Konami has really outdone themselves with the best American version of DDR to date!
Many changes have been made in this mix. One of those is the new Dance Master Mode! This mode is where all the unlockables will be obtained. Its a lot like the Mission mode found in the U.S. version of DDR Extreme. Also what is new is that you have to buy the unlocked items in a shop using Dance Points earned by playing songs throughout the game. This can seem rather annoying however because obtaining the necessary points can seem like a very long process. While Dance Master Mode seems like a neat idea and does boost up the replay value, newcomers to DDR will find this mode very difficult near the end where the missions seem almost impossible to complete.
Another change is that Game Mode (or arcade mode) has been changed to Free Mode. It's basically the same thing except you can play as many songs as you want.
Finally for the Playstation 2, DDR goes online! Since it is its first online attempt, it seems broken. You can't pick who to play against and everything just seems too randomized.
Graphics does not make a real importance in a game such a DDR. The background effects during gameplay are mostly randomized visualizations that play off quite well. I'm happy that Konami is keeping and staying with the DDR Characters (the characters were missing on the U.S. DDR MAX 1). As a old school DDR Player I love the characters, and they make the background effects not seem so boring. New character appearences include: Drum, Bass, J.C., and Sa-Ja. Also each character has a different colored outfit that can be unlocked and purchased in the shop, but the prices of the outfits seem outrageous. Many of the new DDR players (like people who started playing DDR with DDR EXTREME the arcade japanese version) might find the characters annoying or distracting because they are not used to them dancing in the background unlike players who have played DDR from the 1st mix and are used to it. Luckly for those complaining players, the characters can be turned off.
The Sound quality is excellent, especially since thats what a music game's main attribute revolves around. It includes a sort of old school songs mixed in with the new. Finally a U.S. version of DDR has included a song by Smile.dk (butterfly upswing mix)!! This mix includes a total of 74 songs all together which makes it the biggest songlist for an U.S. DDR.
In conclusion, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2, will make any DDR fan very happy and its a darn good party game too! As all DDRs that have come before it, this series is all about the easy to learn, but hard to master concept. This version is worth every penny.