By Squarenix and Jupiter
Now reviewers have been throwing perfect scores at this game for quite some time now and i got curious to see what the big deal is. Now, admittedly, picking your forms of entertainment based on what some loud-mouthed internet reviewer with a shtick says is the height of stupidity, but when EVERY loud-mouth idiot with a schtick on the internet is giving it a perfect score, maybe there's something to it.
Of course, they might all just as equally be gushing fanboys with nothing relevant to say. Don't believe me? Check out all the "perfect 10's" in the "reader reviews" section of IGN at http://rr.ds.ign.com/rr/ds/ - there are 2 pages of them.
But i digress: after all, you're all here to hear what i, and i alone, think, right? Well...
When i first sat down to play TWEWY, i thought it was gimmicky, hard to control, disliked its "stylized" graphics and music and thought it had a predictable story. However, since i'm not so jaded as to call a game a flop after an hour or so of gameplay, i decided to stick it out and damn-it all if i didn't enjoy it. But here's the kicker: all those previous complaints STILL STAND. The controls are awkward, the fighting seems gimmicky, the story's predictable and i STILL don't like the stylized graphics and music. But, that's not to say it's a bad game.
Gameplay and Control:
The number one thing that bugged me about the game was by FAR the control: it's both gimmicky and non-responsive. Running around the map is fine, but when you enter a battle you're forced to attack using a series of pins that are activated with various stylus controls. Problem is, the game has a punishingly difficult time trying to discern whatever the hell you're trying to do. This is only compounded by the vague and often stupidly worded instructions given to you by the game itself:
"Touch empty space to fire a bullet in that direction". It took me more than half the game to figure out that "touching empty space" is pointless and the effect i wanted was better accomplished by tapping repeatedly on whatever enemy i wanted to hit. So, why didn't they say "tap repeatedly on the enemy you want to hit"? Well, because that's the control sequence for a DIFFERENT set of pins (guess how those pins work).
I'd like to say you get used to this kind of thing, but you won't - anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Instead, you'll use a subset of pins with control sequences that you've "learned" to do and sparingly (if ever) use the rest.
But wait, there's more!
On top of trying to control your own character on the bottom screen, you have to control a partner character who fights along with you on the top screen. They use the D-pad (or abxy if you're a lefty) to fight. Controlling your partner is more straightforward than the stylus commands, but still non-trivial as you have to build up "fusion attacks". To do so, you have to attack "in a certain way" to generate fusion stars. Collect enough stars and you get your fusion attack.
The fusions aren't really necessary, but they do a shit-load of damage and restore health, so they're highly desirable, especially in a pinch. Problem is, each partner (there are three of them) generates fusion stars in a different way. Add on that you're probably trying to get your main charater's attack to work the way you want it and the fusion stars end up largely being generated "by chance".
Now, controlling two characters separately and simultaneously on 2 different screens is nothing short of a painful exercise in multitasking. But thankfully, the game provides you with some VERY basic AI to control your partner so you can focus a little more on the lower screen. Of course, the AI will only work hard enough to make it look like your partner's not deliberately trying to die - no harder. Ultimately, by the end of the game, you will be controlling both fighters, if only to avoid perpetual death at higher difficulties.
Graphics and Music:
Well, now that we've talked about the controls, let's move to the graphics and music. They both pretty much have the same feel, imo: they both feel overly stylized. I'm not normally one to complain about graphics, but it just bugs me that each and every character was drawn with a waist no thicker than their already absurdly thin wrists. It's grating for the eyes! Bitch about "deformed, big headed Link" all you want, at least it's not visually painful to look at. When i can see the bones jutting out of the characters hips and limbs, i get incredibly squeamish. I don't know, this may be just me, but it's still a very valid criticism (moreso if "big headed link" is considered "valid criticism").
The music, too, seems to have some kind of style it's trying to force on the player. This isn't a bad thing: lots of games have style (edgy, dark, whatever). But what i noticed the most was that TWEWY's music... had lyrics! Yes, lyrics in a game, let alone a squarenix game. At first i was blown away. "This is great," i thought. Having a song you can sing to (not that i'd ever do that... out loud), is very inventive and not often seen in video games. But, let us examine WHY most games don't have lyrics. Do you know? Oh, i bet you do. (ed: whiny reader "no, i swear i don't! Please, oh master of the internets, explain it to me!")
