In the city of Shibuya, colorful buildings spar and
rise against each other, and traditional ramen chefs butt heads against the
newest trends and fashions. Young and old citizens fill the streets, plagued by
the "noise" of their private anxieties. But if you're a teenager stuck in the
underground version of Shibuya, you're practically invisible: You can read
people's thoughts, shape the trends, and run wild through the streets amid a
soundtrack of shockingly not-bad J-pop. The only catch is that you're trapped
in a deadly game, and you don't even know who's out to kill you.
With The World Ends With You, the team behind the Kingdom Hearts series has created a
role-playing game with an edgy, real-world aesthetic. To the usual grind of
raising stats and beating bosses, they added a fast-paced style, with
collectible pins providing your powers and combat that's executed with quick
slashes and stabs of the DS stylus. But the aesthetic would be empty without
the engrossing story and sympathetic characters—or if the game didn't so
deftly balance the fear of losing everything with the charm of the supporting
cast, local legends, and strange recurring landmarks like the infamous "phone
booth of love." It's the perfect setting for a story about coming out from
under your headphones and connecting with the world.