The score of 9.5 was to cater for the average 'touch-gen' gamer. For those who have played Ouendan, read another review, or just don't and judge for yourself if it's better or not.

I myself see a lot of improvements, as Kensuke mentioned, cutting straight to the chase is a very good thing, as is the multiplayer and unlockables presentation-wise. The comic panels seem to drag on for some, but then once you've seen them, you'll proobably skip them subsequently. They are corny, but in-game work rather well still. Ouendan -> Healp! and "Agents are.. Go!!" are really annoying though. The beats actually seem weak with less cymbal crash and more tinny thumps, and the song selection ain't that great (after all the songs make this game); strangely the oldies fare better imo. But the Anthem rocked nonetheless!

A good rhythm action game. It just doesn't have the freshness of its maker, and some copied aspects don't translate too well to English. Still solid fun, especially for those not in the know. But everything EBA does well, Ouendan did better, and it did it last year. 8/10 from me.

Question (without spoiling which songs are used):

1. Is there another tear-jerker song / story like Over the Distance from Ouendan?

2. Is the final song kickass?

Oh is there ever.

I got this yesterday and I've already beaten it on all difficulties. Frickin' cool game. I don't even get annoyed by most of the songs. EBA==Ouendan. Seriously. I totally love the final stage though. Some of the scenarios are kinda weird though.

he wuz a sk8r boi she sed c u l8r boi

he wuznt gud enuff 4 hur

Sooooooo I just finished Elite Beat Agents. The playlist is awful. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. To tell you just how awful it was, I am going to use text.

First level starts you out playing "Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram.

Okay, this song would be decent if THE LYRICS WERE BY THE ACTUAL ORIGINAL SINGER, but no. I've seen Steriogram in concert (they're a NZ band) and the were pretty good. This however, isn't. Normal mode is also extremely slow and runs at about half the pace of the song.

Second level's "Sk8r Boi" by Canada Gets Known for Something.

You have to PRESS the CIRCLES when she SAID see you LATER boy. Yeah this song doesn't even feel right, but it isn't half as bad as some of the others the game as to offer, so whatever. I'd much rather play this over something like David Bowie.

BUT WAIT, FUCK BOWIES. We have Madonna - Material Girl to faptap ourselves to. Awesome. Meanwhile the story of this song consists of two girls acting dumb (I'll just assume it's Paris and Nicole) on a deserted island. They bounce around and all the animals build them castles and bring them food just because of their looks.

The game opens up 1/2 levels every time you pass a level. Does it get better? HELL NO. Well actually kinda, but every awesome song is immediately shunned by one which isn't. You're going to be playing La La, Canned Heat, and You're The Inspiration over and over. Seriously, I'm not joking around. For some reason Destiny's Child - Survivor and Cher - Believe aren't in the single player mode. This is a good thing.

But there's a POSITIVE SIDE to this game. Ignoring the fact that there's only 3 songs I really enjoyed, the art style is exactly the same as Ouendan. Also, they've used sound effects from Ouendan in parts of the comic strips, which will mean nothing to anyone who hasn't played Ouendan, but I liked it.

The last song is pretty cool, as well. It took me 4-5 ties before I was able to beat it. Hard mode is shaping up to be pretty good as well. Cher - Believe is in hard mode only it seems, so I'm just guessing ABC and Survivor are also in hard or whatever comes after hard.

That's basically it. 3 good songs. Good comics. I doubt this has as much replay value as Ouendan did, and overall I still prefer it over this, but I definitely wouldn't give it a 9.5 like IGN did. A solid 7.5 would be better, I guess.

Too bad they are. The storyline ain't bad, but they could've chosen better songs. >_<

After playing this for a night straight, I finally managed to beat Crusin' mode. Now i'm on Sweatin' and struggling on the same damn song that gave me problems in Crusin' mode. T_T

I <3 I Was Born To Love You. That song can burn in hell.

I guess out of all the songs, You're The Inspiration is my favorite. Don't ask. I just like the damn song.

The Final Stage gave me so many problems, it's not even funny. It probably took me 20+ plays to finall beat it.

