"Can You Believe It?! Even Doctors Recommend This Game!"
Written: Dec 14 '05 (Updated Jan 15 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Workout, Good Selection of Songs
Cons: Can't Adjust Song Speed In Training Mode
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent game if you're into getting physical, or if you're dieing to lose extra pounds.
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| yayapex2's Full Review: DDR Extreme for PlayStation 2 |
Around March was when I began playing Dance Dance Revolution. Since then I’ve lost 32 pounds; that’s success right there, I don‘t care who you are. I’ve also never felt so energetic in my life and that isn’t a lie.
Step,Step,Step...
If you’re the kind of person who likes going to arcades then there’s a good chance that you’ve seen a DDR machine. Looking at all the pros just blazing on the dance pad may be intimidating. I mean they’re so fast you can’t even see their feet sometimes. Well, it takes a long time to get there. Some people, like me, don’t like paying 2 - 4 quarters to play a game. Konami, fortunately, has made many home versions of DDR so you can embarrass yourself at home.
To get started with this game, you need to have a dance-pad. This dance pad consists of 4 arrows (up/down/left/right) that the player (you) needs to step on with your feet. Of course, you can use a regular controller, but then you’d just be a button-masher, and that’s not exactly show-offy. When you choose a song to play, arrows will appear on screen according to beat. This may sound easy but for those who haven’t played, it will not be. There’s also many combinations of arrows like jumps that involve you hitting two arrows at the same time. When you choose to do a song on a much higher difficulty, you’ll be jumping 20 times in 10 seconds, that’s how crazy it is. You’ll also be crossing your legs over and over. You also have arrows that are extended meaning you have to keep your foot there until it is completely gone. The combination of arrows you can have are almost endless, you can even edit your own steps if you want.
In DDR Extreme there are many modes that you are able to play. You can play songs nonstop in endless mode (first it needs to be unlocked). In this mode you play songs until you fail and there are no breaks in between. The second that song ends, the next one comes right up. You can even play with a friend, but just one. If you have no friends who are interested and if you own two pads then you are able to do doubles. That means instead of being responsible for 4 arrows now you have to watch out for 8. It looks kind of fun but I have the stinky soft pads, so it’s not as great.
For people who are reading this and have never played or have little experience, you’re probably like, “This sounds hard, OMGosh!”. Fortunately for you there’s a training mode that allows people to go at their own pace, well almost. In every other DDR I’ve played you could adjust the speed of the song you wanted to play in training mode. In this game you have to play the song at it’s regular speed, which isn’t exactly at everybody’s pace. This could make it a little harder to try and learn a song because it could be little faster than you can handle, I really can’t believe they took that out.
The workout you get from playing this game varies from person to person. If you decide to play the game at higher difficulties, then you’re going to be using more energy and maybe loose weight a little quicker. People who are beginning are most likely to use one foot at a time because they aren’t used to. It’s OK though, unless you decide to never get any better, then you’ll just make yourself look foolish. There’s also this little thing that can keep tracks of the calories you burn, but it’s not exactly accurate.
The Visuals
The graphics for DDR have always been a secondary thing, is that a bad thing? No, the graphics are just fine. As you’re playing a song there will be a background video just to make everything look nice. They actually have some variety unlike Ultramix 2 for the Xbox. Almost all the songs have different videos. You could see hearts floating around if it’s a love-themed song or music videos from real songs. The quality of all these videos are really good and look very attractive. When the video is playing, the arrows float to the top of the screen and when they reach the top is when you hit them. It’s pretty simple stuff, it’s really nothing special. You can also set the game so that you can have a cel-shaded dancer floating around in the background. Usually when I play a game I have a color that usually come to mind, but for this one, it’s a big mix; It’s a very colorful game.
Play That Funky Muuusic…
DDR Extreme has over 65 songs to play ( including unlockables ). A good chunk of the songs come from the actual games in the arcade. There are some songs that most people know about like “Like A Virgin,” “YMCA,” “Ladies’ Night,” “Kids in America” and maybe even a couple more. DDR junkies will have some fun playing some remixes of popular songs from the arcade. What’s great is that there is such a great variety of songs that it doesn’t matter what gender or age you are, you’ll have at least one favorite. Most of the songs are techno and dance, hope you like it. Also, as you’re playing these songs there will be announcers commenting on your dancing. They’ll say things like, “I was almost dazzled” if you did good on a song. They could also say, “Better luck next time” if you failed or didn’t do to hot. There’s also noises when you shift through menus and select things.
Random Information:
Only On PS2
Player(s): 1 - 2
Genre: Music
Release Date: Sept 21, 2004
Developed By: KCET
Published By: Konami
Memory Card: 101 KB
Disc(s): 1
E for Teen (6yrs)
Sergio’s Numerical Rating: 8.4 / 10
Other Dancing Titles:
Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix (Xbox)
Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix 2 (Xbox)
Dance Dance Revolution: Extreme 2 (PS2)
Dance Dance Revolution: Supernova (PS2)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
yayapex2
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Member: "The Surge"
Location: Massachusetts
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 49 members
About Me:
After all is said and done, more is said than done!
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