N-Philes

Elite Beat Agents

Posted December 3rd 2006 by Curtis Brunet.

Shortly before E3 of this year, N-Philes' own Ben Wood spoke briefly with X-Play co-host and geek gamer heartthrob Morgan Webb. During the interview, she let slip then-under-wraps information that that iNiS and Nintendo was actually porting the apparently popular Osu! Tatake! Ouendan (Go! Fight! Cheer Squad) from Japan to North America, under the English name of Elite Beat Agents. Great, but what the hell was Oeundan, and who or what on earth are the Elite Beat Agents? I had no idea either, but after trying my skills at the rhythm based DS title during the big show in May, I came away pleasantly surprised. Secretly trying not to bob my head to Steriogram's "Walkie-Talkie Man", I found myself pulled in by the style, the humor, and most importantly, the game.

In a world where baseball superstars become janitors, invading aliens try to destroy music, and girls are picking up quarterbacks, nothing will surprise you, but the beat goes on. Welcome to Elite Beat Agents.

With its conversion to the American audience, Elite Beat Agents loses some of its Japanese flavour, including its abundance of J-Pop with everything from "Loop & Loop" by Asian Kung-fu Generation, to "Taiy? ga Moete iru" by The Yellow Monkey (no, I don't understand J-Pop lovers either). To some, this is a blessing as with an American translation comes an American soundtrack, and it would seem that iNiS and Nintendo wanted to cover all their bases. The song list becomes quite sporadic, covering the alternative rock genre (Hoobastank, Good Charlotte), classic rock (The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple), and even pop (Madonna, Cher). The music is quite important in the title, and having a varied songlist allows the game to appeal to a broader audience.

The goal of each level is to tap, spin, and roll markers as they spread out on the touch screen. Doing the various actions with the various markers in time with the beat will score you points, and how close you come to the exact point of when the marker needs to be touched will garner a better score. Stringing along multiple hits without a miss will score the player larger multipliers for each point they receive. Missing a marker, or hitting it too late or early will cause the Elite-o-Meter bar to fall further into the red, and when the meter falls to the end, the Agents are defeated and you must retry the song. The bar continuously moves toward the red, so be quick and successful with the markers to replenish it. This style of game just seems to work, and is perfectly suited for the Nintendo DS, taking advantage of both the touch screen for precision jamming, and using top screen for a stylized comic book style storytelling. With only Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" arguably having some problems with its timing, each song will have you tapping in perfect rhythm with the beat of the song.

Although the sound quality and accuracy of the beats with regard to the markers is admirable, it is disappointing to hear that the tunes are covers, and not licensed from the actual artists. This is much in the same way that Guitar Hero works with its music, having a studio band or singer redo the song for the game. Hopefully with the success of the title, we may be able to see more artists freely approving the use of their songs for a more accurate experience. The only other fault with the title would be the cheap looking 3D used for the Agents on the touch screen. During gameplay, the Agents will dance in the background to the tune of the song, and are for some odd reason displayed in an ugly 3D polygons. This replaces the perfectly stylized 2D of the menu, intro screens, and top screen storytelling. Although disappointing, this hardly pulls the player out of the incredible experience. The gamer is more likely too busy to notice these minor imperfections, as playing through song such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones on Hard ROCK! mode takes much of their focus.

Speaking of difficulty modes, Elite Beat Agents sports a whopping 4 different levels of difficulty, bringing the player and their sweaty palms back for more and more. The multi-player aspect of the title offers both single-cart or multi-cart (each offering varying levels of customization and song selection) versus modes and co-operative modes. In versus mode, you select the difficulty level and the song and must out beat your opponent, along the way using various attacks (ranging from shaking the screen to minimizing the size of their hit markers) to impede your opponent. Co-operative mode works with every gamer (up to 4) having a different part of a song to play, and when there is a marker you need to hit, the marker will be red as opposed to greyed out. Not only does this work great, but it gives users a reason to play through the single player mode as to unlock all the different levels of multiplayer. With a total of 19 tracks, multiple difficulty levels, and a great single cart and multi-cart multiplayer experience, Elite Beat Agents will keep musicians and gamers alike occupied for hours on end. Heck, it's even compatible with the rarely supported Rumble Pak.

Heartstopper - The Agents keep the beat going strong.

There's not much else that would need to be said at this point. Elite Beat Agents is just a great effort by iNiS and Nintendo, and an all around solid outing for the Nintendo DS that anyone can enjoy. With a variety of different tracks to beat your way through, there is bound to be something for everyone to sink their rhythm into. The Agents are GO! And their game is GOLD!

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