Dance Factory

"DDR with your own music... how did it go wrong!?!"

Dance Factory has been one of the most highly anticipated music games of the year. In fact, it's probably the most highly anticipated music game of all time. Why so special? Because unlike any other dance game to date, you can use your own music CDs, and it will generate steps for songs on them! Now, instead of buying DDR SuperUltraMegaMaxiMix...2!, you can just buy this game, burn some CDs (with songs you downloaded legally from iTunes, of course), and you can play any song you want. It's the perfect formula! It's bound to be a great game, that will keep you playing for hours!!!

Except it's not. My expectations ran low as soon as the Codemasters screen appeared... not to insult Codemasters but, in my opinion, their games are usually pretty awful.

However, I kept on with it, and delved into the game... and was disappointed, but I did have hope.

-Gameplay- 2/10
At first, I thought the up and down arrows were the inverse of how they are displayed in DDR. I was sure it was right. Then I saw pictures on the Gamespot website showing them correct… but older pictures were still inverse. I tried the game again… they are definitely inverse. This makes things very frustrating, if you have experience with DD; often you will hit the up button when it wants you to hit the down button. The fact that this game is directed at DDR fans, yet got the order wrong (and, therefore, requires relearning) makes it a truly grievous error, and the main reason why gameplay is so low. If you are inexperienced with DDR, I could give it a 6 for Gameplay for non DDR players, but be warned: If you learn on this, then try DDR, you will do poorly.

However, the screenshots from Gamespot give hope that an update might somehow be available online… something to save the memory card to change that up. If it were changed, I would give it an 8/10, upping the score to a 7.3 overall (and a 7 rounded off). I can't stress how big this error is.

Other than that minor MAJOR error, it's standard DDR... although sixteenth notes have been removed. The difficulty selection is not appropriately set. People familiar with DDR will know that some slow songs, like Bag (60 or so Beats Per Minute) are incredibly difficult on their hardest settings, while some songs which are twice as fast are significantly easier. This is due mostly to the number of steps. However, Dance Factory lacks 16th notes. Therefore, difficulty is mostly affected only by the speed of the song... the slower the song, the easier, the faster, the more difficult, without fail. And pro difficulty is really not that hard without 16th notes, unless the song is very fast.

Also, I've yet to find any sort of ability to change options, like increasing speed, hidden or appearing arrows, etc. In addition, the arrows all flash the same colors consistently, so it can be VERY difficult to tell what to hit when (at least, if you have a fast song). What I mean specifically by that: In DDR, a quarter note at a position will be, say, red. And eighth note at the same position will be, say, blue. In this, all notes at a position are the same color. It's hard to describe, but you'll notice the problem pretty quickly.

They threw in a “cash” earning system, with which you can buy background “animations,” (I'll say why it's in quotes later) and accessories for characters (little people that can dance with you, like in DDR), and a puzzle game called Cubric, which is sort of interesting, but strange to get used to (and is NOT a dance game at all). Also, Endurance, Tournament, Battle, and Fitness modes are included. These “extras,” don't really add up to anything special though... but I'll talk about the characters later, they are important.

It's also worth talking about recording your own steps. Unlike DDR, where you physically put them in at your own leisure, instead, the game plays the song you want to record steps to, and you must press your steps as it goes. This is a good thing and a bad thing: The good thing is, you always know where you are in the song, and what steps to do there (if you wrote them down). The bad news is, if you mess up, you have to rerecord to get it right. Also, the previously mentioned lack of 16th notes makes certain step combos that feel right impossible. Instead, the game will just beep at you for putting in steps it can't handle.

As for computerized step generation... I'll talk about that later.

Finally, no, doubles is NOT available.

-Story- NA/10
Once upon a time someone said “Let's make DDR with the songs you choose.” Someone else said “Awesome.” As did the people of the land. Then they made the game, and the crowd went “Argh.”

-Graphics- 2/10
MY EYES! MY EYES ARE BURNING! Seriously, the background animations are just awful. They look like really cheap screen savers from windows 3.1... except, at least starfield might have been a little bit nice. They're excessively bright and neonish, and they tend to to distract from the arrows, and sometimes, you jumble the two together (especially with rainbow backgrounds like “dotty,” and “radiant,”). Otherwise can make you start to feel dizzy.

There is some respite. If you choose “character,” and to play with the character, the backgrounds are actually fairly decent. They don't look good, they look like they could be from the PS1 error, but they won't make you want to poke out your eyes with something dull, and they won't confuse you with the arrows. However, the characters themselves... their “dancing,” is subpar at best (they move VERY little). And, they look pretty awful themselves.

This is, quite honestly, what hurts this game the most. I'm going to put it this way: Overall, the graphics suck. It's obvious that 99% of the effort went into the music, and 1% into the graphics. If they were just bad graphics, that would be one thing, but their negative effect on game play brings everything down.

-Sound- 10/10
The sound is fine, despite not offering the opportunity to take advantage of my Dolby. The selection on the disc is decent, but the point is to use your own music. Hence, since a person will, I assume, use music he/she likes, this section of course gets a perfect. This part can't go wrong.

-Step Generation- 8/10
Actually, this is half decent.... depending. It can be hit or miss. The best way to describe it without listing some specific songs to give a player an idea is; random. Pop songs work better than classical, but depending on how the rhythm goes, may not be good. Classical can be okay at times, but at other times, has serious problems. Tempo changes are not handled incredibly well, but they are somewhat taken into account. The main thing to make this work: If it has a beat, and you can dance to it. However, don't be afraid to put in something weird and different... a spoken word piece set to a piece of music worked fine!

And to note, I didn't try any jazz, which I imagine would be difficult. I also did not try any metres other than 4/4,

-Playtime and Replayability- 7.5/10
It really depends. If you're a great DDR player, only fast songs will be any challenge for you, so you may get bored with only having fast songs requiring real effort, or frustrated that you don't want to use all of your music. If you're just getting into DDR, I would also avoid using your own music; if you really want to play this game well, try DDR first, get used the that. However, for the middle men, and the truly dance game obsessed, this is something you can and will play forever and ever.

-Final Score- 5.9/10
Well, this isn't the kind of game to just rent, that's for sure, unless it's just to try it out. Would I pay 39.99 for this game? Sure, it‘s decent enough. If you love dance games, and are willing to put up with some frustration of relearning (you will mix up those up and down arrows) then this is a great game to pick up. If you're new to dance games, the fact that you can choose your own music may appeal to you, but you'll be better off with DDR (which is more user friendly overall).

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/06, Updated 09/01/06