Rhythm action and omniscient male cheerleaders? What's not to like?
Gameplay is fairly basic music game stuff, but obviously with the added DS functionality of using the touch screen as your interface instead of the usual gimmicky controller or colour-coded buttons. It seems like a small and fairly obvious addition and in truth it probably is, but it's a much better way to play rhythm action than most controllers. Maybe not as much fun as a dance mat or pair of maracas, but try carrying those in your pocket. All there is to the gameplay is tapping circles, spinning wheels, and tracing lines in time to the music, and that makes it a great game to play for a quick blast as much as you can sit down and work your way through some of the challenging songs.
Oh yes, the music. Songs can make or break a music game and they're certainly the things that make this game. All of the songs are endlessly hummable J-rock songs which really set the tone of the game. There's not a bad one in there and they're all liable to get stuck in your head until the next time you play. Even one which makes a complete change from the others (you'll know what I mean when you play it) is a great change of pace as well as being a heartwarming little story.
Ouendan is just brimming with style, from the kooky story (superhero male cheerleading squad appear to inspire people of Japanese town to do anything from complete their homework in a noisy house to growing to monstrous proportions to fight an invading giant mouse whenever they shout their name) to the weird animations going on in the background as you play. There's an option after completing a song to play it back so that you can watch the stories unfold in their entirety, and it's amazing how much went into stuff like that which you don't actually see while playing.
This game is well worth the import, whether or not it actually officially makes it outside Japan. It's entirely in Japanese but by no means impenetrable, and if anything I find the fact that it's indecipherable charming, actually adding to the game. I almost feel that it would lose something if it was to be played in English. In short, one of the best games yet on the DS.