As you
might have guessed, Square Enix's
mysterious countdown clock pointed to the launch of an iPhone and iPad remake of cult DS game
The World Ends with You.
The so-called "
Solo Remix" - which comes complete with a few new features and Square's trademarked inflated price tag - is out now on the App Store. It costs £12.99 / $17.99 on iPhone, and £13.99 / $19.99 on iPad.
The game follows Neku, a spiky-haired teen who wakes up in Tokyo's Shibuya district with the power to read minds. He also receives a text message that tells him that he's been 'invited' to participate in a seven-day gauntlet against some otherworldly foes.
You'll need to beat up monsters, make some new pals, collect magical badges, and wander the streets of Shibuya to survive this week-long battle. Oh, and figure out who is behind this twisted game.
Onward, to battle!This iOS version sports a new combat system. On DS, two characters fought across two screens, with both buttons and touchscreen commands being used by the player. On Apple's gadgets, however, it's all done through taps and swipes, and multiple characters fight on the same screen.
You'll have to wait for our review to find out whether the touchscreen-friendly battle system is a suitable change.
Feature creepSqueenix has taken the time to redraw a lot of the art and animation, to make it look snazzy on Retina display iPhones. The soundtrack includes some new songs and remixes, and there's even Twitter support, where you'll see tweets from your timeline when you read people's minds.
There's some multiplayer functionality thrown in, too. You can wirelessly exchange profiles with other players and they'll show up in your game, or you can play Tin Pin Slammer using the badges you find in the Story mode.
Are you compatible? The World Ends with You has some steep technical requirements, and only the most recent devices are compatible with the game. On iPad, you'll need either an iPad 2 or the new iPad. On iPhone, you must have an iPhone 4 or a 4S.
iPod touch users, however, are completely left out of the party, as the game is incompatible with these devices. Sorry, guys, it's the end of the line.
Joined:
Aug 2012
Post count:
1
I for one was actually happy that the app came out for the iOS. My DS was broken and I've been wanting to replay this game for a while now. And the bonus part was I didn't have long to wait. It seemed like a pretty damn sweet deal. However, everything has a catch.
WHY would you do this, Squeenix? WHY? Why leave the iPod users out of the loop? They're as much part of the market as the iPhone and iPad users are. And on that note, why couldn't you even make the app universal? Most apps already kind of are and cost at least half of what you're charging. I have to say, I'm deeply disappointed.
Joined:
Aug 2012
Post count:
48
RockinIt | 22:46 - 27 August 2012
I bought this a few minutes ago, first impressions...what is wrong with the freaking file size? It's a 589mb download yet after installation takes 2.3gb, I've bought 100s of games over the years from the AppStore and no game has quadrupled in file size after installation, e.g. Arkham City Lockdown 1gb download and 1.6gb after installation, Nova 3 1.4gb download and 2gb after installation, Infinity Blade 2 900+mb and 1.3gb after installation.
It's not even universal for god's sake, I'm guessing it's a case of crap programming from Square Enix. For the price it really should be universal and support icloud saves, you can't really expect anyone to buy this twice for both iPad and iPhone?
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