DDR Max 2

Platform: PS2, X-Box, GC

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, DDR stands for Dance Dance Revolution. The name couldn’t get kookier, but at times DDR can’t get better. To play DDR, you can use a normal controller (although that defeats the purpose) but it’s best to buy a dance pad at a game store to use it. The game has around forty hit songs, old and new, that you can “dance” to. On the screen, in front of the stunning visualizations (and at times, music videos) there are stationary arrows and moving arrows. You play by stepping on the correct arrow on the dance pad when a moving arrow fits into a still one. All the arrows will fit, and there are only four directions to step in, but these arrows have been arranged in the most diabolical fashions!

In beginner you just step to an easy rythym, maybe repeated steps and the occaisional jump. Take a step up to light and you do more arrows, and soon, “offbeat” arrows. These arrows are in between beats! Yeah, it’s tough when you start out. A few months later though, and you hit Standard difficulty. Ohoh, you’re playing with the big dogs now. In these songs you can get three arrows in a beat! No, you don’t have to use your hands, but you better be fast to play on this level. It’s just great excersice, great fun… And then there’s heavy. The game just got unfun. The songs here are near impossible… (remember, I’m very coordinated.) It’s just… waay too hard. A majority of the people who have seen heavy songs claimed to grow tired from just watching them. Still, I hope to achieve some heavy songs soon, and I suggest you get this game! The kids will absolutely love it.