The Elite Beat Agents are at Your Service
Released back in 2006 near the beginning of the DS's life, Elite Beat Agents was an early adopter of the musical genre which exploded in popularity until recent years. In this rhythm game, you play indirectly as the Elite Beat Agents; a group of Agents who use the power of songs to save the world's inhabitants from their problems in the most ridiculous ways possible, all while bringing a smile to the player's face. And that is exactly what this game sets out to do, bring a fun time to players and to let them enjoy themselves.
Elite Beat Agents will indeed bring a smile to every players face, from its charming cartoon stories in comic book style opening every level, to the crazy situations they find themselves in every level. By tapping the screen along with the music, you control the agent's dancing in the background, where the more beats you hit the better you do overall. Beats come in different types, mainly normal (which are surrounded by slowly closing circles to inform you when to tap it) a spinner (which you spin the stylus on in quick circles) and sliding beats, where you simply drag the stylus along with the beat along a short path. If you perform badly enough the health bar will hit zero and you will fail, and you will be failing often as this is not an easy game by any means. The difficulty ramps up fairly evenly, but still quickly. Nevertheless, losses will almost always be accompanied by a feeling of eagerness to try again, a nice change from other unforgiving games, simply because it is so much fun to play.
As far as song choice goes, the songs available are superb for a DS game, featuring covers of famous songs such as SK8TR BOI and Y.M.C.A., and are as catchy as ever. Most songs will be instantly recognizable, and they all fit their scenarios perfectly. There are a few standouts, one of which is surprisingly emotional- I won't spoil it. Regardless, the levels are all bright, colorful and creative, as well as funny, this game seems to have it all.
Once you finish the main levels, there are additional levels to unlock and new difficulties to try out. However, this is about it for postgame content besides relaying levels, and the game itself is fairly short, anywhere from 3-5 hours or more, dependng on your skill level. While it may be short, it is a blast filled ride you'll be sure to enjoy and potentially revisit in the future.
Elite Beat Agents is a rhythmical adventure which will enchant you from beginning to end, so long as you can progress through the difficulty. Thankfully there is an Easy mode, although that still may not be enough to help see some players through to the end. For those that make it though, they will experience one of the best early DS games out there due to its hilarity and joy it brings to the player. This is one game that is worth tracking down, and you won't be sorry, believe me.
Elite Beat Agents: 9/10
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