Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2

"So, you think you can dance?"

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (henceforth DDRE2, due to the unwieldy title), the latest installation in the long-running Japanese dancing phenomenon, may fix all the problems from Extreme, but with the creation of “Dance Master” to unlock songs and a seriously flawed online mode, this is just a matter of one step forward and one step back.

+ STORY
There's actually quite an intricate plot this time, involving kidnapped look-alike princesses and endless castles, lava pits and angry men named Bowser... who am I kidding? DDR has never even pretended to be anything more than a tempo-matching game, and while it's possible to make up your own interpretations of each song's psychedelic background (especially while in an altered mindset), let's just move on to the game itself.

+ GAMEPLAY
You see, DDR is really about mastering timing: complex beats and patterns require quick fingers or, for the true gamers, a “dance pad” that corresponds to the controller buttons. As arrows scroll up (or down, depending on your settings) the screen, they reach and overlap a bar that corresponds to each directional button. The more accurately you time the pressing of that specific arrow, the better your score (marvelous, perfect, great). The more accurately you perform, the faster your dance gauge fills and the more points you get (with a chain of consecutive steps increasing the value of each successive one). Conversely, the worse you do (good, almost, poor) the more your gauge drops.

Simple, no? On a controller, that's true: but with the use of peripheral pads, DDR takes on an insane twist: it becomes necessary to master complicated step charts until you can nail the precise flow for each song. It's actually a lot harder than it sounds: thankfully, varying difficulties (beginning with beginning and moving up through light and standard to heavy and challenge) let you drop right into the mix, each song ranked from 1 to 10 feet, with 10 being the most complicated.

This is all really just mechanics: the real grist of the game comes from all the additional features: in the “arcade” mode, you'll select a set of songs that can be played alone, “double” (across two pads at once) or “versus” another player. The handy groove meter from the previous DDR MAX games has returned: this lets you know what type of steps there are in the song. BPM refers to the speed, chaos denotes the amount of repetition, freeze alerts you to the amount of hold arrows, air the amount of jumps, and so forth. All of this, I assure you, is in the instruction manual or reviews from previous installments.

However, I've included all this back-story on how the game works to illustrate the game's fundamental problem. For a beginner, all this information is valuable and necessary towards purchasing and playing the game. For an expert, everything to this point is hogwash. The game functions on the same level: “Dance Master” is a mandatory series of “missions” that must be completed in order to unlock new songs; it's also where you'll earn the majority of the points you'll spend buying them. “Dance Master” begins with beginner songs and there is no way to skip playing through these: it takes about two hours just to reach the easy heavy songs. Thankfully, all your statistics are saved in the normal play mode too, so it's not a complete waste.

Another problem that this review illustrates is that there's no quick tracking feature. If you want to know what I think about the game, you'll have to read section by section to find that information. Playing online functions the same way: not only can't you choose which players you'd like to be matched against (nor ensure that you play only those on the same difficulty level as you), you can't even pick your favorite songs. Considering that there's already a “versus” mode in the offline mode, it's an inexcusable oversight to not allow players the opportunity to play to the fullest of their abilities in even matches. Getting from A to B, or checking individual stats before accepting a challenge shouldn't be that hard, or that linear.

These are major complaints, but the reason they don't harm the rating too much is because this is still hands down the best DDR to come out in America. There are more songs in this mix than any other, and it's quite an eclectic and compromising bunch, from the pop hits to the Konami classics. Additionally, this is a much harder mix than Extreme, one that focuses more on technique and style than on speed and endurance. Slower songs aren't always easier, a point you'd be well off learning early on.

+ MISCELLANEOUS
There really doesn't need to be a discussion of graphics or soundtrack, does there? As explained earlier, this is just arrows going up and down a screen, with some funky videos playing in the background. For what it's worth, the videos seem less distracting in this mix than previous ones; that is, it's easier to see and follow the arrows themselves. And the soundtrack, as stated one paragraph back, is a nice collection of varied tunes. You'll get tired of unlocking them long before you get tired of playing all of them.

There's also plenty for the anal-retentive. For the casual gamer, it's enough simply to work on getting through the hardest songs. For the hardcore, new “advanced” modes will require you not only to survive them but to perfect them, which, believe me, is no small feat (get it? Feet?). Workout mode returns to count your calories, as do training mode (still no way to slow down the songs when it comes time to practice, although it's nice to have a metronome and hand clapping to identify the beats) and nonstop/endless courses. And while there are flaws to online play, nothing says ssssssssmoking like ripping some random internet dancer a new one.

+ OVERALL
The idea of reviewing such a simple game seems like an exercise in inanity (get it? Exercise?), but it's important I point out this is not only a fun way to do calisthenics but an addictive pattern game: up there with Amplitude or Donkey Konga (if you must). It doesn't exactly break the mold of previous installations, but it does the exact same just as well, only with more options and alternatives than ever. Next year, we'll get another mix and do the same dance all over again: this year's improvements will be perfected, and the new ideas will be shoddily implemented. But that's okay folks: when you take one step forward and one back, you may not be going anywhere, but you're always in momentum, and you're always keeping busy. And that, friends, that is a good thing: 8 out of 10, baby. You're doing MARVELOUS.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/05/05