NEO: The World Ends With You - Review - Part 1: Gameplay
So, the NTWEWY review finally begins. It's been months since I actually played the game, and maybe it's pointless to post a review so long after, but even so, having waited so long for a sequel, it only feels right to me to put out a review *eventually*.
For this review, I'll be making separate posts for different categories, and in light of it being late, will probably not fuss too much over the details/be talking a bit more casually about my thoughts.
NTWEWY's gameplay has been "modernized" in various aspects—having released on multiple platforms and no longer being designed with very unique hardware like the DS in mind, the gameplay was made to be compatible with more standard controllers. Furthermore, the action now takes place in a 3D "arena" of sorts, and while the player can control multiple characters—up to 6, in fact—control over said characters is much more limited than the original, with one pin being attached to one character.
Generally speaking, one button is also mapped to one character (though this can be changed down the line), and so the player is in essence taking turns fighting with multiple characters—for much of the game, 4. As one character finishes a combo, they can start a Beatdrop, allowing another character to follow-up with "good timing" (which is rather lenient) and increase groove in the process. A basic strategy is thus to keep on the offensive by ensuring that characters cooldowns don't overlap too much and you can constantly put out damage while also dodging as necessary. After enough groove, you can also do special attacks, which can also provide some much needed healing.
That's about the basics of the gameplay, but what are its strengths and weaknesses? Well, to start...
- Not too hard to control, as each character can essentially be mapped to a button, and movement and dodging are straightforward
- AI doesn't usually take a lot of damage when not controlling them
- A lot of abilities feel like they complement each other with how they activate beatdrops or their cooldowns, giving a natural sense of teamwork
- Later, you can time your follow-ups even more (within an orange window) to get greater groove bonuses, which makes the game more engaging
- Psyches often allow you to move and attack at the same time, or be charged without having a character be the main one you are controlling, which help make the combat feel a little bit more fluid than it might otherwise
- It can feel fast-paced and chaotic because of the nature of controlling multiple characters
- After a while, gameplay can get repetitive because you can find a "cycle" of psyches that is really good and just end up feeding into the same loop, no longer needing to adapt your attack patterns much. But, at least said loop generally feels good to do imo
- It's hard to get groove against bosses with some pins because the beatdrop requirements don't really work with them
- In scenarios where one of your characters is unable to be controlled (e.g. being attacked), it can sometimes be cumbersome to save them with the remaining characters, depending on the pins and their cooldown(s)
- Overall, it feels like it lacks a bit of depth and excitement compared to the original TWEWY, like you can master most of the gameplay much quicker, and there isn't as much to "squeeze" out of it, because in the end you only have control over 6 pins, which is similar to controlling 1 out of 2 characters in the original game.
Overall I would say the combat is quite fun, and I usually didn't mind fighting a lot of the same enemies because getting groove and launching big attacks felt nice. The big enemies and bosses were mostly fine as well imo, though a couple maybe dragged on a bit much or had hitboxes that were weird or awkward to avoid (e.g. not being able to tell what's supposed to be avoided exactly). However, it could use another layer of depth for people who want something a bit more, which might also help with the really long reduction chains.
Outside of combat, shopping is pretty similar the original and was fairly enjoyable, as the variety of options and abilities make it not as simple as just buying the "strongest" or most expensive items, and trying to find items with good synergy was one way to power up the cast.
Exploration was more or less fine (with the ability to speed up movement later on being quite fun and welcome imo), and the other bits of gameplay—like using special abilities—were mostly "okay" to me. Time travel is, mechanically, basically just going through menus, but it's fine, and most everything else in the game felt like it boiled down to fighting, though maybe with some gimmicks (e.g. in Dives). And then there's Fret's remind ability, which was a little weird to fiddle with, but it wasn't that big a deal so... whatever, I guess. The game could maybe benefit from a mini-game like tin pin slammer to spice things up, but it wasn't like I was offended that it was mostly combat. However, I also just really like action-packed combat, so I admit I'm fairly biased on this front.
In the end, the gameplay feels "TWEWY-like" for sure, and it's cool to see psyches in 3D and control an entire party of characters. I just wish there was a little bit more teamwork, or a little bit more options to tap into, something where if I went back now I'd be like, man, I still haven't mastered X, or some way to feel like I hit my stride in the combat and was really doing something a bit more than just the usual damage-dealing routine. But as said the game is meant to be more modernized, which also means easier and more accessible, so it probably can't be helped too much, and I still enjoyed it a lot for what it is.
Overall Gameplay Score: 8.5-9/10
