It's great, but some things are missing...

User Rating: 8.5 | In The Groove PS2
In The Groove is a great game for many reasons, but there are things that bring

it down.

Let's start with the ups. More music. Anyone who plays DDR or other music games

likes a good amount of different music at their disposal. ITG expands that

library with great songs.

Harder steps. Anyone who plays DDR also knows that harldy any songs really

prepare them for 10-footers. There is much more help in ITG, and it goes up to

13 footers, so it's even more challenging than DDR, and probably every other

music game like this.

RIGHT,DOWN,UP,LEFT. I HATE DANCING GAMES WHERE THEY ARE REVERSED TO RIGHT UP

DOWN LEFT. THANK YOU ITG. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then this

doesn't matter).

Good length songs. They are about DDR length, not MC Groov's Dance craze length

which is 5-8 minutes. Maybe a little longer than DDR, but it's more than

bearable.

New stuff like more modifiers. Even though half of them (if not more) are taken

from Stepmania. Still, it makes for more of a challenge.

Nice backgrounds and videos or whatever. Doesn't distract you too much like

some of them in DDR. Some times they relate to the song, or have the same feel,

but some actual Videos for songs like Tough Enough would be nice, since they

did in DDR.

Percent scores are new and nice, nothing to really complain about, same for the

grading system of A-F and S with +or- and, as well as awards for things.

Continuos combo count makes up for lack of Endless Mode I'd say, and is a niec

addition as well.

Now for the bad things.

EVERYBODY hates loading screens. While they dn't take forever, they can be a nuisance after a while.

Autosave doesn't happen as much as it should. If you have Event Mode on, then you will have to manually hit Save or fail a song to be able to save. Plus, the loading screens make it a little less bearable. It would be easier if they also saved after you exit gameplay.

DON'T WHORE MINES. Sometimes there are just way too many of them, it's stupid. Like Vertex on Expert.

Copying and Pasting steps can make them boring and unchallenging, which is noticeable in some songs, like Tough Enough on Expert. Variety is never a bad thing.

WHERE THE HELL'S EDIT MODE? For those songs with too hard steps but amazing sounds, we may want to make the steps our own, and now that isn't available. Add that, and I'd have been thouroughly happy with this game.

Despite these things, In The Groove is definitely a game for anyone wanting to try out the dancing genre, and is perfect for experts of DDR, or those who have played ITG in the arcades.