Elite Beat Agents (DS) Review

Almost 2 years ago western Nintendo DS players were still waiting for something worth playing on their new portable console. At the same time Japanese gamers got one of the surprises of that year: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (or just Ouendan for short). The game, developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo, mixed quirky j-pop/j-rock, crazy comic book style stories and rhythm and music gameplay with the portable’s touch screen. It was a hit among hardcore Nintendo fans, but it was too weird for a direct localization and never got a release outside Japan. At E3 2006, Nintendo announced Elite Beat Agents, a game built from the ground up based on Ouendan’s gameplay and crazy style.

EBA follows the story of Commander Kahn, an ex-CIA agent who scans the world searching for people that need help. When he finds somebody, he sends the Elite Beat Agents to perform a song to cheer them up. Their performance will empower the help seeker to overcome any obstacles.

Each one of the level’s stories is presented in a comic book style. You choose them by spinning a 3D map that shows which missions are available depending on how many you’ve beaten already. They always start with somebody struggling to deal with a simple life situation: a lost dog that wants to return home, a film director trying to shoot an award winning feature or a high school jock that is trying to impress a girl.
The stories tend to become secondary once you get into the game. Elite Beat Agents demands lots of concentration and lightning reflexes. Once the level starts, you must hit a series of numbered icons in order following the song’s rhythm. The are also icons that require you to slide or to draw circles with the stylus at high speed so if you don’t have a screen protector for your Nintendo DS this could be the excuse to get one.

When it comes to music, one thing you should consider is that not everybody likes the same style of music. INiS did a great job trying to fill every single music genre. All the songs are covers but it doesn’t really affect the quality of the game. And to be honest, I don’t really think anybody cares if Avril Lavigne is not the one singing in the game’s version of “Sk8er boy”.

The game boasts 19 songs and 4 difficulty levels that need to be unlocked. Each one features one extra song that was not included in the previous one. There are also different Vs. and Co-op modes that let you share the EBA love with your friends.

Elite Beat Agent falls under the “Touch Generations” label which means it is targeted to a very broad audience and it really does its best at attracting non-gamers with its simple pick-up and play style, familiar songs and lovable characters. There’s lots of challenge so for those looking for a game that will take a long time to master, there’s also something in there for the hardcore gamer.

EBA is one of those games that you just can’t put down, and when the difficulty ramps up, you will swear and you will want to stab the DS with your stylus. In the end this is not because the game is cheap, you are just not good enough. Unlocking and beating the latest difficulty will take hours and hours of practising and memorising the patterns of the songs.

With all that said if you are still not convinced about the game, ask a friend to transfer you a demo stage via the DS download feature accessible through the options menu. I’m sure that it will be more than enough to convince you to buy one of the best game available for the Nintendo DS.