The Nintendo DS has been in a rut lately. Nearly four years out of the gate, it seems that developers have exhausted every creative aspect of the hardware. Meanwhile, Square-Enix has been notorious recently for releasing remake after remake of titles from their popular franchises. The DS has been the recipient for a number of these rehashes, including both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest remakes. Perhaps this is why The World Ends With You is such a breath of fresh air. Not only is it the beginning of a fantastic new property for Square, it manages to make the DS feel new again, asking you to utilize the hardware like no other game in recent memory. It is the best, most creative addition to the DS library since Phantom Hourglass, and an absolute must-have.

The World Ends With You (WEWY) is all about style, but luckily, not without plenty of substance to go with it. You play as Neku, an antisocial, 15-year-old that finds himself invisible in the middle of Shibuya, an extremely crowded shopping district in Tokyo. To make matters worse, he receives a text message telling him to get to another part of town, or face erasure. The story that enfolds from there is intriguing at its best, corny at its worst. It’s certainly worth following, and throws some nice curveballs at you here and there, but it’s far from the best Square has to offer. In fact, it’s extremely similar to the plot of Gantz, a slightly obscure manga series, but it would be spoilers if I told you too much why. Neku himself just makes matters worse, as he’s far from a likable character. He’s a spiky-haired, arrogant brat with amnesia. Hmm.. where have I seen that before?