For PS2
Made by Konami
ESRB rating E 10+ For anyone who likes Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) this is a pretty good game. Not only does it have the classic Game Mode, it also has an online mode where you can compete head-to-head and chart your internet rankings. Just like the previous DDR Extreme, Extreme 2 utilizes the Eye Toy USB camera so you can see yourself dancing if you want to. There are over seventy songs to get you hopping to.

 

If you are new to DDR, there are some helpful modes available in this game. Lesson Mode will teach you the basics and some helpful techniques. Training Mode will help you on a particular song or parts of a song. The basic game play is still the same. You have arrows coming up on the screen and you must press the dance pad arrow when the arrow lines up with the one on top. You are rated on your timing: Marvelous (in challenge mode), Perfect, Great, Good, Almost, and Boo. There is a life bar and if that depletes, you fail the song. There’s an announcer to encourage you or taunt you if you fail. Most songs have multiple difficulty levels you can choose from: Beginner, Light, Standard, Heavy, and Challenge.

 

 

Game mode: In this mode you can play solo using one or two pads (double), or a two player competitive mode. Also in Game Mode you can play Non-Stop Mode where you have one health meter and play through four songs at a time with no breaks in between. Advanced Mode has you play preset courses and you dance until your life meter runs out. Dance Master Mode is quite challenging. In Dance Master mode you must complete challenges to unlock more challenges and stages. Naturally, they get harder and harder as you unlock more. Each mission will have a random objective that you must perform in order to pass. Some of the objectives are to finish a song with a score over a certain value, or get a certain grade letter, or not to press any arrows simultaneously (Hard!) DDR is a great way to lose weight. If you enter your weight in the workout mode it will tell you how many calories you just burned after finishing a song. You can customize songs and steps using the Edit Mode. The defaults are fine for me.

 

 

This game has a generous helping of songs, and many of them are from previous versions of DDR so they will sound familiar to veteran players. There are over seventy songs, many of which you have to unlock. You get points for playing songs or beating challenges in the Dance Master Mode. In the shop you can purchase songs, outfits, challenge courses, custom arrows, and hints.

 

 

Most of the songs in DDR are dance/techno. There are some re-made flashbacks like Play that Funky Music and I Will Survive. Some popular artists include Fatboy Slim, Captain Jack, Aqua, Brittney Spears, Chemical brothers, and Christina Aguilera. For those like me with many DDR games, there are lots of recycled songs but there’s enough new ones to make things interesting.

 

 

DDR doesn’t really require bleeding-edge graphics, but the 3D dance characters and animated movies in the backgrounds look nice.  It’s hard going back to the original Dance Dance Revolution or Konamix game after playing this.

 

 

This game is all about music and moving your feet. The music is great provided you like dance music, and the announcer is not annoying. No complaints here.

 

 

The menu system is easy to navigate and the dance controls are not too bad once you’re used to them. My only complaint here is that it’s too easy to accidentally erase your progress in Dance Master Mode.

 

 

Even though this game is rated E10+ I find a few things annoying. There are a few suggestive songs that I don’t like listening to. These include Get Busy, Genie in a Bottle, In the Heat of the Night, and Oops, I Did It Again. (-3.5). Many of the female dancers wear Daisy Duke style shorts and I fail to see how they could be comfortable, especially for dancing. They often have bikini or tight tops also (-1.5).

 

 

DDR Extreme 2 is a worthy addition to any DDR lover’s library. The Eye Toy support, dance master and Online modes are welcome additions. The plethora of unlockables are nice also. The song collection is pretty good but there are some questionable songs bundled in.  Overall, this is one of my favorites in the series.