Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA

"I'm Not Impressed"

Dance Dance Revolution is a franchise that everyone knows, no matter where the hell you live. If you've never heard of Dance Dance Revolution, then please do yourself a favor and move out of that rock you're living under and get with the times! As such, I will write this review assuming that you have some idea what this game is all about (so hopefully, I don't have to explain how the game plays, right?). Moving along, I'm trying something new with my reviews. As I go through each point in this game, I will talk about the points in order of irrelevancy to relevancy to the game. For example, if I were to review a sports game, then music is something that would be deemed irrelevant (since that's not really what sports games are about) and graphics/gameplay would be most relevant. For DDR SuperNOVA, obviously music is most relevant and controls/graphics would be something not so relevant. Let's just get on with the review and see how my new system works out.

First up is...

Story: -/10

DDR has a story? It doesn't. That's why "Story" is an irrelevant category in this review.

Controls: -/10

Controls are something that's important for fighting games and things of that ilk. In DDR, controls are absolutely irrelevant to how good of a game it is. After all, the controls are always the same anyway. Therefore, I won't even bother scoring this category.

Graphics: 8/10

A game like DDR doesn't rely on its graphics because while you're dancing, you really don't have the concentration to be looking at the graphics behind the arrows...that is, unless you're playing on an extremely easy difficulty (i.e., Basic). However, the backdrops do have some use in DDR, as without it, it would just be a blank screen with arrows. That's not any fun, is it? The main thing you'll be seeing for backdrops are the isolated stages with a character dancing (of which you'll have heard lots about if you've read the other reviews here on GameFAQs). The stages are uninspired. You can tell just by looking at them. They really only seem to be geometric shapes...usually your dancer is dancing on top of a large cube. However, there are a lot of these stages, though I don't know if you can call different colors/shapes "variety." Still, the more, the merrier. The dancers this time have a very different look to them compared to the dancers of other DDR titles (as I've only played Max and Max2, I shall be comparing a lot of SuperNOVA to those two titles). The Max series had cutesy cel-shaded dancers. SuperNOVA has more realistic looking characters. No gigantic eyes here, people. Is this an improvement? It's really all subject to opinion. I personally prefer the more cel-shaded dancers, but some will prefer the realistic ones. The unfortunate thing here is that the number of dancers has been drastically reduced. There were definitely more dancers in Max2 than in this game. FORTUNATELY, for what it's worth, the dancers DO look great. It's cool to see our favorites return in all their awesome-looking glory. From the funky Disco, to the sultry Ruby, to the oddball Gus, and to the very sexy uhh...hip hop dancer guy (his name is on the tip of my tongue). Even better is that each other has their own unique dance style. Disco obviously dances with a funkier, more psychadelic sway. Ruby is a salsa diva (and a booty shaking queen as well). The hip hop guy...breakdances. But because there aren't many dancers, you will grow bored of them very quickly. It doesn't help that the stages are equally boring. I wish Konami could've brought more to the visuals, but I suppose it's not a big issue seeing as how visuals are irrelevant to a game like DDR. For what it's worth, though the graphics are very boring and uninspired, what's there is pretty nice.

Game Play: 7/10

Ah, the game play, a very very important category for any game. I won't review the general game play of DDR - it's always the same no matter which version you're playing. You just step on arrows. What this DDR has to offer is its new Stellar Master Mode. That's all the other reviewers here on GameFAQs has discussed, and that's what I shall discuss too. It's an important part to SuperNOVA, after all.

For most, if not every, DDR game, the goal is to unlock all the songs. Once you've done that, really all you do from then is play DDR in parties (or to work out). In Max and Max2, unlocking songs was simple. All you had to do was play the game like crazy. Max2 had a point system, but it was essentially still the same process of playing like crazy to unlock songs. Here in SuperNOVA, you can't get away with getting songs THAT easily. No, no, here in SuperNOVA, you've got to conquer the Stellar Master Mode! It's a simple premise, really. Basically, you go around these planets and you conquer challenges (called "trials") to unlock more challenges (i.e., the "showdowns") to unlock more planets (called "stellar joints"). So the basic set up is this: You go to a stellar joint, you're given a song list, you complete the trials (using only the songs they give you), you unlock a showdown (there are a total of 3 per joint), you complete the showdowns, you unlock the next stellar joint. The trials range from things such as "Complete 3 songs" to "Get an A on 3 songs chosen by Random in a row." They start off easy, of course, and as you get to the later joints, you'll find they get pretty damned tough. You'll eventually come across challenges such as setting the speed to x5 and completing 3 songs on that speed (a hard feat for a novice player like me). There are usually enough trials that are reasonable for the novice player that will let you unlock the showdowns that will lead to more joints, but there are some trials that are plain ridiculous, and this is probably one of my main complaints.

