Gamertell

A stylish new website has appeared for The World Ends with You, Square Enix’s new modern day rpg for the DS that is set for an April 22, 2008 release in North America. It opens with a DS that features a countdown clock that begins at 60:00 when the site opens, a DS which can be opened and closed and background music from the game. The DS features scrolling phrases, on the top the phrases are in English, but when they pass to the bottom screen they change to Japanese hirigana, katakana and kanji.

All of the phrases that appear on the DS feature hints at key aspects of the game. “Reapers’ game” is the name of the game the hero, Neku, and the other protagonists are all caught up in for various personal reasons. “Don’t kill me” and “erased” refer to the fact that the reapers can choose to kill or erase players they meet, and players who don’t meet the game’s objectives are eliminated. “Empty urban legends” refers to a number of aspects in the game, like the reapers’ game itself and the way in which Neku and his associates can communicate with people in the real world. The “rulez” likely refers to the various rules of the game. “Wakeless dream” refers to a key element of the plot and game, which I won’t spoil, that happens multiple times. The only phrase which I can’t decipher is the “super/iority” one with the words “i neer” or something similar underneath. I wonder if anyone else has figured it out.

As for the timer, it is mainly for show. It resets when the site is loaded, and each time is set for an hour. It is also a key aspect of the game, but I won’t reveal anything as it could be considered a spoiler.

What I noticed first and foremost was the music, which was a new version of the song “Twister” from the original Japanese version titled Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It’s a Wonderful World. The original featured a female vocalist, sounded more techno than hip hop and also seemed to feature more Japanese than English. The new version is recorded by a male vocalist, feels more like a rap/hip hop track and features clear English lyrics. Perhaps this change was done to make the song more understandable for American audiences. Personally, I don’t care for it. I prefer the original version of “Twister” that was in the Japanese release, because it not only sounded more authentic, but it just sounded better.

Read [Go Nintendo] Also Read [DS Fanboy] Site [The World Ends with You]