by Some games trade substance for visual flash. But in the action role-playing game The World Ends With You, the world of fashion is the game’s substance. You play as a teenager in Japan’s colorful Shibuya district suffering from amnesia and in a desperate battle for survival in “The Reapers Game.” The game is available as separate downloads for the iPhone ($18) and iPad ($20); devices must be running iOS 4.3 or later.
The anime-inspired artwork and strange story are the products of Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts team, who also developed the original Nintendo DS version of this game. The multiple-screen format of the original title translates to iOS fairly well; the game takes place in cut scenes, in crowded Shibuya street hubs, and in battle instances where you confront graffiti-inspired animals called “Noise.” Only in the battle instances does the need for an additional screen prove apparent—switching out weapons or getting information on the Noise can only be performed in the game’s hubs, but not in the barebones battle screen.
The world is introduced slowly over the first few hours (yes, hours) of gameplay, with the amnesiac Neku bringing up plot points repeatedly to ensure everyone is up to speed. Essentially, the “Reapers Game” takes place in an underground dimension that exists in parallel to the real world. Neku and his friends, the Reapers (another opponent), and the Noise can all see each other but are largely invisible to the crowded streets of people in the real world, with the exception of shop keepers who you will buy from.
Neku and his friends use pins that instill powers that can be upgraded and used in combination to score points. Use a gesture on the touchscreen, and Neku unleashes ice walls and energy blasts or syncs up with his partner for elaborate attacks. A neat feature of the game (and a handy way to avoid the grind of leveling) is that you’ll be granted experience for certain pins even when you don’t play. I stepped away from the game for a weekend and came back to see some of my attack pins gained several levels in my absence.
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