Near perfect rhythm action and one of the best DS games to date.
Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game in which you use the stylus to touch on-screen markers in time with the music. The Agents from the game's title will then dance according to how accurately you keep the beat. Once you complete a song you'll be able to move on to more challenging ones, and eventually harder difficulties. It's the most simplistic concept a game could have, but Elite Beat Agents works for many reasons. In the end, this is one of the best rhythm games out there.
One of the coolest parts of this game is it's story. The titular Agents use their dance to help all sorts of people with their problems. These can range from helping a cab driver get a pregnant woman to the hospital to teaming up with an ex-baseball great and defeating a fire-breathing golem at a theme park. All of the various tasks are carried out in some outrageous matter, and many of them will make you laugh out loud.
The game uses the top screen to show the story unfold while the Agents dance on the bottom screen. Comic book style stills display all of the elements of the story. Each song will start with someone who needs help, and your success (or lack thereof) on the touch screen determines how much help these people are going to get. As you progress through each stage the story will continually run on the top screen, and every once in a while you'll get a break to watch your client either overcome some difficulty or meet some more of it. This part of the game certainly wasn't necessary at all, and it's nice to see how much thought went into it. The overall story is very satisfying, even if it isn't the game's main draw.
Gameplay is the main reason why Elite Beat Agents works so well. Each marker has a 'timer ring' that closes in on it. When the ring touches the marker, you hit it with the stylus. That's all there is to it. The reason it's so much fun is because the markers are all aligned with either the beat or the lyrics of the songs. You can hit all the markers solely based on the timer rings, but if you listen to the songs you'll be able to figure out the timing for yourself. This is when the game gets awesome. Once you get in a groove you really start to feel like a conductor, and even if you don't like the song you're dancing to, playing through it is still a hell of a lot of fun. It's such a great rhythm mechanic I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to come up with it.
Even with such great gameplay, a rhythm game is nothing without it's music. This aspect of the game is, in general, another success for Elite Beat Agents. The soundtrack is all licenced music, and it's quite diverse. There's a few pop tunes, some new-age rock, some classic rock, a little disco and a couple cheesy ballads. These songs, even if they'd make you turn your radio off in real life, have all been covered to sound better on the DS, and they all work with the game. There are only a few selections that seem questionable, but playing through them is never a pain. I don't want to give too much away (there are a couple gems in here), but you'll go from Sum 41 to Madonna to Deep Purple, and you'll never get sick of it. There are also a few cymbals and claps to accompany your touch screen antics and help to keep you on beat with the song.
Graphically, the game maintains its own high standards. The anime-inspired comic book scenes are vibrant and emotive, putting another layer of goofiness onto the story. The Agents are done up in 3D, and they look great while they rock out to whatever song is playing. Even though the screen will often be full of touch markers, they're all numbered so it's always clear which order you'll have to hit them in.
There are four different difficulty levels in Elite Beat Agents, each comprised of sixteen songs (with some more to be unlocked). Each song also has it's own difficulty rating ranging from one to eight stars. This effectively makes the game go from insultingly easy to insidiously hard, although the steps between the two are gradual enough for you to hold your own through most of the game. With only sixteen songs you'll be able to breeze through the game in an hour or two on the lowest difficulty. However, all the subsequent difficulties will keep you coming back, as will the built in rank system. Every time you accumulate a set amount of points you'll move up in rank. This is how you'll unlock your other songs, or how you'll just end up feeling good about yourself. You can only record one score for each song, so if you want to increase your rank you'll have to go back and try and beat all your high scores. Since the game never really gets old it's easy to put in 3 or 4 hour sessions just trying to increase your total score. You can also play competitive multiplayer with one game pak, or co-op if all your friends own the game (which they should).
Overall, Elite Beat Agents is just plain fun. It's perfect for both short stints or hours-long marathons. It delivers on all levels to bring a game that's unique, refreshing and addictive. The diversity of it's soundtrack also makes it easy to recommend to anyone that has even the slightest interest in purchasing a new rhythm game. Simply put, Elite Beat Agents is one of the best DS games available. Go get it.