Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2

"Hours of gameplay later and broken my third DS...."

So! The DS has another coordination music game to add to its expanding list of fun games. Moero! Nekketsu Rizumu Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2!, the second in its series, is a sterling example of what the DS is capable of. The basic premise of the game is similar to DDR or Guitar hero in that you are rhythmically hitting notes at the correct time in sync with a song playing in the background. This time instead of wailing a plastic guitar or flailing your feet wildly, you are using the stylus to touch little numbered circles as they appear on your screen. The concept is quite revolutionary and not without praise. However, crucial flaws inhibit this game's true potential.

Graphics: 9/10 Inis Studios really puts a lot of effort into creating a unique and interesting User Interface for this game. The touch screen has a very nice 3d rendition of the cheer squad in the background while you hit the notes and the top screen has a manga-esque animation that explains a mini story. If you mess up too much and your health falls below a certain point, the characters in the manga go through bad outcomes that end in rather humorous story lines. The manga stories are beautifully drawn and leave no details out. So why the nine out of ten? The graphics of the game are not that great; they are well done but come nowhere near the potential of the DS. It should also be noted that when compared to the first game, this second games graphics have been massively vamped up! Overall, brilliantly executed and improved by the development team.

Music: 10/10 Absolutely no problems here. All of the songs that were chosen for this game were, at one point or another, famous in Japan. It's really fun to be tapping your DS on the bus or train to the songs that you are into. Without a doubt this is where the game shines the brightest!

Game play: 5/10 The game play is brilliantly thought up! The concept allows for quick, mindless, and addicting play anywhere so long as you have three minutes to spare and potentially some head phones so as not to annoy your neighbors. The utilization of the DS' wifi is also a great new feature, allowing me to battle against my buddies in covert while an old man that we sometimes call professor talks about Japanese society. This is about all that shines golden though as the development team saw it fit to take a good idea and throw it into a blender.

The basic qualm that I have with this game is that it is too difficult and does not necessarily rely on skill but more on trial and error. To start, your health consistently goes down regardless of how well you are doing. However, if you hit the notes spot on, you will gain more health than you are losing, thus allowing you to continue playing the song. But if you hit the note inaccurately or miss it entirely, the game is about as forgiving as Satan. After you come to terms with the difficulty, every player realizes, and fast, that the harder levels become a process of repeated failure. Even if you know the song really well, if you do not know the order in which the notes come up, odds are that you will miss one or two... which really means you will fail as missing one or two pretty much kills you instantly. If you do not know the song at all, well... you better learn it fast or the beat scheme kill you faster than the number order will. So it comes down to how much patience you have in memorizing the number order and the songs. This kind of trial and error should not be a part of any video game. It leads to nothing but frustration. Also, the colors of the numbered buttons that you have to hit are often similar leading me to be very confused as to which number I should hit next at times. Again, this gets ironed out after you have failed the song for the 80th time. It should also be noted that if you are color blind this game will be exceedingly difficult.

With all the rhythm based games out there on the market, it's really a slap in the face to the player when certain features are omitted that make mastering these games easier. I guess you could say that is the "challenge" but I, as well as many others, hate being told repeated that you have failed; something this game will tell you many, many times! But the point I am getting to is that almost all other rhythm based games that have been on the market for a while have a training mode of sorts. DDR has a training mode, Guitar Hero II has a comprehensive training mode that allows you to pick sections of the songs. This game does not! Nor does it have any method that will allow you to get on the beat of the song without 100% knowing it ahead of time. My favorite song on medium mode follows the beat pattern of the vocalist but then once you unlock it on hard mode, the beat follows the instrumental music of the song instead urging me to chuck my DS at the nearest person out of pure frustration. It all leads back to my trial and error statement where the game doesn't exactly help you through difficulty; it just throws you in the deep end and hopes you know how to tread water. The game play is flawed at best and lacks features to facilitate progress through the game.

Replayability: 10/10 This game can be played over and over again to oblivion. Once you find and master the songs you like, it becomes highly addictive and fun to play. It just happens to take a long time to get to the point where you can play the songs on hard mode and insane mode which happens to be where the most fun is in my opinion.

Overall: 7/10 For the rhythm game addict, this game will provide you with a new challenge and a lot of good entertainment for hours. Also, it's currently very cheap. I bought my copy at a local Bookoff for 1620 yen (approx 18USD at time of writing). The improved graphics are nice and all but the unimproved and lackluster game play doesn't hold my interest for long. If you are not into the rhythm style game play, this game might provide you with way more frustration than entertainment. Your best bet if you are unsure would be to rent the game if possible or borrow it from a friend before committing yourself to the full investment.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09

Game Release: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (JP, 05/17/07)