Elite Beat Agents throws an emotional curve ball

[Paul Campbell]

I just sat down to play through a few more rounds of Elite Beat Agents for the DS, a game which I picked up about a week ago per Dave's review.  Although I was a little underwhelmed by the play style of the game at first, it is really starting to grow on me.

Today I played a level that totally changed my respect for this game.  Up to this point, the situations that the characters need help with were generally silly or downright ridiculous.  Today I played a level that was an absolute 180 from what I had come to expect from the game.  A little girl says goodbye to her dad before he leaves on an apparent business trip, asking him to bring her teddy bear a "girlfriend", and then promising to be back by Christmas.  I was totally shocked when the seemingly sweet story didn't take the turn I thought it would, into some silly "yeah right" story like the dad missing his plane to get home and having to ride on the backs of birds and whales to keep his promise.  Instead, in the well-done comic-style cut scene, we discover that the girl's father died in an accident and the girl has never gotten over it, while the mother has been trying to.  The level is played as the girl and her mother find things and do things that remind them of dad, and finishes with a sweet ending.  The whole thing was done with class and respect, and totally caught me off guard.  Somebody on that development team had talent, insight, and guts. 

It's not like it had me in tears or anything, it was just such a welcome twist in the game, unlike the twists we are so used to seeing in entertainment these days.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]Somebody on that development team had talent, insight, and guts.[/QUOTE]

They always have a sad scenario like that on these games.  Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the Japanese version of the game, had a scenario where a guy dies before he can say goodbye to his girlfriend, and he spends that scenario trying to contact her from beyond to say his final farewell.  And in the recent Ouendan 2 sequel to that game, a skater in the Olympics loses her mother before the big event, and uses her memory of her mother to push herself and win the gold medal.

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]It's not like it had me in tears or anything, it was just such a welcome twist in the game, unlike the twists we are so used to seeing in entertainment these days.[/QUOTE]

By the way, those scenarios are still funny if you lose them.

In the first segment of the little girl's scenario, she tries to clean up the room for her dad (even though he isn't coming back), and when they pick up one of his books, a photo falls out.  If you performed well in that scenario, it's a picture of him with his family, nd the little girl says "He always looked out for us."  But if you didn't perform well, an erotic photo of him in a bikini falls out, and the little girl turns away and says "Oh, I shouldn't have looked!"

But in the second one, that's where I really laughed out loud.  She puts on a birthday party for her father (again, even though he isn't coming back), and the wind blows through the window onto the cake.  If you did well, it blows out the candles and the little girl interprets that to be her father doing it from beyond.  If you didn't do well, the wind blows the cake into the little girl's face.

I tell ya... I LOVE all three of those games.  They are all well worth playing.  And MAN do they get challenging on insane and hard rock modes.

[ActRaiser1]

Paul, for a game with heavy emotional undertones with religious themes even if they are watered down a bit, download ActRaiser on the VC.  Seriously, for $8 you can't go wrong. 

The 2D side scrolling doesn't look as good as it once did but the overhead city building, keeping your people happy, still resonates today.  Just read the text that your people say to you and you'll get it. 

For example, you'll find one of your people nearing death after battling to close up a demon's lair.  His last request is to feel your tears on his cheek before passing away.  In the god mode/simcity like mode you make it rain on him and he passes away with a smile on his face. 

It's stuff like that that makes the game so awesome to play.

[Atarifever1]

My fiancee almost cried during that scene.  She wouldn't let me stop playing.  She'd say things like "come on, that little girl needs her dad."  I was like, "it's a game honey, it doesn't matter."  But deep down, I was thinking "come on man, that little girl is depending on you".

[Blah]

[QUOTE=m0zart]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]Somebody on that development team had talent, insight, and guts.[/QUOTE]

They always have a sad scenario like that on these games.  Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the Japanese version of the game, had a scenario where a guy dies before he can say goodbye to his girlfriend, and he spends that scenario trying to contact her from beyond to say his final farewell.  And in the recent Ouendan 2 sequel to that game, a skater in the Olympics loses her mother before the big event, and uses her memory of her mother to push herself and win the gold medal.

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]It's not like it had me in tears or anything, it was just such a welcome twist in the game, unlike the twists we are so used to seeing in entertainment these days.[/QUOTE]

By the way, those scenarios are still funny if you lose them.

In the first segment of the little girl's scenario, she tries to clean up the room for her dad (even though he isn't coming back), and when they pick up one of his books, a photo falls out.  If you performed well in that scenario, it's a picture of him with his family, nd the little girl says "He always looked out for us."  But if you didn't perform well, an erotic photo of him in a bikini falls out, and the little girl turns away and says "Oh, I shouldn't have looked!"

But in the second one, that's where I really laughed out loud.  She puts on a birthday party for her father (again, even though he isn't coming back), and the wind blows through the window onto the cake.  If you did well, it blows out the candles and the little girl interprets that to be her father doing it from beyond.  If you didn't do well, the wind blows the cake into the little girl's face.

I tell ya... I LOVE all three of those games.  They are all well worth playing.  And MAN do they get challenging on insane and hard rock modes.
[/QUOTE]

You really need to buy ouendan. The stories are better, even though they're in Japanese.Get the first one though, because the second one will spoil you.
I'd like to see more ouendan reviews though *looks at Critic".

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=ActRaiser]Paul, for a game with heavy emotional undertones with religious themes even if they are watered down a bit, download ActRaiser on the VC.  Seriously, for $8 you can't go wrong.  The 2D side scrolling doesn't look as good as it once did but the overhead city building, keeping your people happy, still resonates today.  Just read the text that your people say to you and you'll get it.  For example, you'll find one of your people nearing death after battling to close up a demon's lair.  His last request is to feel your tears on his cheek before passing away.  In the god mode/simcity like mode you make it rain on him and he passes away with a smile on his face.  It's stuff like that that makes the game so awesome to play. [/QUOTE]

Actraiser is already one of my all-time favorites, but I don't look for that in games, this was just a pleasant surprise.

[feilong801]

[QUOTE=ActRaiser]Paul, for a game with heavy emotional undertones with religious themes even if they are watered down a bit, download ActRaiser on the VC.  Seriously, for $8 you can't go wrong. 

The 2D side scrolling doesn't look as good as it once did but the overhead city building, keeping your people happy, still resonates today.  Just read the text that your people say to you and you'll get it. 

For example, you'll find one of your people nearing death after battling to close up a demon's lair.  His last request is to feel your tears on his cheek before passing away.  In the god mode/simcity like mode you make it rain on him and he passes away with a smile on his face. 

It's stuff like that that makes the game so awesome to play.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you 1000% on Actraiser. It's an absolute tour de force and one of the greatest games of all time.

-Rob

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Blah]You really need to buy ouendan. The stories are better, even though they're in Japanese.Get the first one though, because the second one will spoil you.
I'd like to see more ouendan reviews though *looks at Critic".[/QUOTE]

Were you responding to me or Paul?  I mentioned Ouendan explicitly in the post you quoted.