Dance Dance Revolution Konamix

"A delight to any DDR fan, novice or veteran. (Also a handy tool for weight loss!)"

FIRST IMPRESSION (and the introduction.)

Like any other avid gamer, I've heard of the Dance Dance Revolution series, and I've seen the machines down at the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. Never had I had the cojones to play it... until... *insert dramatic pause here.*

THE BACKSTORY

Flash to my last day of high school (June 19th, 2002)
Time: 0800 hours

A group of friends and I had brought in Super Smash Bros.: Melee, and were busy duking it out. Cut to the doorway of the computer room, where a girl bugged one of my friends to come downstairs- she had a surprise for him! Unbenownst to me at the time, the girl had brought a Playstation into school, with two pads and a Dance Dance Revolution: Konamix game. After wondering where the friend was for half an hour as I pummelled a Fox player off of the Brinstar Depths, I decided to leave the Gamecube in the hands of someone trusted and wandered in search of the rogue player.

Flash to half an hour after locating lost ''Melee''er.
Time: 0900 hours

I'm not very good at the game, but I am laughing my rear off as I attempt to play some three-footers (also known as ''difficulty 3 out of 9'' in the DDR world) such as ''Make a Jam'' and ''Higher.'' The girls are obviously having a blast as I slip up and fail a rather embarassingly easy stretch of ''Make A Jam'' (I can remember quite well... it was the second time in the song when the pattern is up, up, down, down, up, up, down, down, up, up, down, down, leftrightleftright: instead, it ended up down, miss, miss, miss, down, down, up, miss, fail...)

By noon, when school let out, I was bathed in sweat, but I was happy, and I vowed I'd get that game. Heck, it might even make me lose that twenty pounds I was trying to lose over summer. As it was, it was time to graduate...

THE PURCHASE
Date: July 20th, 2002- my 18th birthday.
Time: 1000 hours.

I emerged from Best Buy, new copy of DDR:Konamix in hand. Now I just needed a pad. I hopped into my 1984 Monte Carlo, nearly ran over an elderly woman as I exited the parking lot, and sped 10 minutes away to the mall, in search of a pad to dance on. At Gamespot, I was out of luck, but Electronics Boutique had a Beatz Pad for only $20.

Flash to three hours later.
Time: 1300 hours.

Again, I'm bathed in sweat, but I just had the time of my life... it made me late for work (it took FOREVER to shower) but I had found a quality game to occupy my time for the rest of summer (and, might I add, it made reaching my weight loss goal INCREDIBLY simple)

Now, enough backstory, here it is...
THE REVIEW (A.K.A. CURRENT IMPRESSIONS

Graphics: 8/10

For a Playstation game, DDR:K has excellent graphics and backdrops, and no (unintentional) slowdown. However, this is not what the game is about: this is just eye-candy for the observers. The REAL meat and potatoes lie in the next two categories.

Sound/Music: Sound: 5/10 Music: 10/10

What would a game based on dancing be without quality music? Britney's Dance Beat? Perhaps, but songs performed by Konami artists such as Naoki and Scotty D. ensure that the player won't be tired of most of the songs (unless you truely hate a certain style and refuse to play some of them)

...as for the sound, there really isn't much memorable. The only sound effects I can think of (that I've explored) are Menu selections (which doesn't account for much) and the crowd cheers, boos, and announcer. The latter three are all nerve-grating and have served to make me fail songs before by interfering with the beat (if you have them on, anyway- I'm sure you can turn them off somewhere.) Other than those, there are no other sounds, hence the low score.

Gameplay: 10/10

THIS is what DDR:Konamix is all about: the gameplay. The premise is simple enough: when arrows onscreen scroll through a bar of transparent arrows on the top of the screen, you step on the appropriate direction on the pad under your feet. Sounds simple enough, but wait until you try it, DDR newbies! Stepping in beat to certain songs can be nigh impossible on the highest difficulty level (I DARE you to try Afronova on Maniac. I failed immediately.)
It's very hard to explain this in full detail- if you have yet to see a Dance Dance Revolution game played, then you must watch the next time you see a machine in an arcade, or (to the amusement of others) attempt to play it yourself. Try starting out with a one-footer (explained in the difficulty rating.)

Difficulty: Varies

There are several factors contributing to how much time you will spend punching the walls.

1.) Your eye-foot coordination. If it is physically impossible for you to dance, then this game isn't for you. Likewise, if you have a problem lining steps up with the arrows, then you'll have many ''Dent the walls'' moments when you fail.

2.) The Difficulty level of the song you choose. Difficulty is represented by a number of feet (out of nine) next to the three styles of each song you can choose (Basic [Easy], Trick [Standard], and Maniac [insane].) But... hold it! There's still another factor...

3.) The song itself. Some are very easy, slow, and downbeat, while others would make a 300-lb. man have a heart attack after finishing on Easy mode.

Basically, difficulty could range from simple (Basic Mode, ''After The Game'') to damn near impossible for anyone but an expert (Maniac Mode, ''Afronova Primeval'') to truly impossible (sucky coordination, any song.)

Story: Not applicable

Sorry folks, no story here- it's just time to dance!

Shell out the money to buy it, timidly rent it at Blockbuster, or avoid it like the Bubonic Plague?

Depending on your personality/coordination/determination, it could be any of these three.

Shell out the money to buy it if you're a DDR nut or you're just plain interested (or have already rented and enjoyed it.)

Rent it if you're new to the DDR/Beatmania scene, to determine if you have the coordination required to advance anywhere in it.

Avoid it if you can't picture yourself at the shore, impressing people with the moves of the songs you've mastered.

Avoid it if you have no coordination and know it.
(But why would you avoid it if you're reading this review?)

Overall: 9/10
Basis: EXCELLENT gameplay/music, decent graphics, amorphic difficulty (adapts to your needs). Would be a 10, were it not for the annoying sound bytes included with a music.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02