Impressions: Elite Beat Agents & NiGHTS

After being preoccupied with other games, I finally opened up Elite Beat Agents. I consider that impressive since I have a few games from 2001 that haven't been opened yet, but I digress.

EBA is my very first portable rhythm & music game and I have to say, a fantastic DS game. Playing as the Elite Beat Agents, you show up whenever someone is in trouble and help them out by cutting a rug via tapping markers and touching balls (wow, that doesn't sound right at all) on the DS touch screen with the stylus. I've founding that depending on your timing, you're awarded a set amount of points with 300 being the highest for a single marker. The longer you keep hitting the markers without messing up, the higher your combo string. It also helps to have good knowledge of some of the songs you're working on. It was a little easier for me to tap the markers on "Rock this Town" because I'd heard it a zillion times before I even played EBA. On "La La," I did terribly in part because, not only is that song tricky, I'd never really heard the whole song before, and it was one of those tunes that was never firmly implanted in my brain. After multiple attempts, I still only have a C ranking on it. The only song I've gotten an S rank on is the very first song, "Walkie Talkie Man." Now I'm not 100% sure what you have to do to get an S rank, but I'd wager that you can't have a single foul up and have to hit each marker perfectly. Easier said than done. Even on "Sk8er Boi" I always end up with a B rank.

Along with a good selection of music and killer gameplay are some hilarious manga-style cut scenes that play in between tapping of the touch screen, which shows a step-by-step resolution to whatever predicament of the character you're helping. One of my favorites is a taxi driver that has to get a pregnant women to this hospital. From the game's cover art, I could tell there would be some funny bits in the game, but I had no idea there would be enough to make me grin like an idiot each time I play.

I was playing Crossword DS off and off but it looks like my game time on the DS is now back in full force and I owe it all to Elite Beat Agents. I'm gonna put in some time on that bad boy a little later on tonight.

A few weeks back I was finally successful in finding a copy of NiGHTS into Dreams, a game I have always wanted to play after hearing so many good things about it. Even when I wasn't really sure of what I was doing, or what the overall goal of the game was at the time, I knew NiGHTS was something special and that it was a lot of fun. Well now I know that NiGHTS is more of a time attack game than anything else. You're timed in levels and boss fights and finding the quickest way to the goal definitely requires multiple plays. I think the best I've done is rank C. Other than the sequel , Journey of Dreams, there really isn't anything like NiGHTS. It's not for everyone but for those that like bettering themselves and flying about, NiGHTS is a really in a league of it's own. One of my favorite Saturn games for sure.