GregHowley.com

After hearing how highly-rated Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS was, I picked up a copy at the Gamestop in Bristol, CT while on Christmas vacation. Right now, I'm still struggling to finish Jumpin' Jack Flash, after which I think I've still got a couple songs to go, but I'm ready to give the game a review.

Good music (mostly) is one thing the game has going for it. September by Earth, Wind and Fire and sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne were amongst my favorites, although I'm still looking forward to unlocking ABC by The Jackson Five.

The gameplay involves tapping numbered circles in order with the beat of the music, dragging the stylus along with a rolling ball onscreen, and dragging the stylus in tiny circles to spin an onscreen wheel. Sounds fairly straightforward, and the first half-dozen levels are indeed very easy, but it gets very difficult when there's a cluster of ten circles and you have to tap through them so quickly that you don't even have time to look at the numbers. There are also some very creative interpretations of the songs' rhythms, which make it very difficult to follow along. At times, I had to pay attention to the shrinking circles and ignore the song's beat entirely in order to get past part of a song. That was very difficult for me, as I usually rely almost entirely on my ear in rhythm games.

The stories taking place in the background are amusing. Not hilarious like Psychonauts, but merely entertaining, like Phoenix Wright. Of course, with how hectic the tapping gets at some points, you may be hard pressed to pay attention to the story taking place on the upper screen, although the action does pause at a few points during each mission to let you watch the most interesting portions of the story. If you want to take in the whole thing, you can replay a mission after you've finished.

The game's plot involves a super-secret governmental agency known as The Elite Beat Agents. Their mission is to help citizens in their problems - both everyday ones and extraordinary ones, whether it be helping a lost dog find its way home, helping an oil tycoon who has gone broke regain his fortune, or helping Leonardo Da Vinci win over the heart of Mona Lisa so that he can paint her. They do this by acting as cheerleaders and inspiring people to success.

The first mission in the game, for example, involves the Elite Beat Agents helping a young girl who is interested in dating the high school quarterback - but she is suddenly asked to babysit, fouling her plans. As the agents successfully complete each section of the mission, the quarterback is inspired to throw a hungry kid a hotdog as if the hotdog were a football, and run another kid to the toilet as if the toilet were the endzone.

If you like rhythm games, I'd say go for it. Personally, I prefer DS games such as MarioKart and Final Fantasy III, but Elite Beat Agents was still fun.