I enjoyed the game, and I really admire how it fully utilizes the DS' hardware, but I didn't love it.

It's combat system is unique, and the game overall is very ambitious and I appreciate it for that.

I find the combat to be disorienting, especially going back and forth between the top and bottom screen. It's hard for me to go back and forth, I struggle to make sure I'm doing the combos that I want on the top screen while keeping Neku alive on the bottom and vice versa. Auto-partner kind of helps, but they can't really make it super efficient without making it OP, and I wonder if other ports of the game handled it better. It didn't help that I played this on a New Nintendo 2DS XL, which has a really shitty stylus that is painful after extensive use. I think if I had played it on original hardware, I might've had an easier and less painful time with it.

I think that the overworld isn't particularly fun to explore, you're kind of just going back and forth across the same screens with little to do except shop or fight Noise. I also wish that the Reaper tasks were more varied than just fight Noise, bring me something, or Reaper Review.

I think it's a mostly solid game, and I really respect it for its ambition, but it didn’t totally gel with me.