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Sunday 13 January, 2008
SUMMARY
Dance Dance Revolution is a game where the player is expected to press down a sequence of arrows with his or her feet, on a dance pad that can be connected to the system, as the arrows show up on the screen. The object of the game is to try and not miss a single arrow in order to get the highest grade. Grade can range from E to AAA, and the songs all have three levels of difficulty, ranging from Beginner to Heavy, and some even have a Challenge mode, which is the most difficult. This game, created by Konami, has many versions with the most recent version dubbed Supernova, which features English and Japanese songs to dance to.
GAMEPLAY
Dance Dance Revolution(DDR) Supernova is what I have been playing. I am familiar with most of the other DDR versions, starting from 4, which makes Supernova version 9 or 10 I'm supposing. Thus, I expected the gameplay to be about the same, with the exception of newer songs. This game is not like other video games, because DDR and similar games like Guitar Hero and Drum Mania put the player in even more participation that other games. You are actually expected to dance according to the arrows that scroll along the screen, or else fail the course. It is common misconception to belittle these kinds of games, because it seems easy enough to execute. However, when I play I feel an overwhelming amount of pride and a constant need to get better and better. Like any other video game, I feel like DDR is about progress, and the object of the game itself is to unlock songs as you go along. You unlock songs by performing well on another one.
This is a game that combines physical activity and video gaming, you don't have to know how to dance to be able to play this game, because it trains you from the beginning. When you shuffle through song titles, it usually allows you to choose difficulty and shows how fast the song is in beats per minuet, and has a chart that displays how much "voltage, freeze, stream, air, etc." there is in a song. That just means how much the arrows flow, if there are a lot of freeze arrows, or a lot of jumping. So there is little surprise. Also, the more you play, the more you have an understanding of when is the best time to press down on the arrows. Like I said, it's a game about progress, and you can play with two people, Versus Mode, or one person can even play with two pads, which is called Double Mode. You would assume that there would be little player interaction because you would need to concentrate, but I find myself always talking to my partner, whether it be complaining about how easy the song is, or how hard it is.
On the console edition of the game DDR Supernova has a Story Mode called Stellar Master. This is one way to unlock more songs, and must be played in order to obtain all 200 something songs. This mode starts off easy, but gets increasingly harder in order to hone a player's skill. It is a nice device for assisting the player, but I find that it jumps too much in difficulty, or expects progress to quickly, which is why I don't like playing this mode. I enjoy this game because it gives the player the freedom to choose whatever song he or she would like to play.
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