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(More customer reviews)An incredibly fun video game that gives a good workout just seems too cool to be true, but there is a game that has those attributes: DDR. This great game changed my life and turned me from a lazy guy playing computer all day to becoming a true athlete, as working out is so much fun after playing DDR!
Although DDR Extreme was a big disappointment for a Dance Dance Revolution installment for DDR experts, it's easily the best one for beginners with its familiar songs, easy game engine, and Beginner mode (which debuted on DDRMAX2).The menu isn't in the shape of the arcade DDR's, but in a new style that looks like a sideways version of the original DDR's menu.
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and all the other DDR games out there are 2-D games (Except for the dancers in the background) with one major point: Dancing with your feet. You have a dance mat (or stage) where you tap your feet on the arrows planted on the mat at the same time as the matching arrow on the screen is inside the outlined arrow. There are five (or six) ratings you can get for your accuracy: Marvelous (Not on a regular game), Perfect, Great, Good (Which should really be Average), Almost, and Boo. You want to get the first ratings I listed, and not an Almost or Boo, or else your dance gauge (Which kind of shows your health) will start to slip until it runs out and you lose a song. At the end of the song, you can receive an overall grade, depending on your overall accuracy, of either an E (Which you get for failing a song), a D (Which you get for surviving, but receiving a poor score), a C, a B, an A, a double A, or a triple A (Which you get for receiving a perfect score). Even if this sounds cheesy at first, doing this to the exciting music in the background is actually extremely fun.
Four different difficulty levels exist on DDR Extreme (and a fifth one for a few songs): Beginner, Light, Standard, and Heavy (the fifth one is called Challenge/Oni). Prior to DDRMAX2, there was no Beginner mode, and only a few songs (like "Peace Out" and "Cutie Chaser Morning Mix") were easy enough to be beaten by beginners. I therefore only recommend this or DDRMAX2 if you're a beginner.
The mat that comes with the bundle is a soft plastic pad, and is therefore better suited for beginners than experts.I recommend using it until you're playing at the standard level, since by then you should be ready to handle an arcade-style metal mat, and besides, the plastic mat will be sliding around on you too much to let you pass a song.
When you first get the game, you start with 44 songs, and you can unlock 26 more songs for a grand total of 70 songs. To unlock the hidden songs, you must clear songs about 5 to 10 times. Once you do that, a new song is unlocked. The first song you can unlock is called Scorching Moon, and the last one you unlock is called The Legend of Max. You can also unlock new dancers for dancing in the background in songs without real music videos, but I never use characters (Having a character is optional).
If you play a regular game, you can, instead of simply select a song and dance; choose to play two alternate modes: Nonstop and Challenging mode. In Nonstop mode, you can play four songs in a row without stopping. Sadly, there's only a limited selection of lists of songs you can select from, but thankfully, you can choose from "Players Best", which includes the top 4 songs that you've selected the most. This mode was best in DDR Konamix because you could select which songs to be on a list. Challenging mode is hardly worth the trouble. You have four lives, and each time you get a Good or worse, you lose a life. This mode is very frustrating, and only those who can get AA's all the time will find it an attracting way to play.
The Party Mode, which is new for DDR Extreme, is an innovation to DDR.In fact, some of the games included aren't DDR-relative at all.It includes games where you (on the screen) shake coconuts out of a tree and get them (Coconut Panic), use your hands to bop a ball around a maze to hit every colored gem (Magic Ball), dance while watching yourself dance (See Me Dance), see yourself dance while you use your arms to wipe off scenery that blocks the screen, and use your hands as well as your feet to dance.These games are all very fun to play, but you'll need an Eyetoy in order to play most of theses games; the ones that don't require the Eyetoy (Feeding Time and Hyper Dash) are pretty boring and childish.
Along the way, you can unlock two new modes: Mission Mode and Endless mode. In Mission Mode, you dance to different songs with an unusual task to win. Be careful about the visual tricks that are used in many of the songs in Mission Mode. In Endless Mode, you keep dancing until you fail with a randomly chosen character. The songs that you dance to are randomly selected. The problem with it is that you're forced to have a character dance in the background and might end up with one you can't stand.
