DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution

"New mix steps old standards up."

You've seen it played before, but wondered what those strange people were doing to the machine. You've seen the crowds of people standing, tapping their feet to loud techno beats in the mall, and even an episode of King of the Hill Sunday night. The not-so-new Bemani (short for Beatmania) craze came from Japan to the United States in the small, unsatisfying form of the American Mix for the Playstation, but has greatly improved with this newest mix of Dance Dance Revolution for the Playstation 2: DDR MAX.

For first-timers, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR for short) is a simple but addictive game. The player chooses a song, which has its set of corresponding scrolling arrows. He/she then has to press the appropriate direction (or step--more on this later) when that arrow matches up with the stationary arrows on the top of the screen. It's one of the few things that are actually easier done than said, especially if you have access to a dance pad, where you step on the arrow as if you were dancing on an 80's dance square.

For those of you who have played DDR before, you may have been disappointed with the aforementioned American mix. There is a wide choice in songs and styles, from slow to fast, upbeat to cool, pop to instrumental, jazz to techno--you get the picture. You'd be hard pressed to not find something you don't like after playing this for a while. Throw even more unlockable songs into the mix, and you've got a huge library of music: a large improvement from the measly twenty or song songs found in the original American mix.

Replay value is one of DDR's biggest merits; it's why people stand in line at the arcade, some spending a week's salary just to show off their moves. With a little practice (and playing or just plain watching the included practice mode) you can develop unique styles and moves. (Hint: breakdancing is not recommended for beginners, but is very crowd-attracting.) Aside from the different styles, you can choose different difficulty levels for any available song. Once you've mastered that, you can make your own steps with the edit mode, a feature left out of earlier mixes. If you're not the relentless type, grab a friend and either compete for high scores or point and laugh at the clumsiness. All of this adds up to excellent replay value, increasing DDR MAX's shelf life and replayability.

MAX is a gigantic step up from the first American release, improving in every single aspect. It's definitely worth a look/borrow/rental for PS2 owners because of its replay value and sheer enjoyability.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/16/02, Updated 12/16/02