Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Developer: iNiS

Platform: Nintendo DS

Release: 2005

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a rhythm game that is as quirky as its name sounds. The whole game revolves around the idea of playing as a male cheerleading squad and helping out  the troubled citizens all over the world.

The levels in game, presented in the form of scenarios encountered by the squad, mostly consist of very mundane issues that people faced in their everyday lives. What makes them interesting is the twist of plots that were added which transformed them into scenarios that are overly dramatic and out of this world. Each accompanied by a song, the scenarios are shown in the form of animated comics and work pretty much like music videos. Each level is split into 3 segments and depending on how well you scored, you are presented with either a good transition of plot to the next segment or a bad one. The transitions also act as an intermission, allowing the player to get a break from the fast moving pace of the game and enjoy the sequence of moving pictures. 

The objective of the levels is to simply survive through the song. A Genki meter is used to keep track of your performance in the level and will be constantly depleting throughout the song. In order to replenish the meter to keep the game playing, you are required to touch a series of markers in succession to chain up combos. The chain of combos will in turn keep up the momentum of the cheerleading squad. Once a marker is missed, the momentum will halt immediately and the Genki meter will be depleting at a faster rate until you chained up a combo again.

The control is simple. You simply need to touch the markers that appear on screen at the right timing with the stylus. There are 3 different kinds of marker in the game and depending on how precise you are with the timing, they will award you with different amount of points. The most common type of marker are denoted with numbers to cue the order in which they have to be touched and are presented in sets marked by different colours.  Another type of marker requires you to follow and glide your stylus along its path while the last type requires you to move your stylus in a circular motion around the screen rapidly.

The game paces pretty well. The levels are represented by citizens in need scattered throughout the game world map. You start with only one level and as the game progresses, a group of harder levels will be made available to the player. Except for the first and final level, the player gets to choose the order they play out the levels which prevents the game from being totally linear. There are four difficulties in this game. The easier two are made available straight from the box while the next two are only unlocked once you completed the game in the previous difficulty level.

Replayability in this game is very high. This is partly due to the fact that the whole game is made up of a bunch of levels consisting of only songs and scenarios. As every level can be played out very quickly, the chances of them getting replayed are higher. The ranking system in the game also encourages the player to replay the levels to get a better score and rewards them with a new rank. Gamers who want a challenge will also be tempted to unlock the two other difficulties. The multiplayer portion of the game allowing both competitive and cooperative play with a friend also increases the longevity of the game. One other motivation to replay the levels is the good soundtrack. You will be found replaying certain levels more than others simply because you like those particular songs.

The visuals in the game are fantastic. The scenarios in the game are all presented in high quality hand drawn manga style drawings. Figures in the game are also adequately modeled with good details and textures. The personality of each members of the cheerleading squad is brought out really well by the animations. Other visual cues such as the growing flames behind the characters to denote the momentum are crucial and eye catching. The soundtrack of the game is also fantastic although they are slightly low in quality and are undermined by the tiny speakers of the DS. This game is best played with a stereo system or a pair of headphones plugged into the DS.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a fantastic game that all rhythm game fans must try. It is a very enjoyable experience and is a game that most gamers will most probably go back to once in a while.

Ratings: 9.5/10

Weiwen