DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution

"DDR’s first PS2 offering truly earns the name DDRMAX."

Konami's long-running Dance Dance Revolution series sees its first upgrade to the PS2 with DDRMAX. The long-running series is no doubt familiar to many, if not as Dance Dance Revolution (or DDR) then as “that game where you stomp around on arrows.” The series has spawned countless arcade and home mixes, though most of them aimed at a Japanese market. The North American DDR scene is really just getting started, and DDRMAX sure is an excellent way to jump-start the craze overseas.

The concept of DDR is entirely simple: arrows scroll from the bottom of the screen to the top. When they reach the “step zone,” an area of grey arrows which flash to the beat, you must step on the corresponding arrow (up, left, right, or down). You will be graded according to how close to the beat you have stepped, with Perfect!! being the best grade and Boo being the worst. Your progress in the game is judged by the Groove Gauge, a meter which, under normal circumstances, begins half full and either fills or empties depending on your performance. If at any time the gauge should empty, that's it, game over, you fail. After a song is complete, you are given a score and a grade (ranging from AAA, the highest, to E, the lowest), and, provided that you passed the song, you may select another if your game is not yet finished.

There are essentially three play modes: Single, Versus, and Double. Single is just one player on one pad. Versus is two players on two pads. Double is an interesting mode which challenges one player to move across both pads to clear a song. Of course, Double stepcharts often entirely different offerings from their Single counterparts. Every song has three difficulty levels available: Light, Standard, and Heavy, which are essentially Easy, Medium, and Hard. Songs are all rated out of a scale of ten “feet” for difficulty; more feet mean a more difficult song. A system called the Groove Radar is also present to aid players. The Groove Radar is a blob that rates a song based on five different values: Stream, Voltage, Air, Chaos, and Freeze. The instruction booklet is a tad vague on these five quantities, so I shall elaborate slightly. Stream is a measure of the overall number of steps given the length of a song, and is often the best indicator difficult in itself; more steps will invariably lead towards a more exhausting affair and thus will be more difficult. Voltage is a measure of the maximum number of steps that are crammed into an arbitrary time period. Basically, how fast will you have to step during the most intense part of the song? Voltage and Stream often go hand in hand, but a spiked Voltage is often indicative of an isolated section of the song which manages to be exceptionally challenging, whereas the rest of the song may not be. Air is a measure of what percentage of the steps are jumps. More jumps means more energy expended, usually. Chaos is a measure of how “offbeat” a song is. Stepping tricky rhythms is certainly challenging, and Chaos is an excellent indicator of difficulty. Freeze is simply a measure of how many freeze arrows there are in a song. Since the freeze arrow was a new element of gameplay in DDRMAX, freezes are often used to poor effect in the game and freeze generally means absolutely nothing in terms of difficulty; if anything, a song packed with freeze arrows will be rather easy. Lastly, a number of modifiers are available to the player (by holding the X button while selecting a song) which can make minor alterations to gameplay for added challenge or ease.

There is a substantial amount of challenge packed into DDRMAX. Anyone picking this game up will find some goal to achieve, and there is no lack of one-song workouts in this mix. DDRMAX seems to favour stamina-busting songs as opposed to tricky, technical songs, which makes this mix more of a workout, but perhaps not so much as a challenge in the technical department. However, it should be noted that DDRMAX is not terribly beginner friendly. Many songs on Light will chew up first time players, and there are only four songs rated one out of ten, one of which is locked by default. It will be an arduous journey for the first time player, but DDRMAX does force one to learn quickly and efficiently or fail continually, so I suppose that's motivation. Most players will likely be surprised when they obtain a AA grade on their first Heavy song and are immediately invited to play the hardest song in the game, whether they have unlocked it or not, and whether they'd like to or not. Consider it something to aspire to.

