The Japanese big brother to Elite Beat Agents returns with another stellar rhythm action game.

Burn! Hot-Blooded Rhythm Soul: Go! Fight! Cheersquad 2. That is the literal English translation to the sequel of one of the most fun and addictive rhythm games of all time, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. If you’re unfamiliar with that title, perhaps the name Elite Beat Agents rings a clearer bell. Elite Beat Agents is actually the Americanized version of Ouendan, which technically makes Ouendan 2 the third game in the series, despite its name.

For those that missed out on both the original Ouendan and EBA, here is the basic rundown of what you have to do in Ouendan 2. People (and a stuffed animal in one level) are in trouble all across Japan. They’re getting themselves into situations that can’t possibly be resolved by means of their own strength. They need inspiration. They need motivation. They need Japanese male cheerleaders. That’s where you come in. By using your stylus, you need to tap little circles that appear on the screen in accordance to the beat of whatever song is playing to cause your cheersquad to dance. In addition to tapping circles, you also will have to slide little balls across a track in accordance to the tempo of the song and spin… well a spinner.

While this may be the third game in the series, don’t expect any kind of leap in terms of gameplay additions. Ouendan 2 is still the exact same game as the original Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents, just with different songs and scenarios. You’re still going to be tapping circles, sliding balls, and ruining your touch screen by manically drawing circles all to the beat of the song.

If for some reason you only played the original Ouendan and missed out on EBA, you’ll be happy to know that all of the much needed improvements to the game’s presentation and interface that were present in EBA have made the transition over to Ouendan 2. No longer will you have to wait five minutes for the absurdly long intro to the last song of the game to finish thanks to a handy little skip button that appears at the bottom right of the screen. Outside of that, and a better looking overworld map, there are no real improvements or additions to Ouendan 2, which may be a disappointment for those looking for some freshness to the franchise.

That being said, the game is still a blast to play and the 19 new songs are, for the most part, all excellent if you don’t mind listening J-Rock and J-Pop. What’s great about the song selection is that even though the chances are you haven’t heard of any of these songs before, they are so catchy that you’ll pick up on the rhythm within two or three playthroughs. The scenarios that accompany the songs are great as well. While the text in the game is all Japanese, the scenarios are very visually oriented and you can most likely grasp the basic premise of each one just by looking at the pictures.