Title: DanceDanceRevolution New Moves
Alternate Title: DDR
Published by: Konami
Based on: The long-running DanceDanceRevolution Arcade and Console game series.
Console: Playstation 3, with a XBox360 version recently released in NA.
Genre: Dancing
Classification: This title has been rated G and is appropriate for all audiences
Audio: This varies among songs, however consists of English, Japanese and Instrumental Songs
Subtitles: Menu options are available in English
Region: PS3 games are all region unlocked, therefore can be played on any console regardless of version purchased. This review was done on the Australian release of DanceDanceRevolution ~New Moves~.
Cost: This game cost me $99.95
Blurb: DanceDanceRevolution is the most recent version of the game series DDR and its first release to date on the Playstation 3 gaming console. Featuring a wide variety of game modes, alongside move support, you will not be disappointed with the options of things to do, however the lack of songs may be offputting to some gamers.
This is not a title that you will commonly see on store shelves in Australia. This was a game released at the end of March, early April and was, and possibly still only available through a custom order from a store such as EB Games (Where I purchased it from) or JB Hi-fi. Whilst it was a rather costly addition to the game collection, as with games such as Wii Fit, it comes with its own official accessory, in this case, a dance mat. With many dance related games being released on all three games consoles as of late, does this game pull through with its classic dance system instead of say, a Kinect based game? Read on to find out in my review of Dance Dance Revolution – New Moves for the Playstation 3.
As you may have already realized, there is absolutely no storyline or characters in this game, as this is a pure dancing game with menus and pure exercise. Therefore the first question I ask myself is….. are the songs any good? For a game that bases itself off dancing and music, they should have a nice selection of tracks that at least compare to the quality of previous Konami tracks. My response to this is a slight yes, but a disappointing no. There are decent tracks on here, and some really good ones that are enjoyable to dance to, with these mostly being Konami tracks. The list of Konami tracks being as follows:
Original Music by KONAMI Japan
Song Title Artist Rescue Me NAOKI feat. Fracus dreaming can make a wish come true jun & NRG Factory feat. Anna Kaelin Private Eye atomsoak ft. cerol IN THE ZONE U1 (NPD3 style) & KIDD KAZMEO Top The Charts J-Mi & Midi-D feat. Hanna Stockzell Let’s Get Away NAOKI featt. Brenda Burch Source: http://www.konami.com/ddr/
So in total, from the start you can only access 6 original songs by KONAMI, and to unlock more, you have to do long sessions in Club Mode for a chance at unlocking the newer ones, that I found extremely annoying. Sadly however, the Konami ones are basically the only decent ones, with the English-based songs offering a rather lackluster selection:
Licensed Master Tracks
Song Title Artist According to You Orianthi Animal Ke$ha Bad Romance Lady Gaga Battlefield Jordin Sparks Celebration Kool and the Gang crushcrushcrush Paramore Dancing in the Street Martha and the Vandellas Hey, Soul Sister Train I Got You Leona Lewis I’m Yours Jason Mraz Love Like This Natasha Bedingfield Love Shack The B-52’s Missing Everything But The Girl My Life Would Suck Without You Kelly Clarkson Need You Now Lady Antebellum Plastic Beach Gorillaz (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon) Rio Duran Duran So Fine Sean Paul Venus Bananarama We Are Family Sister Sledge Source: http://www.konami.com/ddr/
The songs, whilst being decent songs, are extremely slow and unless you play them on a relatively high difficulty, offer very little in entertainment or challenge. This brings me to another question… the Lady Gaga song Bad Romance….. I would like to know why every dancing game I seem to play recently has this song on it…. it isn’t a great dancing song at all…. So overall, the song selection is a mixed bag of the very enjoyable to very lackluster. The winning song would be Let’s get Away (The song of the above trailer) which is by far the best dancing song in the game, however still pales in comparison to games in previous DDR series on the Playstation 2 and in Arcades.
Maybe the game modes can pick up the game a bit. Thankfully there is quite a lot on offer for game modes. For first time gamers, the tutorial is extremely detailed in all the game mechanics, however a bit too forgiving, and even if you got the same move incorrect multiple times, it would just skip over. Some of the old and new game mechanics include the common Freeze Arrow (Where you press down on the arrow for a period of time) and chain arrow which gives you the chance to boost your score even further. Doing so builds up your Groove Gauge allowing you to conduct a Groove Trigger (Through an awkward foot movement) and allows you to improve your score even further.
There are a number of modes available to the gamer. The normal Free Play mode allows you to play the game at your own discretion and allows you to enjoy any song you have available to you. The other mode is Club mode which allows you to play a random set of songs, ranging from 4 to 20 songs with alternating difficulties and challenges depending on how well you score. This allows you to unlock new songs, however it is very time consuming, and a couple of mistakes in a row can set you back to the beginniner difficulty, which takes a considerably long time to progress up from. For those who want to game with friends, you have the option of doing a Dance off, where you can take turns dancing and fighting each other for the store, which is a nice little game considering you only get one dance mat and it is currently the only one available on the market.There is also a Move and Step mode which utilizes the Playstation move controllers to dance instead of the dance mat, however as I do not have a PS move, I am currently unable to review it, however from what I have seen, it works quite well and is similar to the Para Para Dance series.
Alongside other features such as a Workout Profile and records which you may or may not use, there are also limited possibilities to expand the song lists in the game without having to grind the Club Mode. There is a number of DLC songs that are both free and available at a cost. As the PSN is still down, I am unable to confirm the exact songs available on the market, however the songs consist of longer versions of Konami Songs that are available in the game, as well as best of tracks from the previous DDR games from the PS2. Whilst a number of my favorite songs were not released as DLC content, the songs that are available do a great job at expanding the rather average tracklist in the game. The bonus dance mat the came with the game, from my experiences with it, was of a good build quality and was responsive enough, however I found it still slid against my carpet and ruined my relative position to the mat.
Personally, this is classic DanceDanceRevolution gameplay and whilst it does not have any of the fancy visual designs that other dance games have, or as involving movement mechanics as the Kinect offers, it is sure to entertain anyone who is a fan of the series or other similar games like DanceDanceRevolution, however does get let down by the lack of proper dancing songs, with there being more english licensed songs that are usually not appropriate for a game this type. If they were to do some remixes of the older english songs instead of releasing them as is, say…. similar to how the game Bayonetta had the ∞ Climax remix of Fly me to the Moon, I think this would have definitely made for much better dancing.
Final Score
Storyline: N/A
Character Development: N/A
Design: B
Music: C-
Gameplay: B
Replayability: C
Personal Opinion: C+
Overall Score: C+
