Way better than Elite Beat Agents
Songs: The most important aspect of this game. And I'm glad to say that they are amazing, pretty much blowing my mind (Samurai Blues is so catchy). Even though the soundtrack was completely new to me, picking up the beats was easy, and after moving on to different difficulties, they'll start to grow on you, even the one's you originally didn't like. Also, the actual recordings seem to be original, i.e. not cover artists.
Stories: I don't speak/read Japanese, but the skits are amusing, funny, and some can even be a tad emotional ( "Believe" in this case, tearjerker).
Whether it's a shoe salesman on the moon or giant ice meteors falling from the sky... and there are even guest appearances in certain songs i.e. Mario and Luigi (in "Don't let me down"). The Cheer squads themselves gain new members as you change difficulties, and there are plenty of cutscenes, where they are doing...awkward, but at the same time hilarious things, blending into the background until they pop out to start dancing. I can't believe I just typed that.
Difficulty: Easy and Normal are just the right difficulty for beginners (there is forced tutorial in the beginning of the game). When you move on to hard, if you've played any other beat games, it shouldn't be too challenging, but I must say the life meter isn't very forgiving. But by the time that you've reached the harder levels, you'll know the songs by heart (whether your hand can react in time...). The final song is truly a monster though; I literally got blisters from where I held the stylus. The difficulty curve is very...fairly smooth I should say; Difficulty was something that I didn't feel there was enough of in Elite Beat Agents (it helps that this game has a better soundtrack). Insane: you pretty much have to hit all 300's or else the meter will fail you. I kid you not
Length: I've had the game for 2 days, and I've beaten all modes, except for insane for which I'm on the final song. Although I'm sure I'll want to go back and replay songs, get an S rank here or there (Update: All S ranks on every song on Insane...!). Nothing feels better than showing off your high scores. The game shines in mutliplayer, and luckily I have friends with the game.
Overall, the only qualm I have about this game is the lack of practice mode (if there is one, then this game is a 10). It would have helped immensely, considering I'm a foreigner, so this really isn't a legitimate complaint.
Still, I highly recommend this game. As of this sentence-writing, at playasia it's only 30 dollars. Why are you still reading this? Get it now!