Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan review

The box has this cool looking guy on the front that looks a little bit like that Bean Bandit fellow from Gunsmith Cats. The whole thing was in Japanese. I felt a little regret when I got it. Then I remember about this English guy who raved about it. He didn't speak a single word of Japanese and yet he loved it. That was it. Rather than eBaying it I decided I was going to PLAY IT! Osu!

Ouendan centers around three Japanese male cheerleaders. Yes you read that right. Male cheerleaders. Now before anyone of you starts thinking that I have gone all softy, this isn't what it seems. Each level of the game is a manga in itself where someone tragic in dire need to help cries out "Ouendan!", and the troupe of cheerleaders would be dispatched to provide 'motivation'. It is your job as the player to guide these three cheerleaders and help people out of their depression.

The music starts and the cheerleaders dance. The idea is that watching three guys doing crazy dances is pretty motivating and would help remedy any sort of situation. Ouendan, as the cheer squads are called in Japanese, dances to the beat of famous Japanese J-pops and J-rocks. You are required to tap on the screen with your stylus, following the instructions as accurate and as quick as possible. You have dot tapping, dragging and full on spinning. Depending on your accuracies you will be awarded with points. The songs are pretty neat, all supposedly to be covers and not originals. The DS speakers holds well when playing such tracks, even more impressive when you consider how tiny the speakers are.

The stories are told in comic panel manga style all in Japanese. This could be a problem but the drawings are detailed enough to understand what the situation is about without resorting to getting out a Japanese-English dictionary. However I guess in order to enjoy the story to the fulles one must learn the art of reading Japanese. Fortunately the gameplay is furiously fun that that alone is a worthy reason to import the game. This is one of the best games ever developed for the DS, if not for any systems.

9/10

Get this now! Osu!