Dance Dance Revolution Universe

Metachronos overall score = 7.8 / 10

Positive
- Graphics and music are great
- Plenty of modes
- Not more of the same

Negative
- Quest mode makes no sense on its own, and there's nothing in this package to help you understand it
- No custom soundtrack support

Like most of the domestically released DDR games, Konami has placed a handful of North American and European licensed tracks into Universe. The highlights of the more popular tracks include a Chemical Brothers remix of Kylie Minogue's "Slow," "Twist" by Goldfrapp, the remix of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" that was made popular by the movie Go, and more tracks from artists like Ozomatli, Chris Brown, Phats & Small, Depeche Mode, and the Sugar Hill Gang. All that is matched with more typical DDR tunes, including speedy Eurodance tracks "www.Blonde Girl" by Jenny Rom and remixes of music from Castlevania and Gyruss. It's a healthy mix of music that doesn't stray too far from what the series is known for, though it's 2007 now, and the genres that have fueled this series for almost a decade now aren't what they used to be. It might be time for a more drastic change in musical direction for this series, though the fast-paced happy hardcore Europop stuff that the series has been leaning on all along is at least fun to hop around to.



The game also has a quest mode that gives you a map of North America, broken up by states and provinces. You can travel from one area to another, taking on challengers in dance contests or attempting to earn fans or backup dancers. This is also the area where you unlock more songs using the money you earn by dancing. But the entire mode is set up incredibly poorly. The manual doesn't describe what you're supposed to be doing, and the game doesn't offer any assistance, either. The primary task you'll get is a dance competition against a computer-controlled dancer. All this does is make a meter appear that you must fill to win. The catch is that you usually can't fill the meter by dancing to only one song. And after you finish a song without filling the meter, a screen comes up telling you that you've failed...but if you hit A, it'll load another song and you can continue filling the meter until you win. To make matters more confusing, there's a "fanbase" event that works the same way, except the meter drains between songs. Some songs don't have enough steps to fill that meter--in fact, most songs on the default difficulty won't have enough steps to fill that meter, making the events impossible to win. With some more in-game explanation or some help from the manual, this might all make sense. But as is, it's easy to feel as though you're stumbling through it with no idea what you're even supposed to be doing.



The real catch with DDR Universe is that you'll need to buy a new dance mat to play the game on a new console. So that's a reinvestment for those of you who have been playing the game on other platforms, though the game is selling in a package with one dance mat for $79.99, which is reasonable. Whether you're a DDR fan who's fine with getting more of the same or a 360 owner looking to get some rhythm action, DDR offers a little something for everyone, and it's a good package.






cover = http://www.tothegame.com/boxshot.asp?picnum=us&id=5514

why don't you call yourself god of dancing instead?