"Osu! 3... 2... 1... Let's tap."

Go back to the time when you are faced with the biggest challenge of your life, be it an upcoming exam, or just some bad bowel movement, you felt like all hope is lost, the world is ending. You felt like giving up, but somehow an inner energy burnt inside you and you kept going, kept pushing, until the time you finally failed miserably. You felt dejected. If you have cried out 'Ouendaaaaan', maybe you would have succeeded.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a rhythm game not unlike Konami's DDR or Drummania and millions of other clones. Instead of perfecting your fancy footwork or drumming skills, you are to tap, slide and spin your way to victory. In essence, if you have no sense of rhythm and hate playing DDR, you will enjoy Ouendan as much as you enjoy seeing grass grow. But if you have a decent rhythmic sense and music is your thing, Ouendan will no doubt provide hours of fun.

***** Plot *****

"Plot in a rhythm game? You've got to be kidding." No, I'm not kidding. In this game, you take control of a 3-highschool girls, I mean, 3-man firing, I mean, cheering squad. Yes, the 3-man cheering squad. Someone in town somewhere is in need of some divine power that will help them overcome whatever adversaries that they are facing. You are that divine power.

Each person in need has a story. Some are more sane than others. Each story is told via manga panels at the start of the stage. Some of them are just plain hilarious.

One stage has a primary school kid challenged by a bully to a match of dodge ball for the right to date a girl. Another one has an ordinary salary man with crappy job and an unloving family fighting a Godzilla-sized mouse to save his daughter.

There are some serious stuffs too. A new teacher needing that extra motivation for his students to do better, or the violinist that has an upset stomach on his way to his performance.

And what would this game be without love stories. A dead motorcyclist just wanting that last chance to tell his wife he loved her, vis-a-vis Patrick and Demi in the movie "Ghost". Even dead people need help sometimes.

Of course, it's all up to you to cheer them on. Their happy endings are in your hand.

***** Gameplay *****

The game is in Japanese, but that present no problems. The menu is easy to navigate, and even if you don't understand the text bubbles during the manga sequence, the pictures say more than a thousand words.

The control is simple, yet sophisticated enough to frustrate some players. There are just three types of control. Tapping, sliding and circling. Tapping involves matching the beat to the music. Sliding involves sliding the beat on a pre-determined path as shown on screen. Many times going back and forth the same path multiple times. Circling is just moving your stylus in circles as fast as your can.

There can be multiple beats in a bar which is numbered from 1 to N to form a pattern. Hit the beat in numerical order as it appears. Just like DDR, you can hit it perfect, great, good, or miss totally. Needless to say, missing a beat is no good, missing many beats is game over.

On top of the screen is a gauge that acts as a timer. Hitting the beat will give you extra time, and if the gauge runs out, you lose.

Each song is divided into three to four sections. Your aim is to play out each section before the time runs out. Depends on how much time is left on the meter, you will either succeed or fail that section. Failing a section not necessarily means failing the song, but it will certain make that task that much harder.

***** Graphics *****

The dancers are modelled in 3D, but the rest of the game is in 2D. However, 2D or 3D, it doesn't matter. In fact, I think 2D fits the game more than 3D ever would. The presentation of the game in manga panels fits the 2D mould perfectly.

Some of the graphics are just hilariously funny, especially when the person in need is all fired up, ready to tackle whatever adversary head on. You can literally see the fire in their eyes.

During the song, the top screen displays the current state of affair, but most of the time, you would be too busy keeping up with the beat to worry about the situation. The only time you would look up is between sections. There is a failed sequence and a success sequence. You obviously won't watch them both at the same time.

The drawings are colourful and fitting. The cheering squad is all dressed in black, and as you hit the beat, they do their moves. They punch, they swing, they dance to your perfecting touch. If you miss a beat, they fall over.

***** Sound *****

There are 15 songs in the game, ranging from JPOP to JRock. From Morning Musume to L'Arc~En~Ciel. Each has their own style and each requires that special touch. If Japanese music is your thing, you will love the songs. Some of them are featured in other games like Drummania.

The only show stopper is the DS speakers. But that's more of a hardware issue than the software. A good pair of headphones will solve the problem.

***** Replay Value *****

Besides passing a stage, there are 'awards' that you can get if your total score for all stages surpass a certain amount. There is always that perfectionist inside us that prompt us to do better, to get a higher score. After all, that is what drive us to beat the drums or step on those foot pedals over and over.

Replay value is certainly high with this one. With each song having multiple difficulty settings, you can be rest assured that no two version of the same song will be played the same way.

***** Overall *****

Simply put, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is an addictive game from the word 'go'. The songs are great, and the scenarios are funny. It's a game that's easy to learn, but hard to master. Thankfully, there is an 'easy' mode, probably to cater for children. But the fun is to be had on 'normal' mode where you will be tapping to the beat. Once you finished that, you will have access to the 'hard' mode where more insane beat patterns await.

It can get frustrating at times, especially when you spend hours upon hours trying to master the song. Look on the bright side, by the time you finish the stage, you can probably sing it backwards.

Good:

* Easy to learn
* Great music
* quirky scenarios

Bad:

* Hard to master
* Music sounds hollow on DS speakers
* Too short

Score (out of 10)

Plot: 7
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Replay: 7

Overall: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/07