In the planet "Uguisu," there's a lovely trial that says, "Complete 2 songs with a female dancer in a row." It would SEEM easy, since you're probably thinking to just choose a female dancer in the options menu. Too bad, you can't. Some trials won't allow you to alter the options (while others require it). Dancer choices are completely random and as such, this trial has nothing to do with skill at all. It's all luck. And I've played that joint for hours and have STILL yet to play 2 songs in a row with a female dancer (this is when I really started to hate Baby-Lon, a dancer who was my previous favorite). There are more where that came from. Later joints require you to play 3 songs with male dancers in a row to complete. Heck, one trial requires you to full combo a song on expert/challenge difficulty with GUS as the dancer. It's trials like these that really bring the game down, because they aren't basing completion on skill, which is what these trials are all about. However, as I've previously stated, there are enough trials usually where you won't have to complete the ridiculous ones to move on. However, to unlock the Ex Showdowns, you'll need to complete every trial, and that includes these ridiculous ones.

But I'm being nit-picky. It's a small factor (though it gets annoying VERY fast) of the Stellar Master Mode and shouldn't bring the score down too much. Let's talk about the other problems of Stellar Master Mode. Most of the other reviewers here on GameFAQs are DDR veterans. These are the people that can conquer songs on Expert (they changed the difficulties from Light, Standard, and Heavy to Basic, Difficult, and Expert, respectively) with AA. I'm unfortunately not that skilled. I can AA Expert songs on occasion, but I'm much more prone to have an accidental "Good" here and there, so I'm not really a veteran. I'd classify myself as a Novice. The problem a lot of the other reviewers brought up was the tediousness of some of the trials in Stellar Master Mode. I agree wholeheartedly with them. It sort of sucks that the later joints have overly difficult trials and the earlier joints have ridiculously easy trials and that there aren't really any joints that are in between. If you're a DDR vet, you'll have to sit through a couple of planets of playing on Basic/Beginner difficulty for easy songs. It's unavoidable. It's easy - but damn is it boring. No one wants to sit through those things. If you're a beginner to DDR, these easy trials will be helpful for you in learning the DDR ways, but they can still be very tedious. It's sort of like a tutorial, really. But...it's not. Either way, expect to sit through some rather boring trials before getting to the more difficult parts.

So let me try and summarize all that I've written about the game play. Basically, you've got the new Stellar Master Mode for unlocking new music. It's a simple layout of completing trials to move on. Some of the trials are ridiculous in that they're either a bit too difficult for newbies/novices or they're too much based on luck. Other trials are too easy and seem like a tutorial rather than a trial. That's it!

Music: 7/10

Ah...music...probably THE most important factor of any DDR game. What's a DDR game without its music, right? SuperNOVA is great in that most, if not all, of the songs are not repeats of any of the previous DDR games. Sure there may be SOME repeats ("Put Your Faith In Me" "Can't Stop Falling In Love"), but those are a different mix or whatever, so they're not *quite* a repeat (understand what I just said?). No repeats are a good thing, for the most part. It provides for more new songs. However, there's clearly a bunch of songs leaning in the direction of certain genres that most DDR fans don't approve of - mainly 80's music and Rock. Everyone seems to want to complain about Fall Out Boy making the cut. I know. Fall Out Boy...on a DDR game...outrageous, right? I agree with everyone! Fall Out Boy is of a TOTALLY different genre that TOTALLY does not match with the DDR style of music. Why the heck are they in this game? Please answer that, Konami. There's also an influx of 80's music, from Funky Town, to Girls Wanna Have Fun. Some people will like it - I am impartial to it. Funky Town is great. Girls Wanna Have Fun isn't. Of course, the music is something that I can't go and tell you whether it sucks or not. No reviewer can tell you whether the music selection sucks or not, because their opinion of good music is different from your's. I'm sure I'm no different. However, for the sake of my review, I am a little disgusted by some of the song selections, but I'm generally satisfied with the overall selection. There are plenty of songs which I like, though there are plenty which I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

Innovation: 7/10

Innovation is very important for any game - ESPECIALLY sequels. What is it that this new game is adding/changing to give me a whole new gaming experience? What is it about this new game that sets it apart from every other game of its kind? Well, DDR is the only game of its kind, so really, the question is: What is it about SuperNOVA that sets it apart from the other DDR's and makes it a whole new gaming experience? Obviously it's the Stellar Master Mode. But, the SMM wasn't executed so greatly, and as such, I would prefer to play another DDR game. SMM is new, there's no denying that, so the experience is a little different, but the poor execution brings this innovation score down.

Overall: 7/10

SuperNOVA is a nice game. It's a good game. But it's not a great game. Really, it's pretty mediocre. If you're a DDR fan, I don't see why you shouldn't buy it. If you're a newbie to DDR, you're probably better off trying another mix (I hear Extreme is pretty good, though I personally prefer Max2). For everyone else...well...buy it just for the sake of supporting Konami. =D

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/26/07