Elite Beat Agents (DS) Review
Posted by Chris Kovatsh on 12.30.2006
Just when you thought music games couldn't get any crazier, these men in black will show you how to keep the beat.
Title: Elite Beat Agents
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Inis
Type: Music Action
Players: 1-4
Elite Beat Agents is the localized version of popular Japanese game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. This game however is not a direct port, developer Inis went above and beyond and got entirely new music. Like Guitar Hero all of the songs are covers for money saving purposes, but the covers for the most part are fairly outstanding. The main premise of the game is basically numbers pop up to the beat of the song. There’s a circle that slowly closes in around the number and as soon as the circle touches the number you hit the number with your stylus. Sound simple? Well it’s not; this game is definitely one of the hardest games on the market today, especially in a day in age when games keep getting easier and easier. Anyways lets get onto the review.
Story
Basically the story is a bunch of people and they all find themselves in sticky situations. They scream, “HELP” and then all of a sudden the Elite Beat Agents are there in a heartbeat to give them a hand. Each story is ridiculously random and you’ll find yourself laughing at a lot of them and even maybe crying at one of the stories. There’s a broad spectrum of levels ranging from a dog trying to get home to a washed up baseball player trying to kill a huge golem. The only problem with the story is it’s hard to really understand what the agents are actually doing to help the people out of their situation. The story however does really pick up in the last few levels and you’ll find yourself getting right into it.
You'll be seeing a lot of crazy things like this going on
Graphics
For a music-based game it has pretty solid graphics. There are fully 3D characters in the background on the touch screen while you’re playing each level as well as the top screen, which has comic book style 2D graphics explaining what’s going on in the story. The only problem is that when you’re playing the game you barely have any time to enjoy them. The only time I ever got to look at the top screen was when someone else was playing and I watched him or her. The agents in the bottom screen dancing throughout the song are highly entertaining and you may even find yourself laughing at their hilarious animations. Songs like YMCA are performed with the agents making the letters out with their arms just like in real life. Different dance moves for different songs definitely adds to the already entertaining experience.
Gameplay
This is where the game truly shines. For a game that’s truly one of the hardest games for the Nintendo DS it sure is addicting. There are four difficulty settings each one a lot harder than the next. For each difficulty more numbers show up so you have to get faster and faster as you go along. Your health bar at the top also goes down faster as it gets harder, so if you mess up on the harder difficulties you’re in trouble. There are two parts to your health bar, a yellow part that says “yes” and a red part that says “no”. If you’re in the red at the end of the intermission of the level you get an “X” but if you’re in the yellow you get an “O”. Being in the red gets you a bad intermission and being in the yellow gets you a good one. For example, in the one level the guy is throwing a hotdog at a kid. If you get an “O” the kid catches it in his mouth, if you get an “X” the kid gets hit in the face and hilarity ensues. This game gets impossibly hard though, I have failed missions maybe 30 times in a row and continued to keep trying just because you can feel yourself getting better each time you play. Once you finally beat a mission it’s one of the best feelings in the world. The game is very responsive to the touch screen and I’ve had no problems at all whatsoever with it not registering my hit with the stylus right away. The one problem I’ve had with the game is there are these “Spinner” things and basically you take the stylus and spin as fast as you can with it. It’s easy enough to do on the easier difficulty but after that it becomes tedious and seems like it might be dangerous for your touch screen. You can also create “ghosts” after you complete a level. Doing this lets you play against the “ghost” in versus mode for the same song.
My sentiments exactly
Sound
Brilliant! Songs like La La by Ashlee Simpson are tolerable due to the excellent cover of the song. The covers for the most part are all very well done except for Highway Star by Deep Purple, they really butchered that one. The sound is very crisp and even the tiny voice samples like the baseball player saying “You bet kid” and the head of the Elite Beat Agents screaming “GO!” all sound very crisp and not muffled at all. They even did justice by not ruining Jumping Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones; in fact it is equally good maybe if not better. Mind you a lot of people will be turned off of the questionable soundtrack. Songs like The Anthem by Good Charlotte and Sk8ter Boi by Avril Lavigne are definitely going to turn people off from purchasing this game. I had the same doubts but you barely even notice how crappy the song is when you’re getting into the game. You’ll actually be concentrating on the different beats so you can pass the level.
Lasting Appeal
Four difficulty settings as well as 19 total songs will have you playing a long time. Single cart download play is also available for you if you have friends with a Nintendo DS. The multiplayer modes will keep you going for a while as well. You won’t be putting this down for a long time, however if you don’t have any patience though ignore the last comment. There’s also a big deal with trying to get a high score on each level for each difficulty. When you amass a certain amount of points you unlock more songs. There are three in total and you wont be able to unlock the last one unless you’re doing great on each level and have played through all of the difficulties.
Fun Factor
This game is a blast, you'll be engaged into each of the wacky stories that go on in each level. Multiplayer matches with your friends will constantly have you talking trash and laughing it up. This game can get rather tedious on the harder difficulty levels but if you have the patience you can keep going and still have fun playing the same level maybe 30 times in a row to beat it. I find myself constantly playing Jumping Jack Flash on the easiest difficulty just because I enjoy it so much.
The 411
Elite Beat Agents is one of the reasons that the Nintendo DS is around today and that reason is innovation and creativity. There’s no way this game would succeed on another system. For a genre that has huge hits like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero it’s impressive that there’s still room for originality and uniqueness and that’s exactly what Elite Beat Agents brings to the table. The touch screen dynamics make this game what it is and you’d be missing out if you skipped out on this gem.
Graphics
8.0
The animation and fluidity of the agents dancing will keep you smiling.
Gameplay
9.0
A brilliant idea that never gets old. Touching numbers with a stylus has never been so fun.
Sound
9.0
Aside from the poor selection of tracks, the music and sound effects are outstanding.
Lasting Appeal
8.0
Four different difficulties and multiplayer will keep this game in your DS for months to come.
Fun Factor
8.0
If you are a patient person this game is a blast and If you are not well you might just throw your DS out the window.
