the main storyline that it should keep you busy for quite some time. Don't dismiss the plot and design are because they very Japanese and you may not have enjoyed this in the past; you quickly become invested in the cultural differences as things progress.