Elite Beat Agents for Nintendo DS Review

Elite Beat Agents for Nintendo DS Review

The gameplay in EBA is incredibly simple, but it can -- at times -- be impossibly difficult. If you're a fan of such music games as Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and Drum Mania, you'll feel right at home with Elite Beat Agents. The key here is to listen to the music and pick up on the rhythm of the song, making use of the Nintendo DS stylus appropriately. There are three main "moves" that you must perform: You tap "hit markers", tap and hold "phrase markers", and spin the circle like mad with "spin markers."

Making the Band

Depending on how accurate you are with your timing, you will receive one of four different point levels for each marker: 300 if you time it perfectly, 100 if you're a little off, 50 if you're quite a bit off, and 0 if you miss completely. At the top of the screen is an "Elite-o-meter" that steadily decreases throughout the song, more so when you miss markers. With each correct move, however, the meter gets bumped up some and you must try your best to keep this bar as full as possible.

Each song is distributed into a number of sections, and for each section you either receive an "O" or an "X" based your performance. You'll notice that your current rating on the Elite-o-meter is tagged with either "Yes" or "No", corresponding to the yellow and red sections accordingly. Of course, you want to keep it in the "yes" as much as possible. You will receive an overall grade (A, B, C or D) at the end of the song (if you make it all the way to the end).

What a Challenge!

I find that Elite Beat Agents isn't particularly forgiving when it comes to missing markers. If you miss only one or two moves, your meter will decrease substantially and it takes many, many correct moves to move it back up to its previous level. Moreover, earlier songs (particularly in Easy Mode) are relatively simple and straightforward, whereas later songs (particularly at harder difficulty settings) can become incredibly cluttered with markers, outrageously fast-paced, and some may say impossibly difficult. Of course, with practice, you will surely improve, and that is why there are four difficulty settings in all (only Easy and Normal are initially available).

That said, this game never gets so frustrating that you just want to throw it against the wall and give up because it is so impossible. Quite the contrary. Because of the increasing difficulty, you will feel even more motivated to step up to the challenge and tackle it head on. The first half dozen or so times I tried the final stage on Easy Mode, I felt there was no way that I would ever complete it. Picking up the game again the next morning, I managed to not only finish it on the first try, but even achieve a very reasonably "B" grade at the end.

Elite Beat Agents Song List

Whereas Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan featured Japanese artists, the developers here have created a playlist that reads like the amalgamation of a teenage girl's CD collection with her parents' dust-collecting vinyl collection. There are songs here that span a number of genres (and decades), and depending on your point of view, this is either a great strength (EBA is branded under the "Touch Generations" banner, meaning that Nintendo would ideally like even older folks to pick up and play this intuitive game) or an absolute identity crisis. In no particular order, the songs featured in this title are as follows:

• Deep Purple - "Highway Star"
• Steriogram - "Walkie Talkie Man"
• Avril Lavigne - "Sk8er Boi"
• Village People - "Y.M.C.A."
• Earth, Wind and Fire - "September"
• Stray Cats - "Rock This Town"
• Queen - "I Was Born to Love You"
• Jamiroquai - "Canned Heat"
• Madonna - "Material Girl"
• Ashlee Simpson - "La La"
• Chicago - "You're the Inspiration"
• Hoobastank - "Without a Fight"
• David Bowie - "Let's Dance"
• The Rolling Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
• Sum 41 - "Makes No Difference"
• Good Charlotte - "The Anthem"

The three unlockable songs, in order of availability (based on cumulative high scores) are:

• Cher - "Believe"
• Jackson Five - "ABC"
• Destiny's Child - "Survivor"

Story and Graphics

Whereas other rhythm games may simply try to keep you entertained with an extensive playlist, flashy graphics, and so forth, Elite Beat Agents adds in a little something extra. Each song is themed, and as such, the accompanying graphics tell a story that starts before the first note is played and ends with a grand hurrah. For example, Madonna's "Material Girl" is accompanied by the story of a couple of socialites (not unlike Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton) who are stranded on a desert island. You follow their plight to make do in such an environment. You, taking on the role of three elite agents, help them along their way by dancing, because, you know, dancing is the solution to all of life's problems.

The story is presented in a semi-animated manga style that works very well with the context of the game. The graphics aren't high-end like what you'd find on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 (or even the PSP), but they suit this wonderful offering perfectly and are colorful and vibrant enough to keep a big wide smile on your face.

Conclusion

While the playlist is a little questionable (with the exception of September, The Anthem, and Y.M.C.A.), the incredible gameplay and lush graphics more than make up for any shortcomings. That said, if you're already a veteran of the import hit Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, you will not find anything particularly new here other than some regionalization and a batch of new songs.