Ouendan 2 review.

I believe this is the first English review of 燃えろ！熱血リズム魂 押忍！闘え！応援団2. or Ouendan 2 for short. First in the world that is.

It's long awaited, it's anticipated, and it encourages touching envigorated male japanese cheerleaders to pump up losers who don't believe in their own ability.


It's quite riveting really.

Anyway if you don't know what I'm talking about then you probably don't care, don't own a nintendo DS and won't continue reading.

But if you do know, or are interested, I invite you into the weird world of Ouendan, where people are constantly confronted with seemingly insurmountable challenges, have a constant lack of faith in their own ability, and are often very dependent on the encouragement of others.

Kinda like real life once you think about it.

The concept is based on real life male cheerleaders active in japanese high schools. Yes seriously. In Japan there are male cheer squads, known as 応援団 or Ouendan. Their function, I'm lead to believe is to encourage(and by encourage I mean scream and shout with violent hand gestures) people into doing things that they thnk they can't but actually can. How noble. And how awesome it is as a concept for a game!



ANYWAY. Bear with me here, I'm no expert on videogame reviews, but every review I've ever read has spent at least one paragraph describing mechanics and systems of said games. SO here we go. You might want to skip this part if you know what to expect.

Ouendan 2's game mechanics differ very slightly from it's predecessor. Hell, they're exactly the same. Every level will feature a certain citizen of bad luck, that is confronted with said insurmountable challenge and said lack of faith. Your job, as cheer squads, or ouendan, will be to cheer for these individuals, and through your constant screaming and dancing to the often charming J-pop soundtrack, our challenged individual will either fail or succeed in his task.


Case in point. The first level features a certain uni fresh grad from the previous game. This time preparing for an interview the next morning. But alas, his mom, dad and little brother all seem to be obstructing his preparations, folding paper planes with his resume, using his certificates as notepad paper for example. In a final fit of frustration he screams for OUENDANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahem.

So as I was saying. It's up to you, the magical cheer squad who manages to always be in the right place at the right time, to save this here kid.
right place....
right time.....
right place...........
....ok thats enough.

You do this by making your cheer men dance in rhythm to the soundtrack, by hitting numbered markers that appear on the DS touchscreen. Sliding and spinning as needed. Each song is divided into several sections, and each section is representative of a certain stage, depending on how well you did in that stage, the guy you're cheering for will respond accordingly.


Here's a video to better illustrate what I'm talking about.


So there, now on with the review!

Since it's virtually identical in play style to it's predecessors, Ouendan 1 and Elite Beat Agents, the only thing that sets it apart is the song selection. So in a nutshell, it is better or worse than the first game? I'd put them on the same level, but this time around there less rock-ish tracks, which detracts from the experience if you asked me, but also less bad music compared to the other games. Though it offers nothing new, it's still a very enjoyable experience.

As you play through the game, all the songs are of a pumping up nature, that is to say they make you feel good, and this really goes well with the whole theme of the game, which is "with determination you can do anything". It's quite uplifting, and considering the story of Inis the developer behind this little masterpiece of a music game, it's very fitting.

It's almost always inspiring to see your character jump for joy at winning the national choir competition, or receiving a letter that tells him he's hired, and for a brief moment you really feel you can do anything as long as you persevere. To me personally thats a very important trait to have in life, maybe that's why I'm so enamored with this game.

Extra cheer squads to play as and extra scenes between them provides extra chances to look at the finely drawn art and the excellently designed characters. Which is always a plus. Each of the character's struggle is conveyed through manga panels, which proves to be very effective, even if they are mostly static images with minimal animation. The stories are mostly highly improbable daily challenges, although some tend to stretch the boundaries of craziness and whacked out logic, yet they all seem to tug at your heart strings in a weird, japanese humour kind of way. It's hard not to laugh at a guy that transforms into a werewolf every time he sees a round object on a date. Or at the trio of entrepreneurs that are loking to set up a corporation but have to fight off a giant catzilla. :D

Seriously. I swear I'm not making this up.

The Final Level is an absolute blast, and I won't spoil it here. But suffice to say that like the original, you're filled with this immense feeling of energy and confidence once you finally complete it. And that brings us to the next point, difficulty.

Make no mistake, this is a hard game, like a music games should be, but the payoff is also much more substantial than a normal rhythm game. Coz here, you get to see someone else succeed at something else. It's doesn't sounds as good on paper, but trust me when I say it's an immensely gratifying feeling. If you're new to this each song will take you several tries just complete, and the difficulty ramps up pretty fast. It's not as hardcore as some shmups I play, but it provides a fair amount of challenge not found in many recently released games. Several different difficulty modes provide adequate replay value, and the multiplayer will help keep this one in your DS for quite some time, assuming you've got people to play it with. :D

I don't, and that's why the multiplayer is the only mode I couldn't test out.But enough of that.

I could go on, but I think now it's quite apparent that I love this game, and will defend it with a passion if the need so arises. I don't consider it superior to the first game, but in this case more of the same is not a bad thing.

So if you're reading this, and you happen to own a DS, yes I know the odds are incredibly stacked against me, do yourself a favour and go play this. You'll feel better than if you haven't.

Til next time then.
OSU!!