The World Ends With You

I picked up a game last week when I was in Wichita, called "The World Ends With You". Cheery title, huh? But I thought; hey, it's by Square-Enix, and they've got a pretty good track record as far as I'm concerned.
TWEWY (as the forums have taken to calling it) is a recent title from the Square-Enix's RPG offerings. RPGs or "Role-Playing Games" is a fairly broad category which pretty much boils down to "characters get stronger by gaining experience, usually by winning fights".[1] I usually prefer turn-based to aRPGs[2], but I figured I'd give it a shot. If I didn't like it, I could always sell it back to Gamestop and not totally be at a loss.
TWEWY's unique battle system takes some getting used to; it's also something that probably could not have been done a system other than the DS. While Neko (your character) fights on the bottom screen using the various touch commands, you direct your partner's top screen attacks using the D-pad or ABXY buttons[3].
You start out with a limited number of spells/attacks/useful things to do, each signified by a different pin. Yes, your magic powers are fueled by casual-dining restaurant flair; oh, excuse me... designer casual-dining restaurant style flair. After the tutorial battles, you'll equip two of a half-dozen fairly standard fantasy tropes. You've got your sword swing, a wall of fire, a magic missile, a hand to throw obstacles with, lightning, and a limited-use cure spell.
But because it's an RPG -- at least in my opinion -- the story is at least as important (if not more so) as the combat. So, you wake up in the middle of Shibuya, basically Tokyo's version of Time's Square. Nobody interacts with you (which suits Neko fine) but you start hearing people's thoughts. Your phone rings and you get a mysterious text message. A countdown timer appears, burned into your hand. And then the giant frogs with skeletal back feet show up. And start attacking you. Over the first hour or two of game play, you learn that you're a player in the "Reaper's Game"; you're dead in the real world; and if you aren't able to finish the mission from the daily text message, you not only lose the game, you lose your right to exist.
It's a Square game, so you're going to have a bit of philosophy injected. And with this one, it's in the title. "The World Ends with You", meaning your view of the world is limited by your own perceptions and biases. By challenging those biases, expanding your perceptions, letting other people in, you'll be able to change -- if not the whole world, then your part of it.
Saying much more would be saying too much, giving away too much of the story. It's worth picking up.


[1] Contrast this with Adventure games like Legend of Zelda or Metroid, where you can fight all the enemies you want and won't get stronger, you have to collect items/weapons to do so. Or with Action title like the early Sonic games where your character has set abilities throughout, and can temporarily gain extra powers -- invincibility, take extra damage -- by picking up power-ups along the way.
[2] Action RPGs; games that mix traditional console RPG prep-screens with real-time battles.
[3] If you get to fighting on the touch screen and forget about your partner, there is an AI option that will take over after so long.