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Gamasutra's Quantum Leap Awards: Most Important Games, 2006 The Quantum Leap Awards, Top 55. Nintendo's Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo DS)
Already a fan of rhythm games since Parappa The Rapper, I imported Keiichi Yano's Ouendan for the Nintendo DS to check out what was apparently a brilliant Nintendo DS touchscreen rhythm game, complete with a whole bunch of J-Pop that I'd never heard of. And it was indeed brilliant, and the J-Pop was catchy enough that it compensated for not knowing any of it, and the scenarios in which the game was staged were endearingly wacky. So when I found out that iNiS was making a Westernized version of the game, in the form of Elite Beat Agents, I was naturally delighted. And the final product, while it turned off some of the hardcore fans of the Japanese original by using songs from Ashlee Simpson and the Jackson Five, the game sits very well with me, since I'm a fan of catchy music, whatever the source. The offbeat humor behind the game's scenario concepts are still in place, and the touch-based gameplay is spot on - smooth and intuitive. All this means that one of the simpler games released this year is by far one of the most enjoyable. It's just a shame that, as Reggie Fils-Aime recently indicated, the title hasn't caught on with the American public in the same way that some of the other Touch Generations games have. Still, given that it's presumably a reasonably inexpensive game to make (before licensing), one would hope to see more Agents infiltrating Nintendo consoles in the future. We can only dream! Simon Carless, Editor-In-Chief, Gamasutra
The delightful visceral oddness of Elite Beat Agents isn't all that surprising; lord knows we've had off-beat visionaries at the helm of games like Katamari Damacy and Psychonauts before. The simple, tight and addicting mechanics of the actual gameplay aren't mindblowing either. It's a rhythm game, after all, and I've played lots of those. That we have easy-to-learn, accessible mechanics, using a still reasonably new touch screen interface, with beautiful hand-drawn art, and a lively soundtrack of familiar songs, lovingly crafted by a team that makes it their modus operandi to make me smile? That we have a game so accomplished and, indeed, excelled in each and every aspect, that I struggle to think of any genuine flaws? That's rare. It's more than rare, it's revolutionary. I love this game. It brings to the table everything that's right with the medium, and experiments - quite successfully - with solutions to many things that we've been doing wrong. At its core, it is the simplest of games. When a circle appears on screen, simply tap on it when prompted. When a numbered sequence is laid out, tap it in order. It's easy, it's accessible, and it draws upon basic human action/reaction reasoning. At its easiest level, anyone with basic motor skills can play the game successfully. At its hardest, it puts the player into an unbreakable trance, into a state of pure instinct and concentration. It is either a fun pastime, or it is the hardest of hardcore. And it does all this while men with large hair and sunglasses dance around to Jackson 5 and Madonna tunes, inspiring babysitters to do their best and disgruntled truck workers to slay zombies using peanuts. What impresses me most about Elite Beat Agents, and what I hope designers take away from the game, is the way that it approaches storytelling. Long have we argued the proper approach to telling a story interactively, about balancing the fine line between the creator guiding a player where he needs to be, and the player himself feeling a sense of freedom. In Elite Beat Agents, players are not guiding the story. They're inspiring it. The scenarios are set in stone, the actors are in place, and outside of outright failing a stage, nothing can prevent it from playing out as intended. The story is out of the player's hands, and yet, the player is still actively involved, and never feels a loss of participation. I've seen nothing like it before, and whether this revolutionary step forward is utilized or ignored, whether or not I'm the only one who sees it, I'll still consider it the biggest quantum leap of 2006. Frank Cifaldi, Features Editor, Gamasutra |
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