Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2

"DDR Strikes back! ... in a way"

SuperNOVA 2 brings back a little amount of pleasure in the series. I wouldn't say it's one of the best to date, but definitely a great decent mix for everyone (maybe not for the fanboys), but anyone in general. For its 9th and almost 10th year in the business, DDR is still in the making of a million or so mixes to the market, and that wouldn't be as that big of deal for me. Unless if they keep making the same routines, I wouldn't even bother buying another one.

GAMEPLAY : 7
Gameplay isn't that much different. Basically, you have the game mode. This mode is just a free play where you just select a song, dance to it, and then you get all sweaty and drippy right? Once you play on that mode for awhile, you may find a screen where it says that there are some new songs or whatever thats new in the shop. You can either play Game Mode all day to unlock various kinds of stuff (songs and courses that you can play in advance mode in general), or you can unlock mostly all of the stuff in Hyper Master Mode.

Hyper Master Mode isn't that much of a pain as Stellar Master Mode (SuperNOVA) and Dance Master Mode (Extreme 2), but there are some missions that you would have to play for ages. E.g. Mission J-02 - this misson is especially a pain for me. This mission was the one where I had to play it numerous times, and it kicks me right out the butt when I always fail. In this mission, I had to get "GOOD or better, and get O.K. and FREEZE ARROWS". Sounds easy right, but it doesn't. What's difficult about it is that the left and right arrows were swapped. So I had to play it where the screen shows it as 'right, down, up, and left' , where supposedly it normally goes 'left, down, up, and right'. Plus it was on difficulty, and it was CALICO CAT ROCK (a song that I play the least in this game) so I always had to pick up the paste, and wishing for luck to help me finish this dang mission. Luckily I had it on the 27th time. Thanks to my controller, ehem... (I've only used the controller to help me pass the harder missions, but that rarely happens. But I suggest that you use it if you get stuck or frustrated to a mission. Im not that sure of what the modules do because I didn't even use any of them, but that could possibly another way to help you clear a mission. Overall, Hyper Master Mode's difficulty is pretty mediocre, so you can probably finish this mode in about two days.

SONG LIST: 8
The song list in my opinion wasn't as strong as the past two PS2 DDR games (Extreme 2 + SuperNOVA), but I must admit the licenses were a big improvement in this series. Songs like Ashley Tisdale's 'He Said She Said' and a great j-pop song called 'ANGELUS', will keep you groovin' until you drop! Also, there are some licensed songs that have great looking music videos. You've got Alison Goldfrapp's two hit singles, which includes 'Strict Machine' and a 'Number 1 remix' that could keep you interested from playing. Freemasons with an extremely catchy tune 'Love on My Mind' sang by an infamous singer by the name of Amanda Wilson. Make sure to check that one out, the music video will make you dance literally! Also including other music videos from 'Say Goodbye' , "Rockafeller Skank', 'Take On Me', 'Unwritten (Vicious Club Mix)' and lots of other more great tunes to come! Dance Dance Revolution Contest Winners 'Eternus' and 'Until Forever' is also in the default list, so watch those big tunes as well. Overall I give the default list a 9/10. Don't argue with me, I'm a major fan of dance music!

As for the new crossovers, songs like 'Freeway Shuffle' and 'A Thing Called LOVE' are two of my personal favorites. Not only they include trippy videos, they are also a great combination of songs that make the new crossovers look good. So I wouldn't mind about having more new crossovers other than those two. Yes we all know that many people were looking forward to the planet songs, but there's always a next year so don't worry about it.

The songs from previous mixes were alright, but a little improving on that song list would do. But still, there's a lot of good songs, e.g. 'Honey Punch, Flowers, Nijiro, Trim, and Outer Limits'. The boss songs as well are okay. You've got about four new songs that are a bit less challenging as last years SuperNOVA, and a repeat that I was yet dissapointed about, because its not that necessary to be put in this game again.

GRAPHICS: 7
Again, its nothing that new. The graphics includes the same background dancers (including two new ones), the same enviroments, a song wheel that looks the same but with different color, nothing could improve on graphics in DDR correct? Although, the floating star looking in the background looks flowy. Unlike SuperNOVA's laggy impression on the backgound, so there's one improvement on that. Like I said, there's not that much to talk about on graphics, so 7 it is.

If you're a hardcore fan of DDR, go ahead and buy it. Its worth while playing, but sad thing is everything that you see isn't that new. It's just a new songlist, new graphics, and now includes 'Information' again, so buying it won't impress you that much. Although for the love of 'DDR' music, I agree that you should but it. Overall, this DDR is just plain and simple. That's basically it.

Rent Or Buy It?
I'd buy it if you like DDR very much. As for renting, I'm really not sure because none of the stores where I live will have you rent DDR. But if your nearest Blockbuster store does, go ahead and rent it. This DDR game isn't that much special.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/07

Game Release: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 (US, 09/25/07)