Luckily, you have Training Mode to ease you into the harder songs. Training mode allows you to isolate certain portions of a song and even slow them down, hear them with a metronome, or have the game make a sound when you should step. It's a lifesaver, and to play your best game, you will have to utilize Training Mode to its fullest. Most people tend to forget it's even there, but it is an invaluable tool in learning the game.

Lastly, for all the masochists out there, there is Challenging Mode. This is a game mode where you play one of six pre-made courses of varying lengths with no breaks in between songs. However, there is a twist: instead of the Groove Gauge, you have a battery with three charges. Every time you receive a step judgement of Good or worse, you will lose one charge. Failing to hold a freeze arrow for its duration will also deduct a charge. Misstep when you have no charges remaining and it's game over. Charges will recover after songs based on your performance, but during a song there is no way to recover. This is exceptionally harsh; whereas you could conceivably get all Goods on a song and pass it (with a score of zero and grade of D, which is actually quite an accomplishment), four Goods on Challenging Mode is an instant failure. Furthermore, you do not have a score, but rather a percentage, which rates out of the total number of steps in the course the number that you got Perfect!! on. Lastly, there is a timer, which lets you know how far into the course you survived, because it's not expected that you will pass the Hard Core course on your first try. Challenging Mode is a fabulous, but with only six courses, it's a bit limited. It could have been executed much better, but it's nice to just have the mode.

Graphics are quite possibly the least important aspect of a DDR game. The arrows look… nice. The step zone is rather… grey. The menu has a nice flame effect. Really, the only things you might notice are the banners and backgrounds for the songs, which are generally pleasing to the eye. The videos that play during songs look a tad grainy, and some of them just look a bit dated, but if you're watching the videos you're not passing the song, generally. There is a nice music video for one song, but that's about it. There also seems to be an alarming amount of subliminal messages in the videos. Okay, maybe not, but there are a lot of nonsensical phrases and words in the videos that are somewhat humorous. Maybe they're worth a second look. They get the job done, however.

Sound is quite difficult to comment on. It's all subjective, but in my opinion the songlist was well balanced and contained many songs which I enjoy listening to. Sound quality is also excellent. After unlocking everything, you will have 71 songs to choose from, so hopefully there's a little something for everyone in MAX. There aren't a lot of songs the casual gamer will know, but people don't generally buy DDR games to dance to their favourite songs. Perhaps the only recognizable song is Sandstorm by Darude, or ever Ordinary World by Aurora but the familiarity ends about there. Still, there are many new songs that are sure to please and perhaps even introduce you to a new artist you enjoy! However, it should be noted MAX has a few syncing issues. Some songs are on beat, some are synced a little early, some a little late. It's noticeable enough to be an annoying, and most people opt to adjust the timing to +2 or +3, which makes things generally more on beat. Lastly, one some, My Summer Love, actually scrolls at the wrong BPM, ever-so-slightly. This means it starts off in sync, but gradually becomes earlier until it is very noticeable. It's a bit odd that this wasn't caught, but it isn't anything game-breaking (and the song isn't the greatest ever, I'd say). A final, specific note: due to the engine, the song Spin the Disc is impossible to score an AAA on, for the song ends before the game counts the final freeze. The only way to rectify this is to set the timing vastly late, which is absurd. However, once again, this doesn't affect much, and if it's that much of a problem you can just go AAA Spin the Disc on DDRMAX2.

It will take a substantial amount of time to unlock everything DDRMAX has to offer, but if you play that far chances are you've developed a love for the game that will make it something you'll pop in maybe a year from now. The lasting capacity of DDR is astounding, and you either love DDR or hate it, and if you love it then this game will be sticking around for a while, if only so you can play your favourite songs from DDRMAX a few months down the road.

DDRMAX is a solid DDR mix, if geared mostly towards those who have already played DDR. It is a mix I keep returning to because it's just fun to play, plain and simple. Perhaps it's not the best mix to begin with, but whether you get your kicks from Challenging Mode or the laughably erroneous Workout Mode, DDRMAX is a mix for every DDR player, and I highly recommend it if you haven't already picked it up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/05