Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Don't believe the hype"

I was excited to get Elite Beat Agents because I had heard so many good things about it. I was disappointed almost from the start. There are many things wrong with this game, but I will start out with the positives to try to keep this review balanced.

Positives:
* The graphics are bright and colorful, even entertaining.
* Some of the songs are really catchy.
* The levels are very difficult, and unlocking characters makes it a challenge.

Now for the negatives:
* First of all, the times you tap on the screen don't always match exactly to the real beat. In other words, it's a little off in some places, which makes a big difference when you are trying for a perfect score. This especially seems to happen in the early levels, where there are only a few circles to tap. It took me a while to get used to the funky system, and i know it's not my own fault, since I'm a real musician!
* The story lines are cheesy, and the plots are really "out there," but not in a good sense. Sometimes the plots make no sense whatsoever.
* You have to repeat over and over to get a perfect score, which gets old after a while. I'm sick of hearing "Jumping Jack Flash" for the 1000th time!
* Unlocking new characters doesn't change the songs, just the difficulty. You''ll still have to complete the same stories and songs again, and Cher's "Believe" really starts to grate on your nerves after a while.
* There are only 3 special unlockable songs, and none of them are worth the trouble.
* Finally, and this is a biggie, the songs aren't sung by the original group or singer!! Listening to "A B C" sung by someone other than Michael Jackson was pure torture.

In other words, I can't really recommend this game. If you want a rhythm game, definately buy Rhythm Heaven over this one.