Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor … with Children
For a relatively unknown classic, Elite Beat Agents sure has spawned a lot of mainstream imitators. The game style of tapping numbers as their circles shrink is probably better knowm with Disney’s High School Musical DS than the anime gem that pioneered the addictive gameplay. From “Agents are Go!” now we find ourselves tiny, tooney, and all a little looney as Bugs and the gang jump for some musical fun.
Looney Tunes is rightfully acclaimed for its music as it is for its split-second timing and pioneering spirit. Think about “What’s Opera Doc?” that classic Bugs-meets-Wagner on an obese horse with Fudd singing “Kill the Wabbit!” Think about the Looney Tunes theme. Think of all the cartoons where Bugs would mess with the orchestra, using a carrot for a baton.
The game plays like Elite Beat in that numbered, colored, circles appear and concentric rings shrink in time with the music. Using your stylus, you must tap the buttons in time and, since this is a conducting game, slide it around from number to number.
On the top screen you can watch a classic cartoon accompany the music, but it’s not the actual cartoon. For reasons unknown they used cheap 3D animation to recreate famous scenes (like Bugs and Daffy tearing Rabbit Season/Duck Season posters off a tree, Bugs facing off against Marvin the Martian or the aforementioned Fudd stabbing the rabbit hole with his sword (and magic helmet), all in unimpressive 3D. They original cartoons really would have spruced up the presentation, as it stands it makes the game feel and look cheap.
Kid Factor
My kids love Bugs Bunny so they liked the game but the difficulty is seriously out of whack. Easy offers a fair challenge to the casual rhythm gamer, which puts it out of reach of a lot of kids below 10. I can’t recommend the gameplay and this type of game enough – and the Looney Tunes license is amusing – but Elite Beat Agents is far superior. So is the High School Musical game.
These developers, such maroons.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
That is a real shame. I also read that the music is low quality MIDI rather than full digital songs, is that how it sounds to you?
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
“Feels cheap” is the perfect description. That’s not to say there’s no entertainment to be extracted, it just could have been so much more. I actually think the 3D looks pretty good – sure, the actual cartoon clips would have been better, but processing/storage constraints mean that 3D was probably the best available option.
I wonder if it would be easier for the youngest players if you didn’t have to keep the stylus on the screen for a series of notes? I know Charlotte has trouble doing that for the letter writing sequences in the Storybook DS game.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I was thinking about getting this one, but as with a lot of titles, I’d wait for the price to go down. –Cary
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Did the kids try playing the game in practice mode? My 6 year old is able to play this way, and has a blast with it. She’s also recognizing and starting to appreciate classical music now, which I think is a big plus.