Lyrical music, even the best of it, gets tiresome after a while. This is because lyrics "jump out" at a listener (compared to purely melodic music which can drift into the background). When you're listening to the same 100 minutes of songs for many many hours of gameplay you can't help but get bored with them and find even the music you liked at the beginning a little "played out". So, while i commend the game makers for their innovation, i do have to say that i'd prefer non-lyrical music in my games. The music is the background to a game's gameplay and story and that's where it should stay.
The Story:
Arguably one of the most important aspects of any game, particularly RPG's. I mean, let's face it, game play is largely identical for games in the same genre. Having played Final Fantasy's 1-8 inclusive, i can safely say there's very little difference here, yet people still buy and play the next one... why? Story. Story, story story... (though, even with final fantasy's they come to look all the same, too).
So what's the story of TWEWY? I'm not gonna say! After all, that's giving away one of the bigger parts that you should probably experience yourself... just like the frustrating controls.
No, the story's not terrible, but it's not all that great, either. I mean, not all that great compared to other RPG's. Maybe it's because i'm a writer and i'm used to thinking deeply about plot lines or because i've played so damned many RPGs already, but i found the story quite predictable. Many of the "big secrets" didn't hold any punch and even the misleading clues they'd throw in weren't effective. The more ferociously they pushed a clue, the more i'd discount it:
"Gee, they're really pushing this angle... i bet it's wrong." And i'd always be right. Guess it's not really the game's fault. Sort of a problem with stories in general these days. Anyway, it's still worth a mention.
Now, given i've complained in non-significant terms about control, music, graphics and story, what could possibly be left that would make me like this game? Well, that's where my next heading comes in:
Characters:
Yes, characters. While the story is, at the best of times, average, it does a remarkably good job of establishing the characters you encounter. This is most definitely deliberate since the story's sort of about how the main character (Neku) hates other people (a kid after my own heart), but learns a lesson about friendship anyway (quitter!).
In his adventures around Shibuya (a section of Tokyo), Neku encounters a number of characters and sees how they interact with each other and their surrounding. Their interactions, though not always realistic, are all believable and charming in their own ways. It's quite entertaining to watch how the background characters will play out their own independent stories in the background, completely oblivious to the game's main plot.
But it's not just the background characters that are charming in their own way: the game even provides you with some foreground characters who have breadth and depth all their own. One villainous character has even risen the ranks to become a verifiable fan favourite: Sho Minamimoto. A twisted "math genius" (i give the game extreme leeway here) with aspirations of dominance who can't help but spout mathematical puns and mnemonic devices at every opportunity. Sounds stupid, right? Well it's not!
I, myself, loved the usage of stupid math puns and references. Minamimoto uses mnemonics like "Soh Cah Toa" (trigonometry) and "FOIL: First Outer Inner Last" (binomial multiplication) as threats while deriding Neku as "so zetta slow" (that is, "10^21 slow". What?). It's so corny, it goes past the line separating "good" from "bad", all the way around the world and ends up back on the "good" side. You really have to hear it to know what i mean.
Of course, these "threats" only have any real impact thanks to the BRILLIANT voice acting - and i emphasize brilliant here. What makes the voice acting so good?
First of all, the voice acting is done SPARINGLY. While most games with voice acting push it for every single vocalization, doing so makes the game feel drawn out and kills immersion. If you've ever played an Ace Attorney game (or any game with ample text and story to it), just imagine how painful it would be if every single word was vocalized.
Yeah.
The other thing that makes the voice acting superb is the voice ACTORS. Consider my good friend Minamimoto again (NB: he's not actually a friend. He spends the game trying to kill you). Whoever did his voice for the english dub deserves a bloody medal. Yelling out those mathematical puns couldn't've been easy on the soul - i know, i've tried. But he still had all the emphasis and inflection required of the role.
I know this sounds like I'M gushing now (ed: whiny reader "you love everyone"), but i'm truly in awe. After seeing so many other (probably better paid) actors doing half-assed jobs in movies and on tv, refusing to do some scene or take certain roles because they "don't do
*sigh*
Anyway, i could go on on this, but there's literally so much more to talk about in the game and the review's already "so zetta long" (ed: whiny reader "what does that even MEAN!?"). There's a lot more nitpicking i could do, but ultimately there's nothing really all that bad with the game. I stand by what i said: even though i've now completed the game and enjoyed it very much, the control in combat, graphics and music still leave something to be desired. But none of what it could be detracts from what it currently is.
All in all, The World Ends With You is fun, challenging and worth hours of game play. I give it my highest grade ever: a B plus plus.
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