E3 2008: Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 Hands-On
By
Chris Watters, Editor
We hit the pad with the latest DDR game for the Wii and dance to a whole new soundtrack, as well as get a few new lessons for those with two left feet.
In honor of Dance Dance Revolution's 10th anniversary, the series is getting a number of new releases on various platforms. DDR: Hottest Party 2 is the second DDR title for the Wii and, like its predecessor, demands that players gesture with the remote and Nunchuk in addition to matching their steps on the DDR mat. A brand-new setlist and a few tracks catered to series newcomers make DDR: Hottest Party 2 an appealing title for experienced move busters and dance-floor first-timers alike.
For those new to the series, or perhaps who never got into the groove, DDR: Hottest Party 2 includes new lesson tracks designed to help you get acquainted with how to maneuver your way around the mat. Unlike previous lessons that merely offered text explanations, these songs come complete with video and audio aid, so they feel a bit like an aerobics lesson at the gym. Your trainer sings ahead of the beat and cues up a call-and-response dynamic, so when he says, "Right! Left! Right!," you answer by stepping right, left, right. Further along the lessons begin to incorporate the down arrow, but they first tell you to position yourself with, for example, your left foot on the left arrow and your right foot on the down arrow. This effectively instructs you in the best way to position yourself throughout various steps, so folks who find themselves tripping over their own legs will have some handy reference points.
In addition to these newcomer-friendly songs, there is an entirely new soundtrack that features mostly club-style music. These tracks come from Bemani, Konami's music video game label, and feature such series favorites as NAOKI and Terra. Konami hopes this blend of old and new will help broaden the appeal and accessibility of their venerable rhythm series. DDR: Hottest Party 2 is set to release this fall, so check back in the coming months for more.
By
Chris Watters, Editor
With his Apple IIGS as the spark and his neighbor's NES the fuel, Chris Watters' passion for gaming caught fire in a very metaphorical way. It propelled him across the country and into "the industry," where you can see him striving to be grossly incandescent on weekly episodes of On The Spot.
Natalie? Are you here?
this one better be good,or else im never playing ddr again.
marioman50 Posted Jul 16, 2008 3:26 pm PT "So far I've predicted that this game will still fail just like the last one but who knows, right?" Are you an idiot? If it "failed" why would they make a 2nd one? Obviously it made money. You guys need to realize there is a huge market for party games. There are tons of people, especially for the wii that love stuff like this. So stop posting about how much ddr sucks, because konami has made more money off this series than any of you will ever see in your lifetime. The demand is obviously there. Its just not 95% of you techno dorks that read game spot.
The things that bugged me in the first version is that all the settings are NEVER saved in free mode and the fact that it forces you to go head on with a competitor when you're not even ready or don't want to. That got me really pissed about Hottest Party. Also, to reply to one poster, you CAN turn off gestures but the damn settings never gets saved like I said above.
The first game was...quite bad...and i regret getting it THIS NEXT ONE MUST MAKE ME FEEL HAPPY THAT I BOUGHT THE DANCE PAD!...
A lot of comments about this game from people saying they are tired of DDR, etc. But you have to realize there are a ton of people out there, especially with the Wii who never played a DDR game before. They didn't have a PS2 or any other previous gen system. I personally tried DDR for the first time with The Hottest Party for the Wii. Although it scored very low I thoroughly enjoyed it and will almost certainly be buying this new one too. Still fresh to me!
never played DDR. I heard i'm missing out
Not my kind of games..
one more time
Not again......
Your all saying that this game sucks and will fail, but what you gotta remember is games like this dont necessarily appeal the european and american markets, however they do extremely well in the asian 1/3 of the market, games like guitar freaks and drum-mania have been out there for years, yet were only just seeing them hit the mainstream. This one is just one konami have just kept going with, personally id like a new beatmania game.
When are they going to stop this nonsense... please give it up.
Kinda tired of ddr.
Agreb91: "In my opinion I think everyone has moved on to playing fake instruments." While movie directors and producers have moved on to creating dumb movies with laughable plots like spiderman 3. Seriously, I don't know how anyone could even like that cash-in or the terrible games based on it.. So far I've predicted that this game will still fail just like the last one but who knows, right?
Agreb91> Are you just going to every DDR game and writing the same thing? Seriously, get a life.
i hope there's an option to turn OFF wiimote & nunchuk gestures. >_>
So many new DDR games, I'm gonna just choose one though.
No thanks.... I'm all set. :|
The problem with the recent DDR games are the songs. They just simply aren't as good as past DDRs like DDR Max I & II.
In my opinion I think everyone has moved on to playing fake instruments.
[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
Something my sister would get all excited about:P but for me..nah
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 (w/ Dance Pad)
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- Publisher(s): Konami
- Genre: Puzzle
- Release: Sep 12, 2008 (US) »
- ESRB: E10+
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