PS2 owners have
been able to get their groove on with Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution titles for
quite a while now, but Xbox and GameCube owners have been left in the cold
instead of working up a sweat. Well, the good news is that Dance Dance
Revolution Ultramix marks the first appearance of the franchise on a Microsoft
console. GameCubers will just have to keep waiting (outside, if you please, and
lock the door on your way out). But if you’ve got a ‘Box and enjoy the DDR
games, or just haven’t yet had a chance to appreciate them, this is an excellent
game for you. Busting out with a never-before-seen-on-console simultaneous
four-player mode, online play, and downloadable content – Ultramix is the
undisputed king of the Dance Dance Revolution hill.
At this point,
after Dance Dance Revolution has been making the rounds for many years, it’s
hard to imagine that anybody isn’t yet familiar with the concept of the game.
Nevertheless, it is my job to provide this information, as redundant as it may
be for most to hear. Basically, Dance Dance Revolution is played with a dance
mat that sits flat on the floor. The dance mat has four arrows on it that
correspond to the onscreen arrows, which are constantly pushed up screen. You
have to stomp out the correct sequence of arrows as they are displayed. Timing
is crucial and you’ll have to hit the right arrows almost precisely as they are
shown in the top-most targeting reticule. While this may sound like child’s
play, it is actually quite challenging. Getting in the right mindset and
building up enough stamina to correctly and consistently hammer out accurate
commands is the game’s biggest learning curve and most endearing quality.
Luckily, Ultramix comes with a helpful training mode that will acclimate new
players in the way of the Revolution. And if you’re too lazy to use a dance mat
and, y’know, “physically move”, the game can also be played using a dual shock.
Though doing this severely reduces the enjoyability of the experience.
Newbies and pros
alike will appreciate the addition of three distinct difficulty settings. I’ve
been playing this series for two years and I still spend most of my time
stepping away on the light setting, though this may be due to the fact that my
natural habitat consists of a comfy chair and a bag of Doritos. In any case,
the one thing I wasn’t happy to find out about Ultramix is the harder overall
difficulty of the game as compared to the previous PS2 versions. Even on a
light setting I was sometimes overwhelmed. The song roster isn’t as impressive
as previous iterations, clocking in at a relatively scant 45 songs. But don’t
fear, individual songs and five-packs can be downloaded via Xbox Live for a fair
price (around one dollar per song). This is an excellent addition since players
have previously had to shell out fifty bucks for an entirely new song disc. But
with downloadable songs DDR fans can now consistently increase the lifespan of
the game without investing one lump sum of cash. Plus, you can save your
stepping for the game instead of walking down to your nearest videogame outlet.
Like every other
Dance Dance Revolution, Ultramix’s main mode requires that you select a
difficulty level and song before you start stepping. By excelling in this mode,
you’ll earn new songs and other unlockable goodies. The Workout mode is great
for those looking to burn off a few calories. You’ll enter your weight and the
amount of calories you wish to burn during your workout, then, as you play the
game, it’ll keep track of how close you are to reaching your goal. Appreciated
modes of play, but ultimately nothing new.
The included
Battle mode isn’t a new feature either, but its support for four players is.
While we weren’t able to test this feature out due to lack of players, mats, and
floor space – one can only imagine how much fun four-player DDR has the
potential to be. But the best new addition to the age-old DDR formula has got
to be the Challenge mode, which gives you unique goals to complete, such as
retaining a full dance gauge at the end of the song or perfectly hammering out
the correct sequence of arrows for a certain duration of time. Why this mode is
only now getting around to seeing the light of day is completely beyond me, it
adds so much to the enjoyment of the game.
The four-player
support, downloadable content, and Challenge mode will go a long ways to
rekindle love for the game, but the online Xbox Live play will ensure you’ll be
dancing up a storm long after the cows have arrived at their respective
homesteads. Playing against another person is great, but playing with DDR heads
across the country is priceless. Not only will you not have to worry about
providing an additional mat to play on, but you can also specify custom settings
to seek out other players that meet your criteria. Also, the stat tracking
features, which are automatically posted in the rankings area, works both for
online play and offline. So if you get lucky and bust out a perfect game on
insane difficulty when playing offline, at least you’ll be able to brag about it
online.
Visually, Dance
Dance Revolution Ultramix certainly isn’t the most impressive looking game on
the Xbox. All the trademark graphical additions, such as on-screen dancers who
move with the beat, trippy background animations, and the newly introduced music
videos, are all present here. But as DDR games go, Ultramix looks the best.
The sound presentation in DDR games is easily the most important feature, and
luckily Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix comes correct. The new announcers that
either praise or scowl you depending on your performance are nice additions, not
terribly better than the previous games, but not any worse either. It would
have been nice for Konami to have included some fan favorite DDR songs on
Ultramix, but the songs that are included are a nice assortment and should cater
to most tastes regardless of musical preference. If your sound system supports
Dolby Digital 5.1 output, you’ll be glad to know that Ultramix is in full
compliance. There are also some advanced audio settings that can be tweaked in
the game, but this feature is mostly for audiophiles.
Overall, Dance
Dance Revolution offers up the most substantial amount of new additions ever
seen in a DDR game since the transition to PS2. New modes of play, online
connectivity, and four-player support up the ante considerably, and the
downloadable song packs are an ingenious idea executed beautifully. The fact
remains that if you’ve already purchased previous games in the series for either
the PSone or PS2, most of the stuff here will be quite familiar, but Xbox owners
who are looking to get in on the action now have the perfect excuse to get in
shape.
Gameplay: 8.5
You know the drill: stomp out the correct pattern of arrows in accordance with
the rhythm. Same as always.
Graphics: 7.4
The mo-capped polygon dancers featured in Ultramix seem a notch or two above the
last PS2 game, but even so the graphical presentation is far from impressive.
Sound: 8.7
Not as many songs as previous DDR games, but what’s
there is good. Plus the new announcers infuse the proceedings with a spot of
spice.
Difficulty: Hard
Ultramix is
anything but easy. Newcomers will initially be overwhelmed with the game’s
ramped up difficulty, but keeping it on “light” ensures that frustration is kept
to a minimum.
Concept: 8.4
Exercising and playing videogames at the same time is a great idea, plus the
online play is a long-needed addition that is surprisingly addictive.
Multiplayer: 9.1
Playing with other
DDR fans is the best way to go, and since you can not only play with one, two,
or three friends, but also anybody who has Xbox Live, multiplayer DDR has never
been so satisfying.
Overall: 8.6
The PS2 games have
slowly been amping up the experience with minute additions over the years, but
this Xbox DDR considerably kicks it up a notch, like so much Iron Chef.
