Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 Hands-On

By Sophia Tong, GameSpotPosted Sep 25, 2008 12:46 pm PT

Dance Dance Revolution is celebrating its 10th year, and we check out exactly why people just keep on dancing.

Before Wii Sports or Wii Fit, you were most likely working up a sweat to Dance Dance Revolution, the rhythm game that had you jumping up and down on a pad that was essentially a controller. Konami's DDR franchise is still going strong with multiple releases of the dancing game across the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360 this year. Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 for the Xbox 360 has the variety of modes that it is known for and an additional DJ mode where you can come up with your own mixes.

DDR's core concept hasn't changed over the years, and it's not as if it needs to change. We had a chance to preview it at this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, but this time, we took some time to look through all the modes to see what Universe 3 has to offer. If for some reason you haven't tried DDR yet, there is a mode completely dedicated for people who have never jumped up and down on a plastic mat to techno music. The different steps and combos are split into 11 basic lessons; then, there are an additional 22 lessons for some advanced moves. With some patience and quick feet, you'll get into the swing of DDR in no time. DDR veterans will probably never venture into this beginner mode, which is fine because there are plenty of other modes with which to work up a sweat.

Beginners can go through a series of lessons so that they can pretend to know what they're doing when the time comes to dance in public.

The Game mode can be played with friends, and in it, you try to make your way through three stages without failing. If you want to be a dance pad hog, you can double up and play on two pads with another friend. A large living room and television is probably needed because these pads take up quite a bit of space. If you don't want the added pressure, you can always play in Party mode where there are a variety of ways to play with friends and family.

Party mode includes a Non-Stop Dancing mode, which is self explanatory. You can set your own lists or even set it to infinite so that the music never stops. Freestyle allows you do whatever you want with the dance pad without worrying about timing and following the arrows. You do have to try to keep you gauge above the fever line if you want to outdance your friends. In Attack mode, each arrow corresponds with a type of combo, and our goal is to have your bar above your opponent's bar. You can attack your opponent by bringing him or her down a level or recover if you've been bumped down already, as long as you can get five successful hits for one arrow type. Bomb mode is a frantic mode where you need to string five combos to pass the bomb to another player. You don't want to hold onto the bomb for too long or you'll be the one stuck with it when the song ends. Sync requires you and your friends to follow the right beat because the game ends if you fail to nail the step on great or better. Universe 3's scale of perfection begins with marvelous, then moves to perfect, great, good, and so on. Triple and Quad mode has you jumping on three or four dance pads if you're up for the challenge. Team effort is required with Relay where each player dances when the arrows show up on his or her section of the screen. Speed is interesting because your arrows will appear frozen onscreen, and your goal is to hit them in order faster than your opponents, regardless of timing. Point mode dings you whenever you accuracy is lower than your competitors. Finally, there is the traditional Score mode where you're just competing for the highest score.

There is definitely a lot of variety in the Party mode itself, but there's still more. Quest mode has you taking on smaller, bite-sized challenges where there are rules to meet and money to earn. You create your own avatar, and as you beat challengers, you can buy clothes and change his or her hairstyle. There are apparently more than 400 options to choose from, so you can have your very own customized dancer. The goal in Quest mode is to dance your way from the city streets to the Universe Tower in the center of the city.

Ten years and dozens of versions later, we still have the same basic gameplay.

Some DDR fans play to work out, so of course, Workout mode is included where you can input your weight and the game keeps a record of your sessions. You can dance against players from around the world by logging on to Xbox Live and downloading song packs when they become available. Training mode lets you practice with various tools that can help or distract you. You can switch on a metronome or have visual aids appear if you think they'll help with your timing. Edit mode is available for you to make your own unique steps for a song or change up the background as you're playing. The new mode that has been added is the DJ mode where you can bring up songs and mess with a turntable to come up with your own mixes. You use the analog sticks to scratch, the RB or LB to change the sound effects, and the triggers to control the fader. This mode might be cool at first, but it loses its appeal after a few minutes, considering this is DDR and the primary goal is to dance.

Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 is yet another game in the long-standing series, and even though the novelty has kind of worn off, fans of DDR can still enjoy what Konami has to offer in this version. There are more than 70 songs that include music from the '70s to today and enough modes to keep the party going. The dance party starts October 14.

10 Comments

  • bigtruckseries

    Posted Oct 20, 2008 7:53 pm PT

    I own DDR Universe 1 and 2 for Xbox 360 and a couple DDR's for Playstation 2.

    My biggest problem with Konami is they'd rather sell you brand new Game packs than to simply allow you to BUY ONLINE CONTENT which makes so much more sense.

    The practicality of it is simple...they can allow you to download more and more addons for a price rather than have to go out and print an entirely new game with a whole nother pad in the box. I pay, they make money, WE BOTH STAY HAPPY.

    I will undoubtedly buy DDR U3 but, it just makes no sense to me to keep buying these games JUST to have to get 50 or so new songs and then have to spend $8 in gamerpoints to download the exclusive gamerpack that is released alongside the game. But what REALLY KILLS ME, is that despite the fact the HDD contains the 2 downloaded packs from XBOX Live, you CAN'T USE THEM with your NEWEST GAME. You have to use the DDRU1 or DDRU2 disk to access them even though they are on the hard drive ??????

    That's retarded.

    As for WIRELESS MATS...this game really doesn't need them. The cords they come with are VERY long and even can be extended. Besides, charging 360 peripherals gets annoying after a while. I am not interested in making my own songs. I am interested in a DDR game that allows a community of players to make songs and share them like they would custom maps in the XBOX version of FAR CRY.

  • BlazeTK

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 6:54 pm PT

    @ the first and third comments.

    Well you can make your own songs. Theres this program called StepMania. All hardcore players know about it. What you can to is make your song and either plug up a pad to your pc and play that way, or, put the songs on your flash drive and uploaded them to your local ITG/ITG2 machine. Warning: You can only put like 20 songs on your flash drive because if you put too many it wont load right. Notice: Konami has recently bought ITG so its harder to find the machines since they are no longer in production. Also most arcades buy DDR or PIU due to popularity and their long standing in the music game area. For StepMania go here. www.stepmania.com
    Bum around the forums to learn how to put your songs on flash drives, and to make songs.

  • Loomis2_basic

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:36 am PT

    Can ANYONE answer the supposedly simple question of, will this game have wireless pads? And if not, for god's sake WHY?

  • BLuFAlc0n

    Posted Sep 28, 2008 2:36 pm PT

    DDR's are LEGEND GAMES, except the Universe franchise(360 ones), all it has is cel-shaded graphics, ruined the traditional bars, combos, and the Perfect writings. Universe don't have any good 10-footers at all, in fact, there are no new good songs in DDR Universe. Hottest Party has Pluto the First!, B4U Rising Sun/Acolyte Mix, will, and more. SuperNova has way better songs, the PS2 version of DDRX is downgraded compared to the arcade one but still has the HARDEST SONG EVER(Harder than Through the Fire and Flames) Pluto Relinquished!. and PS3 version should have DDR X(like the arcade version).

  • sonynhater

    Posted Sep 28, 2008 12:17 pm PT

    Same old, same old

  • Dogar230

    Posted Sep 27, 2008 12:16 am PT

    no ps3 version?

  • Applepie565

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 5:28 pm PT

    How about something, I dont know new to the genre like using your own tracks from your ipod

  • starfoxmcleoud

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 5:14 pm PT

    Dance Dance Revolution! 10 years strong, and counting! Sad that Captain Jack couldn't be with us to celebrate this milestone. They really should pay a tribute to him with this 10th annaversary or in a future DDR. His music helped shape DDR to what it is today.

  • Gamestaj

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 1:52 pm PT

    I think everyone understands what Im tryin to say when I ask....When do we get to dance to our OWN mp3 music?! Thats all I need and Ill be addicted to this game.

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