Elite Beat Agents (DS Review) by Leroy S.

Elite Beat Agents
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: iNiS
System: Nintendo DS
Release: November 6, 2006

February 21, 2011, by Leroy S. - Elite Beat Agents is a spiritual sequel of a Japanese-based rhythm/music game called Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, which was developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo. The U.S. game, released on November 6, 2006, follows the operations of the Elite Beat Agents, an organization that helps people out of tough situations by cheering them on and encouraging them to work hard towards their goal.

The game has rather interesting touch control, as you tap, slide and spin your way to victory during each scenario. Each episode has a story behind it: whether it's a babysitter having trouble keeping kids at bay while trying to please her boyfriend, a movie director down on his luck or a pirate looking for deep-sea treasures, the Agents are there to answer each and every call for help.

The gameplay is quite addictive and zany as you touch three various markers: the hit markers are numbered circles that must be tapped in sequence in time with the music. Phrase markers are tracks extending from numbered circles that must be traced with the stylus in time with a ball rolling on the track. Spin markers are spinners that the player must rotate quickly until bars along the sides of the screen are filled. There is also a special gauge called the Elite-o-Meter which determines the actions of the story sequences on the top screen. A single episode combines all these touch markers with a continuing storyline on the top screen with two to four break points in between. The goal of every episode is to keep the Elite-o-Meter in the "Yes" range in order to pass the special break points. If you bring down the meter all the way to an exclamation mark, the episode will end and a bad ending will be shown.

A change from the Japanese original is the style of music. Instead of mainly J-Pop, there is a mix of American pop, R&B and rock 'n roll. The song choices are a bit questionable in their placement, though most are perfectly in sync with other episodes. These songs are not really the originals, but are actually covers from various artists. There are 16 songs which are unlocked as you go along, with three bonus songs which are available after the player rises in the Agent Ranks.

There are four difficulty modes in EBA: Breezin' (Easy), Cruisin' (Normal), Sweatin' (Hard) and Hard Rock (Extreme). For gamers who have no idea of how the control scheme works, there is a tutorial in place at the very beginning of the game. Although the game may appear simple, it is actually a challenge. You will probably get a hang on some of the episodes, but there will be some instances where you'll slip up quite a number of times. Needless to say, you will be failing a lot of times. The player's performance in each stage is rated by a letter grade, with "D" being the lowest possible rank and S being the highest. S-rank requirements are very demanding, as you must at least get 90% of all beats must be scored as 300, another 9% must be at least 100, and no more than 1% may be 50. The player must end with a "Perfect", obtained by missing no beats throughout the entire song. There are also special "Agent Ranks" that are attained after amassing a number of points throughout episodes. Depending on how high you rank, you'll be able to unlock the three bonus songs in the track list.

EBA also has multiplayer for single-card and multi-card play for 2-4 players. The same song list is used for the multiplayer mode with the exception of single-card play, which only has five songs. For the multiplayer, the song will play without the Elite-o-Meter but will grade the players on their performance. There is also a co-op mode where players (who own the game) take turns to play. The Elite-o-Meter is shared in co-op and if a player manages to empty the meter, the game will be over. There is also an option to share a demo of Elite Beat Agents with friends who do not own the game via DS Download Play.

Elite Beat Agents is a fantastic DS game, and it is advised for any DS owner to try the game. After a day of play, I found myself humming songs in the EBA tracklist, and also sharing experiences with other players that love the game. If there's an opportunity to get EBA, do not skip out on it. You're missing out, big time.

The Verdict

Sound
15/15 - Elite Beat Agents is by far the loudest DS game I've ever heard and the songs' lyrics are quite clear, especially with headphones.

Graphics
16/20 - The graphics are mostly 2D with a comic book/manga style of animation, with a few hints of 3D (in the overworld globe).

Appeal
24/25 - Elite Beat Agents is a very flexible title and is fully endorsed by Nintendo's Touch Generations. A variety of music and interesting situations are bound to get any player engrossed in the action.

Gameplay
38/40 - The gameplay gets progressively challenging in each episode, and is enhanced greatly in each difficulty level.

Overall
93/100 - Elite Beat Agents is a fantastic localization of a DS classic in Japan. With its extensive track list, zany characters, bizarre situations and fluid yet challenging gameplay, this is definitely one of the gems in the extensive DS library of games. To this day, I'm still waiting for Nintendo of America to make an EBA sequel.