It's gone where no DDR has decided to go back to. Backwards. But in a good way.
The Bad: Huge lack of other modes | No online play | No training mode | No edit mode | No modifiers | Horrendous character models.
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Dance Dance Revolution is one of the two latest creations to the DDR series made by Konami. This game was released, sadly, on the same day has Halo 3, completely being overshadowed by 360 fanboys and Halo entusiasts. This game was released as a bundle simultaneously with Dance Dance Revoltuion SuperNOVA2 on the Playstation 2.
What makes this one particularly different that the other ones that have been done is, one, it’s made for the Nintendo Wii, two, is that they implement the Wii-mote and Nunchuck into the gameplay. So if you thought hitting arrows on a dance pad were hard enough, try adding the fact you have to shake another controller to boot.
The songlist for this game stands out a lot also in comparison to other DDR games also. Although the US incarnations of the has had a couple of licenced songs along with your traditional DDR songs (J-Pop and all that other stuff), Hottest Party had a completely different outlook by making this whole game filled with licenced songs, covered so they’re DDR esque. I don’t kid about the DDR esque thing either… It might not appeal to some, but it sold me over.
Anyway, along with a fairly decent songlist and challenging songs to boot, this game also does one thing that many DDRers did not expect on a 7th generation console. They didn’t add modifiers to the game. The only reason it is a tragedy to some is that DDR players these days are so adept to playing all their songs on 1.5x speed with Solo arrows on. With the exclusion of modifiers all together, it has returned DDR back to it’s 5th Mix (Japan) and lower roots to when speed mods weren’t available at all. From a personal standpoint, I don’t mind it. I was always able to read 1x speed since I started play DDR around 3rd Mix. (Either way, it makes you look more impressive since all the arrows are so packed together and you can hit all of them making people wonder, how can this person read all that?!)
As far as the dancing characters go, this one probably has the best. Definitely not in terms of design, because by my standards, they look horrendous, but rather that the choreographed routines that go along with the songs have been executed better than they have in previous versions. Each song has their own unique routine and ends when the song actually ends. Despite they fact the models look like crap, at least Konami took that extra step on making routines for each dance to make up for it. I give them props for that.
On a final note, overall the game is pretty good. Definitely on of the more challenging DDR games in the series since this goes back to it’s original roots and has even more challenging gameplay elements added on. With the original songlist, it’s sure to keep everyone guessing how the steps are going to go since this is the first time any of these songs have appeared in a Dance Dance Revolution game. The lack of online play and different modes is disappointing, but you can still enjoy it regardless. If you’re willing to spend the $70 needed to get this game, go for it. The game makes it accessible to beginners and veterans alike. But even if you have a pad from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, unfortunately, the bundle is the only one available since you cannot buy the game as a standalone yet. If you're that desperate for a DDR on the Wii, then this is your calling.