DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution

"A revolutionary Dance Dance... or something"

Wow. Just... wow. This was the first DDR game that I've played (in AND out of the arcade) and it's just excellent. A few of my DDR-loving friends recommended this game to me, and I must say, I have to thank them for it. When I look at the reviews for this game, I have to think, ''Y'know, I should give this game a bad review just to make people mad,'' but I'm not like that. They're all right. This game IS one of the best games ever. By now, you're probably tired of my ranting about how godly this game is, so I'll just get straight to my review for DDRMAX.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10
Ahhh, yes. The most important factor of any game: the Gameplay factor. DDRMAX is at the top with its gameplay. The point of DDR is to step on the arrows as the pass the stationary arrows at the top of the screen. That may not seem fun to you, but it is in action. With over 70 songs, you'll be playing for hours and hours at a time! You will MOST LIKELY stink at this game if (a) this is your first DDR game and/or (b) you don't have foot-eye coordination (Don't worry, you probably do). To enhance DDRMAX, buy a dance pad. Back on topic, DDRMAX can also be played with a controller, but that takes away nearly all the fun. Also, you don't start with all the songs. The more you play, the more you unlock. Eventually you'll unlock the elusive M... errr... really hard song that's really fast. I think that avoids spoilers. There's also the difficulty system, which I will go over in the ''Difficulty'' section (Surprise, surprise...). Now, there are many modes in this game and they are:

Game Mode: This is the main game of DDRMAX. You can play and unlock songs in this mode. After completing each song, you'll be given a grade (from E, the worst, to AAA, the best) based on how well you timed your steps. You can choose from Single (One-Player mode), Versus (Two-Player mode), and Double (One-Player, but two dance pads). After you choose that, you choose your difficulty: Light (Easy), Standard (Medium), and Heavy (Hard). There's also the hidden (but already unlocked) Oni mode, which is only for the best dancers.

Workout Mode: This mode is for people who want to lose weight and get in shape. I personally don't recommend using just DDR for working out, but if you work really hard, it might help you. The calories you lose are measured in kcals, which equal 1 food calorie.

Lesson Mode: In this mode, you learn how to play (and eventually master) DDR in three easy (or not-so-easy) lessons.

Edit Mode: Create your own steps in this mode. This isn't very easy to do if you're new to DDR.

With all of these modes, you'll be playing DDRMAX for hundreds of hours!

GRAPHICS: 10/10
DDRMAX doesn't have much graphics, but it does have FMVs running in the background during songs. Many are in multiple songs, but there's also differences in those. Graphics really aren't important in DDR games.

MUSIC: 10/10
As earlier stated, DDRMAX has over 70 songs. Each song is great. Obviously, music is incredibly important in DDR games because without music, there'd be no DDR. I'm sure that you'd want to master all the DDRMAX songs and be the best someday (Of course, everyone can't be the best, can they?)!

DIFFICULTY: 10/10
DDRMAX has three difficulty modes: Light, Standard, and Heavy. With 70+ songs and 3 modes, that equals over 210 difficulties in DDRMAX. Besides the different modes, there's a ''foot scale'' system. One foot is the easiest and ten feet is the hardest. It will take hundreds of hours alone to get to a ten-foot difficulty.

BUY OR RENT?
Buy! Why are you still reading this? Go out there and BUY DDRMAX!

FINAL SCORE: 10/10
I gave DDRMAX a 10/10 because that is what it truly deserves. Anything less would be a disgrace to the DDR name. I wish I could've given it a 50/10, but GameFAQs doesn't allow that. In conclusion, DDRMAX is a great game that keeps you in shape (Well, kinda), and it's different than mostly any other game out on the market.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/03, Updated 04/19/03