Every level starts off with a comic-book-style story playing out on both screens to introduce you to the characters whom the agents will be helping though their particular crisis. The characters end their story by screaming "HELP!". Naturally, you can skip the story if you've seen it already, for if you expect to get good scores and good grades in Agents, you'll be playing levels over and over again. New to Agents is the presence of a separate skip option for the intro portion of the song as well; Ouendan required players to wait through the introduction to the song before the gameplay would actually begin, which proved itself to be quite a chore when going through "Ready Steady Go" for the fiftieth time in pursuit of the elusive S grade.
The song introduction shows Commander Kahn finding the troubled characters on his massive radar screen and sending the Agents off to help in their Beat Transport, which is a different vehicle for each situation. Kahn shouts "Agents Are Go!", and the Agents arrive at the scene, ready to help. Each song plays out as a set of three subsequences. As the song plays out, your performance affects the actions on the top screen -- if you let the Elite-O-Meter fall into the red zone when each subsequence ends, the characters will fumble their task and fail sections. New to Agents is an alternative ending if you clear the song from the red zone; the other endings are the complete failure ending, if you let your Elite-O-Meter drain completely (ending the song), or the success, if you clear the song from the high end of the Elite-O-Meter in the yellow zone.
The demo at E3 had two levels to play. The first was "Trio of Mayhem: Love and Boyfriends," played out to Steriogram's "Walkie Talkie Man." In the scenario, football player Don finds himself helping potential steady Jane baby sit. Amusingly, he literally tackles the problem, attempting pigskin-inspired passes to satisfy baby's needs. This scenario was certainly the easier of the demo's two levels, with steady beats making up the majority of the challenge.
The other scenario was "A Pug's Life: 400 Miles From Home," set to Deep Purple's "Highway Star." Sam the pug finds himself 400 miles from his owner, after taking a nap in the back of a pickup truck, and sets off for home. Along the way he helps save a woman's expensive china, and even rescues hot poodles. This level seemed to illustrate that iNiS is intent on not leaving the challenge level of Ouendan behind for American and European audiences. Though its pacing would probably have placed it in the "Normal" level of Ouendan, the more-complex rhythms presented quite a pleasant challenge.
After you've cleared a song and watched its ending, the Elite-O-Meter makes its judgment. Charted across the screen is the position of the Elite-O-Meter throughout the progress of the song, illustrating plainly where you failed in your performance and struggled to get the Meter back up to normal levels. Your final score is presented here, as well as statistics on the points you earned and beats you missed. Your letter grade is dependent on how well these statistics add up.
Elite Beat Agents was a strong contender at Nintendo's "DS bar," even in the face of blockbusters New Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Having played Ouendan nearly to death the year prior, finding the same challenging gameplay and spirit in what is effectively an all-new franchise was sheer joy, and it was definitely my favorite game of the show. (I think this makes me Chris Kohler's spirit brother.)
Those who imported and loved Ouendan last year have a lot to look forward to with all-new songs and all-new scenarios in Agents. And those who didn't may just want to consider making Ouendan a purchase after they're done with Agents. I know I won't be missing this title.
The song introduction shows Commander Kahn finding the troubled characters on his massive radar screen and sending the Agents off to help in their Beat Transport, which is a different vehicle for each situation. Kahn shouts "Agents Are Go!", and the Agents arrive at the scene, ready to help. Each song plays out as a set of three subsequences. As the song plays out, your performance affects the actions on the top screen -- if you let the Elite-O-Meter fall into the red zone when each subsequence ends, the characters will fumble their task and fail sections. New to Agents is an alternative ending if you clear the song from the red zone; the other endings are the complete failure ending, if you let your Elite-O-Meter drain completely (ending the song), or the success, if you clear the song from the high end of the Elite-O-Meter in the yellow zone.
The demo at E3 had two levels to play. The first was "Trio of Mayhem: Love and Boyfriends," played out to Steriogram's "Walkie Talkie Man." In the scenario, football player Don finds himself helping potential steady Jane baby sit. Amusingly, he literally tackles the problem, attempting pigskin-inspired passes to satisfy baby's needs. This scenario was certainly the easier of the demo's two levels, with steady beats making up the majority of the challenge.
The other scenario was "A Pug's Life: 400 Miles From Home," set to Deep Purple's "Highway Star." Sam the pug finds himself 400 miles from his owner, after taking a nap in the back of a pickup truck, and sets off for home. Along the way he helps save a woman's expensive china, and even rescues hot poodles. This level seemed to illustrate that iNiS is intent on not leaving the challenge level of Ouendan behind for American and European audiences. Though its pacing would probably have placed it in the "Normal" level of Ouendan, the more-complex rhythms presented quite a pleasant challenge.
After you've cleared a song and watched its ending, the Elite-O-Meter makes its judgment. Charted across the screen is the position of the Elite-O-Meter throughout the progress of the song, illustrating plainly where you failed in your performance and struggled to get the Meter back up to normal levels. Your final score is presented here, as well as statistics on the points you earned and beats you missed. Your letter grade is dependent on how well these statistics add up.
Elite Beat Agents was a strong contender at Nintendo's "DS bar," even in the face of blockbusters New Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Having played Ouendan nearly to death the year prior, finding the same challenging gameplay and spirit in what is effectively an all-new franchise was sheer joy, and it was definitely my favorite game of the show. (I think this makes me Chris Kohler's spirit brother.)
Those who imported and loved Ouendan last year have a lot to look forward to with all-new songs and all-new scenarios in Agents. And those who didn't may just want to consider making Ouendan a purchase after they're done with Agents. I know I won't be missing this title.