UGH. I STILL HAVE TO BEAT SWEATIN' SO I COULD UNLOCK KHAN. THEN MY LIFE WILL BE SET.

Unlike most people, I like the "sad song" stage from Ouendan better than EBA. EBA's seemed a little TOO sappy, as if they were just trying to top the first game instead of crafting a new scenario.

However, this game is on the whole a great sequel. I love the "skip intro" feature, it really speeds up the playthroughs. The final stage(s) are incredible, it really got me emotionally involved with the songs. It completely topped RSG from Ouendan.

Perhaps you'd like to go back and actually read what I said.

They aren't in single player on normal mode.

Yeah they are, you just need to unlock them by upping your rank. Then you can play them in all difficulties.

Is it just me or is Material Girl and Canned Heat on Sweatin' incredibly difficult?

I can't get past the first part in Material Girl when they send a bunch of 14-chains on you. I dunno why.

You're the Inspiration sounds kinda funny to me. I dunno why but it does.

But yeah, Canned Heat is awesome and I love playing that stage. The beats are confusing at first but then you'll figure it out. There are a lot of quick double taps.

About the bonus songs: If you get the bonus songs, then you WILL have to complete them in the later difficulties, making it somewhat part of the normal game. Also, if you complete Crusin' and then go back to Breezin', then you have to complete every bonus song you unlocked.

And I agree with everything Jazz said about the ending, and the tragedy stage. The ending totally rocks though.

They're all done by different artists anyway... Like in The Anthem where you hear the guy singing crack his voice a little singing "Don't wanna be just~ like you." in the chorus.

But now I can't beat Jumpin' Jack Flash on Sweatin'. Getting 50s SERIOUSLY does NOT save me now... I hate how they expect you to perfect the whole song. Their standards got too high.

And yet, it has been done on Hard Rock mode already.

Yeah, I know that they're covers. Especially JJF, because the original version is pretty slow compared to this one. In my opinion, this version of The Anthem sounds better than the original.

On another note, I've gotten only 4 100's on Hard Rock JJF. I got 3 of them at the end. ;_;

My hand shakin' so bad.

I got the game last night. I like it so far. I'm only on Cruisin' and I'm up to the Not quite sure how far that puts me, but I think the song selection is pretty good, most of the songs are catchy and work well with the game. I hardly think the pessimism about the game is warranted.

And BR, pretty damn far.

Anyway, I still haven't had any luck with beating JJF on Sweatin'. Mostly after the 2nd checkpoint in the songs where you get all those 14-hit runs. Those seriously piss me off, and it still does. T_T

Yay! So I cleared all the songs on all difficulties today. Got Commander Kahn leading the Elite Beat Divas... word. O_o

So, I'm done... unless I wanna score higher. Back to Phoenix Wright! :p

Go for some S ranks. that's my plan now

I just unlocked Hard Rock mode. I'm pretty sure I'm not even going to play that, it's just silly how hard it is.

I could deal with the reduced marker size. I could deal with it if they just gave every song rhythms on par with Jumpin Jack Flash in difficulty. I could deal with those things, but I can't deal with the fact that they made every marker show up approximately 1 second before you have to hit it.

I got my paycheck today and decided to finally get this one. Don't know what to say, really. The system remains intact, which is nice. The soundtrack isn't exactly comprised of my favorite songs, but neither is Ouendan's, so whatever. My biggest complaint, having played through Normal and Hard mode, is that the hits are really oddly placed in many songs. It just seems really unnatural the way some of them are syncopated, Canned Heat and Without a Fight coming immediately to mind. It seems like a lot of western music is more loose in its timing than J-Rock, which must make it harder to sync it up properly.

Jumpin' Jack Flash, however, makes up for any deficiency the game might have, as it's not only an awesome song (and a good cover, at that), but it has some of the best patterns in either game. There some other good ones like September, YTI, Rock This Town (yay, they used the Brian Setzer Orchestra version, I love that arrangement), Let's Dance...maybe some others. I'd say the good and bad songs are pretty evenly matched up.