The Workout Mode in the game allows you to keep track of your fitness and allows you to figure out what you should be doing to keep yourself healthy. If it's on, you'll see how healthy of a workout you got after you finish dancing to a song. Your score will be better if you play fast songs like Drop Out or either of the Paranoia remixes, so play those songs if you want to get fit quickly.
The training mode is a mode where you can't unlock anything, but you can practice the different songs in the game without being stopped by failing and without the thrilling backgrounds. Unfortunately, in DDR Extreme, you can't slow down a song if you need to be able to study something fast and confusing. Even DDR Konamix had this feature.
Finally, I'll take you to the information mode, which gives info about all of the different songs in the game. It tells you if the song you're studying is from a previous DDR game or not, what you should try to do while dancing to the song, or what kind of music it is. According to it, plenty of songs from Dance Dance Revolution Konamix have been brought back, but only three songs have returned from DDRMAX2. But why is this 2-D game that has the same goal over and over again so great? Well, there are certainly several reasons why:
1. DDR Extreme has a total of 70 different types of songs to choose from. You can find the type of music that's best for you. From a typical energetic dance song (B4U), to a song that's easy to recognize (YMCA, Waiting For Tonight, Like A Virgin), to a jazzy song (On The Jazz, Funk Boogie), to a Japanese pop song (Firefly, Pink Rose), to a supercharged song full of energy (Drop Out, I Feel...) to a song that combines a whole bunch of styles together (JaneJana, Do Me HIGEO Mix, Make It Better), to a theme song from a movie (Never Ending Story, Enter The Dragon) to even a classic song from previous generations of DDR (.59, Drop The Bomb), there's destined to be a song that you'll enjoy.
2. The replay value to this game is incredible, since you can build up your mad skills from beginner to expert, trying to successfully receive all Perfects on songs. You won't want to stop!
3. If you like video games, but you're out of shape, this is a game that can help knock off your weight and keep you fit. I've lost six pounds playing this game since November to December. I've suddenly started to love working out ever since I started playing this game. Seriously, your life will be a lot better after you're fit.
Then again, there are some downsides to this game, but minor downsides:
1. The host of this game gets on your nerves easily. Fortunately, you can shut him off when you're dancing, but not when it's most annoying: When you fail a song. His quote, "W-w-what?" is super annoying, as when he speaks in Japanese.
2. It's hard to find a dance mat that works well. Even the Ignition 2.0 Pad broke down twice within about a couple of weeks for me. It might've been because I was tapping too hard on the arrows, but it still might break down quickly.
3. DDR Extreme for US isn't based on the arcade version, and very few DDR Extreme (arcade) songs are included on the home version ("321Stars", "A", "JaneJana", etc.). Why no "Bag", "1998", "Speed Over Beethoven", and "Paranoia Eternal" (which should've been on DDRMAX2) instead of "Paranoia Survivor"? Not even the licensed songs from the arcade like "We Will Rock You" are on. Konami should release a DDR Konamix 2, a game that should include all of those missed songs from DDR Extreme (arcade) that used DDR Extreme's (arcade) game engine and should keep the DDR experts into DDR.
Anyway, here's the song list included in DDR Extreme, as well as grades for them and comments about what they sound like:
(Songs with * are ones that must be unlocked)
1. .59: A (Exciting)
2. *321Stars: A- (This sounds silly.It was a classic in the arcades, and can be extremely fun to dance to.)
3. *A: A (Seems to be pretty darn popular, probably because of its challenge and energy)
4. A Stupid Barber: A- (Strange but interesting euro pop)
5. *Absolute: A (A nice blast of typical DJ Taka sound)
6. *B4U: A- (Awesome techno song about DDR)
7. *B4U (B4 Za Beat Mix): A (A more energetic version of B4U)
8. Bad Routine: C+ (So-so house music)
9. Believe: D (Don't like licensed songs much)
10. Bizarre Love Triangle: B+ (But this is an exception)
11. *Can't Stop Falling In Love (Speed Mix): A (Feel the strength of this song!)
12. Diving: B+ (Deep euro trance music)
13. Do Me (H.I.G.E.O. Mix): B (Groovy house music)
14. Don't Clock Me: C- (Okay old skool song plagued by bad lyrics)
15. Drop Out: A++...Read more›
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Dance Dance Revolution Extreme BundleProduct Description: DDR Extreme Bundle includes the Playstation 2 game and Official Konami Dance Pad
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