With enough variety, tension and value, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is simply one game that needs to be imported!
This doesnt stop here with Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, developers Inis have used the Nintendo DS platform's touch screen in a unique way which you tap circles in time to the beat. It may sound easy, but the difficulty ramps up so much that it can leave you with the point of frustration. But does this new way work...................Absolutely!
Ouendan! is about cheerleaders that go round solving citizens problems like helping a student to revise to saving the entire world from a meteor. They do this by dancing (this is operated by tapping the buttons on the screen in time with the music) and it somehow gives encouragement and self esteem and ends up with a happy ending if played right.
Each level is supported with a J-Pop song which you tap the beats to. The beats will appear on the screen with a number and a white line continuously shrinking to help you time your beats. Tapping them at perfect time will keep your bar at the top in the yellow and keeping it that way will result in a successful 'section' of the level and will increase your chances of a decent ranking at the end.
At certain points of the songs, a spinner will appear and you have to spin it at a unbelieveable rate which seems unhealthy for your touch screen to take but this will give you more points and keep the top bar in the yellow section.
There are a total of 15 songs in the game, and as you progress, the citizen's issues get more serious ending with preventing a meteor from hitting Earth. But they all play differently and are all a blast to play. There are four difficulties in the game, and they also depict the characters 'butchiness' as the difficulty gets harder, apart from the 'Insane' mode where they are replaced with females which is very entertaining. As they get harder, more beats appear at once, you have to hit them faster and the bar at the top decreases at a faster rate so getting a perfect hit on most beats are a neccessity.
Graphically, this game is impressive, although most parts of the game are shown in a 2D/Manga style but the cheerleaders look very well done and detailed.
Although this may not appeal to gamers on the western front because of the major culture and language difference, theres enough here to appeal to anyone, the songs are top-notch, there is enough japanese dialogue to make a 4 year old get their way round the menus.
If you are still not convinced, pick up Elite Beat Agents released in the US and Europe, it has the same concept of Ouendan! but the songs will be familiar to westerners and the characters can be related better.
But if you have never imported a game before, I seriously reccomend starting with Ouendan! it has enough to appeal to anyone and you could buy both EBA and Ouendan! and still be happy!
Games like Ouendan! cannot be imitated on any other platform and this is where the DS thrives at, the touch screen makes it fun to play and if you get through a tough section of Read Steady Go or Shangai Honey, you are left with a serioulsly satisfied feeling that is hard to pull off in the world of video games.
This is arguably the best DS game around and if you have never played let alone bought Ouendan!/EBA, just purchase it now. Enough Said....