User Rating: 8.1 | Dancing Stage Unleashed XBOX
This game is a DDR Fan boy’s dream, who doesn't want to play against others without the embarrassment of looking like someone having a seizure to the public? However, fan boy I may be, I’m going to give this game an honest review. The game play remains the same as usual; step on the brightly colored arrows as they reach the top of the screen. However this time they added a few things new to American audiences, and also new to DDR as a whole. With this release comes Americas first Challenge Mode, previously seen in the JP 4’Th and Extra mixes. However, there is a timing problem in this game that makes some of these challenges VERY difficult. It's too hard to get goods. The timing area for greats is INCREDIBLY large in comparison to other mixes, and getting a good on purpose becomes a difficult task. Most would say getting more greats instead of goods is a good thing, but not for some of the challenges. The challenges range from getting all perfects on a song, playing a song without hitting the up or down arrows, along with plenty of wacky surprises in store. The brand new editions to the series are battle modes that can host up to 4 players. The two battle types are Score (player with highest score wins) and Point (you start off with 16 points, and every time you get a step grading lower then your opponent you lose a point. This can make for very quick games). These are great editions to the game, especially for those with large TV's, and should not be overlooked. Next on our agenda is graphics. DDR has never been a series to aim particularly high for graphics, but they sure did try in this one. The new upgraded characters dance amazingly smooth, but the background can tend to be a little bright and distracting, especially in 4 player mode. Another problem is the "bouncing arrow syndrome," where the game's fps seems to get ahead of itself, sometimes becoming glitchy, or even skipping a step. They say in the manual to move your dance pad away from the TV, but these problem persist when you use a regular controller, so that's a whoops on konami. Also the one and only real music video has sub par quality, far from DVD, and not even all the sexy dancing men can save the game from that. Now for sound, the highpoint in every DDR Game. The sound is crisp and clear, for the most part. I've run across an odd glitch where the sound will suddenly drop to a very low quality, sometimes even turning off, but that may be my xbox/cd, since I haven't seen/heard any other similar reports. But besides that the quality is great, they even offer some neat effectors like "Cave" and "Space" that really make the songs sound "dope." The song selection itself is very solid. It reminds me a lot of Konamix, both in its songs and genre's. The 4 new licensed tracks are very nice editions to the series, from the spastic techno beats of Ready Steady Go, to the party vibe of Do That Thang. However, there is one problem that cannot be overlooked, the announcers. In this mix we don't get just one male announcer, but a female one as well. Even though they're quirky sayings and cheesy lines are cute at first, it becomes very apparent that they both have verbal diarrhea, and should be shut off/up accordingly. Now, the huge upside to this game is the live play. You get to see how well you fare up against someone across the country from you and nothing is cooler then that. Also as long as you don't host a game the lag is practically inexistent, provided you have a decent connection. Most players are friendly and helpful, but there will always be a few sour apples. Also a nice edition is downloadable content, which will include new characters, new songs, and reportedly new step data, but no one is sure as of yet on that one. The downside I see is the ranking system, that doesn't go by your Win/Loss ratio, but instead how many people you've beaten. This means that even if you are leagues and bounds past the number one player, you're not going to be number one any time soon. With live play this game will keep many a dork from wasting away into nothing due to fast food and soda overdose. If you have xbox and are a fan of the DDR series, there is no reason for you to pass this game up at all. That is unless you suck too much you don't want to show your gamertag to anyone, but hey, practice makes perfects. Konami has definitely taken the right path with the series, and I hope they continue to do so. 
