Dance Dance Revolution X

"Now with more level 9 songs!"

DanceDanceRevolution X(DDR X) is the 7th DDR game to be released for the Playstation 2.

Graphics: The same as any other DDR game. Not incredible, realistic Xbox 360 style graphics, but good enough for DDR. Super graphics are not really needed for rhythm games. 8/10

1P Mode: Street Master Mode is like the other 1P modes from earlier games. You go through a series of missions that get progressively more difficult. In this version, you play through the storyline of different DDR characters. The story basically breaks down into “such and such is happening, so let's dance” for each episode. At least Konami tried. Having advanced mission available is a step in the right direction, but it still requires you to play through a lot of basic (light) missions. It should let you choose your own level for the missions, so you can play all Expert songs if you're a good player. 7/10

Gameplay: It's the same DDR gameplay with 4 arrows. However, a new feature called Shock Arrows has been added. Shock Arrows are like mines in In The Groove. You have to avoid them, or else your life bar goes down. In addition, they cause the arrows to blink. The shock arrows are only used on challenge. The challenge charts are just one of the other levels with shock arrows added randomly. How lazy, Konami. I'm glad they finally fixed the rating system after the severely misrated songs in Supernova 2. I'm also glad there are a lot of difficult songs equivalent to levels 9 and 10. Some DDR games have too many easy songs. The screen filter is a good addition; it blocks out those annoying background videos than blend in with the arrows. DDR Gameplay in general gets a 10, but minus 1 point for the Shock Arrows. 9/10

Music: Music is a very important part of the DDR series, so there needs to be a good selection of songs. This game features 75 songs, although 5 of these are just a bunch of songs mixed together into “Xmixes.” However, games like Guitar Hero keep increasing the amount of songs on each game, so isn't it time to get more than around 70 songs? The Japanese version of Extreme had over 100 songs. The Konami Original(songs made specifically for DDR) selection was decent, but the licensed song selection was average. Some of the slower songs don't feel danceable. I also did not recognize many of the licensed songs; there needs to be more recognizable songs so new players will be encouraged to play. I liked the included unlockable songs. This game also has some licensed songs from older DDR mixes such as Butterfly by Smile.dk.
Music Rating: 8/10

Sound: The announcer is annoying, but you can turn him off. All the other sounds excluding the music seem to be fine. Sound: 9/10

Replay value: You can beat 1P mode in about 6 hours. If you like DDR, DDR games have nearly unlimited replay value. You can play different levels, courses, make edits, and play around with modifiers. If you're a new DDR player, you can spend months progressing through the difficulty levels. 10/10

Rent/Buy/Ignore: For the lower price of $30 instead of $50, it's probably worth buying if you like DDR. I don't know if it's even possible to rent DDR games. If you've never played DDR, you should try it at an arcade of elsewhere before buying it. If you're neutral toward DDR, wait for it to be a cheapo $10 or $15 game.

Pluses and Minuses:
+Good original songs
+New rating system
+Screen filter
+It's DDR
+No repeated songs from older US PS2 mixes.
-Shock arrows
-Licensed songs

Graphics:8
1P Mode:7
Gameplay:9
Music:8
Sound:9
Replay Value:10

Overall Score(Not an average): 8.7, which rounds up to 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/08

Game Release: Dance Dance Revolution X (US, 09/16/08)