TWEWY is an action RPG by Square. If it looks really familiar, then it’s because the character design was done by Tetsuya Nomura, of FF7 and Kingdom Hearts fame. Unlike many RPGs before it, the game is set in an alternate dimension modern-day Shibuya, a district in Tokyo that happens to be the hippest place ever.

TWEWY is one of those games that does things right and blends it into something awesome. The concept is unique. The art is stunning and very stylized, and matches the atmosphere perfectly. The soundtrack, made up of J-pop, electronica, and hip-hop, is a departure from other RPGs. The plot is paced really well and the characters are developed really well in a fairly short period of time.

But even more innovations abound! The combat system is something very DS-centric. Battles take place simultaneously on the two screens, and you have to control one character on each screen. On the bottom, you’re using Neku with the stylus, and on the top, you’re controlling your partner with the d-pad. Neku uses a variety of attacks with stylus gestures while the d-pad follows a series of panels, a lot like DDR. To mix things up even more, there’s a light that gets passed around when the character that has it completes a combo which gives a damage bonus.

The types of attacks that Neku can use are determined by the pins he’s wearing. Different pins have different gestures; you could be dragging Neku around, slashing on enemies up or down, pressing empty space and firing lightning at them, or dragging obstacles and whacking baddies. The top character has a different minigame, where you’re matching things, and when you do, you can use combined attacks. As you can tell, the combat is involved, but damn, it is fun.

The pins, and other gear that the characters wear, are branded. There are several different brands and each part of Shibuya has brands that are cooler than others. Brands that are cooler receive bonuses, while brands that aren’t get penalized. But, you can influence which brands are hip and happening by fighting with pins of those brands.

Food is something that I found very well done as well. Your character eats food that gives the a buff while they’re eating it. They digest food in x number of battles, after which they receive a permanent buff. But, they can only digest 24 battles worth of food per real day. Each character also has foods they like or dislike, which affects how much the buff actually helps them.

Finally, the game has a ridiculous amount of replay value, where after the main plot is finished, there are so many things to collect to 100% it. You can adjust your difficulty and handicap yourself by lowering your level to fight things, which yields larger and better drops.

Just about the only reason not to get this game is if you can’t get the combat system. Otherwise, it’s brilliant, has really unique and hot art and graphics, has a compelling story, and is really, really innovative. Super fun, amg go get it nows. And I will go back to slashing my DS touchscreen franticly now.