Having never played DDR before this game was pretty fun, though I think I may have preferred one of the other versions.
Once you allow yourself to get into it it's quite fun. There are definitely times when It just isn't as fun (ie by yourself), but if you have a friend to flail around with, DDR and a few beers can be pretty entertaining.
The presentation is a little childish, and would have benefited from a little "aging up". GAMEPLAY
The game plays as you would expect, beat a song or a challenge to get to the next venue and so on. As someone who had never played DDR before it took a little while to get used to how you are supposed to actually play it, but once it made sense it started to get more fun. There is even an element of addictiveness as you start to want to get past that one tricky song.
Not only do you have to step on the corresponding arrow in time, but you also have to pay attention to "Hand Arrows" exclusive to the Wii version. These function the same as the foot ones only, yup you guessed it, you have to move your hands in time. As a beginner you may just want to turn these off (there is an option to do so); there is enough to worry about without them.
There are 4 difficulties to the tracks which are beginner, basic, difficult and expert. Beginner just introduces you to the movements and you'll find yourself advancing past that setting pretty quickly. Basic is a little more comfortable as you have a little less time dancing without arrows. Difficult is very challenging while expert is just insane.
You have Groove Circuit mode where you can advance through the stages and unlock songs and more stages. You can work through them solo or cooperatively.
There are several different ways to play multiplayer, though I found the most fun one to be Friendship mode. Here you can work with a friend to try and pass songs. You don't need 2 pads either, one can dance and the other can try and match the arrows with the directional pad on the remote.
You also have Free Play mode where you can just choose whatever song you want and practise or do it with a friend and see who wins.
There is also a Workout mode where you can burn some calories.
GRAPHICS
The visuals are ok but nothing special. On a 37" screen from a few feet away there is quite a bit of ugliness such as jaggies everywhere. It's not a big deal since your dancing anyways though.
Again I'll mention the childish feel, older character models and just a more mature atmosphere would have been preferred.
SOUND
The track list was alright with a couple of really good ones in there. The covers were mostly descent though there were a couple to cringe at. The slow songs seemed really out of place and could be left out probably.
CONTROLS
The controls respond well though I didn't really enjoy the whole hand movement thing. It just felt very awkward while trying to time your feet.
The dance mat seems great...it does slide a bit (I used it on shag, yes shag carpeting), but nothing a slight adjustment between songs doesn't fix.
VALUE
Well if your up for the challenge you could play this game a long time before beating it on the hardest setting. However I'd guess that you may get sick of the track list before that happened and without downloadable tracks for it yet you'd be left out in the cold.
As a game you could haul out when company comes over, it sure serves as some fun entertainment though.
So to sum up it's a descent game and can say that it was fun enough to at least get me interested in trying a different version. Kids, go out and rent this one you'll have a great time.
My suggestion to the older crowd it to try different versions first before deciding which one to go with, you may find one with a better feel than this one.