Customer Reviews

Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The game actually supports up to 4 players, so you'll want 1 pad per person. There are arcade-quality hard pads available, but the Revolution X soft pad is cheap, available through Amazon and a good bet if you want to try the concept out before spending a lot of cash.

The game itself is very simple in concept, but a cool idea and well executed. Dance to the beat, incidentally putting your feet on the right buttons at the right moment. I actually got it as an excuse to exercise, and it's definately aerobic.

In normal mode, too many total misses will end the song and the game is not too polite about your lack of dancing ability, but there's also a training mode if you just want to practice and not worry about how many times you miss. With a good selection of songs and different difficulty levels, it should have great replay value. As a gamer, I think the whole DDR concept is a little flimsy, but as someone who needs an excuse to exercise, this is a hell of a lot more interactive than any workout tape, treadmill or stationary bike would be.

So as a solo game: 3 stars.
As a group game: 4 stars, fun with friends.
As a way to get exersize: 5 stars.

I've just purchased this game, and I want to provide any potential buyers of this game with a partial list of what songs can be found in this game. There aren't as many songs as I'd like but with X-Box Live you can download both additional song packs and play online against other people. As of this writing, November 18, 2003, there has been one song pack released on XBox Live

Licensed Songs
Ian Van Dahl feat. Marsha - Castles In The Sky
Paul Oakenfold - Ready Steady Go
Who Da Funk - Shiny Disco Balls
Masai - Do That Thang (Mash Radio Edit)

Konami Originals
dj. TAKA - 0.59
NPD3 - AFTER THE GAME OF LOVE
Riyu Kosaka - Candy Heart (vocal version)
BeForU - DIVE
TaQ - DXY!
RevenG - exotic ethnic
BLUE DESTROYERS - Hypnotic Crisis
L.E.D. LIGHT feat Goro - INFINITE PRAYER
N.M.R-typeG - KEEP ON MOVIN' (DMX Mix)
OKUYATOS - Kind Kady
STONE BROS. - Let the Beat Hit 'Em (Classic R&B Style)
SySF feat. Anna - Look To The Sky (True Color Mix)
Jonny Dynamite! - On The Jazz

STM200 - PARANOiA ETERNAL
Togo Project feat Sana - Sana Mollete ne Ente
Crystal Aliens - SEXY PLANET
D.J. RICH feat Tail Bros. - Superstar
L.E.D. LIGHT - The Earth Light
2MB - TRIP MACHINE (LuvMIX)
Thuggie D. - ABSOLUTE (Cuff-N-Stuff it Mix)
NM feat Thomas Howard - Ballad For You
NAOKI - CAN'T STOP FALLIN' IN LOVE (SPEED MIX)
Scotty D. - DROP THE BOMB - System S.F. mix
TaQ - Electro Tuned (the SubS Mix)
DE-SIRE - Healing Vision
NAOKI 190 - Hysteria
Thuggie D. - INSERTION (Machine Gun Kelly Mix)
Thuggie D. - Keep ya body movin'
2MB - La Senorita Virtual
SHIN Murayama feat Argoe Phine - Let's talk it over
tiger YAMATO - Luv To ME
L.E.D. LIGHT - Overblast!!
dj. TAKA - Quickening
DIVAS - Secret Rendezvous
Caramel.S - So In Love
jun - Sweet Sweet Magic
Thuggie D. - There 4 You
RevenG vs DE-SIRE - Tsugaru

Song Pack 1
dj TAKA - Abyss
Naoki - Burnin' the Floor
Tomosuke - Mind Parasite
Mr. T with Motoaki. F - Burning Heat (3 Option Mix)
ric - in my eyes

There are also 9 unlockable songs.

A lot of these songs can be found on the PS2 versions of DDR. On its own, there aren't enough new songs to warrant purchase from someone that already has the two PS2 DDR games.

However, this game is XBox Live enabled, allowing the download of new songs. That feature alone is worth the price of admission. With other versions of the games, you are limited to what songs the game had. Not so here. Theres already been one song pack released, and inevitably there will be more.

Other interesting features include the ability to play with four people at once, and you can also compete over the internet via XBox Live.

On its own this game would rate four stars for someone new to DDR. It would rate three for someone that already has the PS2 versions of the game. However, the sheer expandability that XBox Live offers the game makes this a five star game.

One of the reviews here mentions that there is no training mode, which made me nervous to buy this because I am not much of a dancer. So I would like to start the review by saying that there is a training mode and it is easy to find. Right on the main menu it says "Training Mode." You can use it to slow down the songs or add a metronome to the sound to help you keep the beat.

My wife and I have been having a great time with this. It only took a few tries to start getting the hang of some of the easier songs. My nearly 60-year-old mother also had a blast with it. She even jokingly told me "You are not allowed to come visit anymore without bringing your xbox." She and several of my friends have asked for a price of the whole set up after trying ddr ultramix because it was so much fun. So from my mother down to a 15-year-old in the family, it it has been a great, fun game. Although from a family game perspective, I was a little surprised at how the 10-year-olds who tried it could not get past stomping on as many buttons as fast as possible without even watching the screen.

The exercise mode is also interesting selling point. It tracks each controller port as an individual so that you can have up to four people keep track of their calories burned over time.

Several of the reviews mention that you can download extra song from xbox live, but they do not mention that each song pack of five songs costs 5 bucks to download. I would prefer to see songs sold individually so that you could choose songs for your skill level. I would also be better if you could listen to the songs once before paying for them.

My wife (45 years old) brought this dance game pad and DDR game home saying she saw it at Best Buy and wanted to try it for excersize. I poo poo'd it at first and then tried it. It is very contagious and addicting. I have two complaints however. First, it is one size fits all. The games were (I believe) made for kids. Well now adults have seen it for what it really is, a fun way to excersize and work out together at home for husband and wife. But the pad is too small for my size 12 feet even barefoot. When I jump back to the center, I have to be very very precise in my foot placement so that I don't accidently press the (sensitive) wrong mark which throws your score off. Achieving a high score is a great incentive and it is frustrating when you do it correct and loose points because your feet hit the wront spot at the wrong time. I wind up using the front and ball of my foot which is great excersize for my calfs but makes it harder to use especially since I am a novice.

The other complaint which is not too big a deal is the graphics are geared toward young girls, like 10 year old young girls I think. If there was a way to rig it up to my iPod, it would be perfect. But absent that, I would like to see better graphics and songs that i danced to in the 60's and 70's.

I am 55 years old. The songs on DDR are pretty techno sounding which probably works better for the rythmic dance excersize style of this game but I would like to have a choice of oldies from my generation to choose from

I have never been into dance and I think jogging is boring. I tried a bike but OUCH!!! Overall, I think it is a great way of excersizing and love that my wife and I can do it together and we both have great fun excersizing now.

I have been enjoying DDR for years in the arcades and then on the PS2 at my friends house. I have "wasted" enough money at ther arcade on this game to buy a gaming system probably.

I am glad that I am finally able to bring it home and use it there. You have to buy the controller separately, but it's worth it. It take's all the fun out of the "dancing" if all you do is sit there pressing buttons. You gotta get up and shake your bootie.

There are some nice features, including the fact that it is ready for Xbox live. You can go online to compete with this game and defeat all your friends without having to go down to the local pizzaria.

Also, if my fiancee think's I'm not getting enough excercise, I can turn it over to "calorie counter mode" and it will keep track of the calories burned as you dance your way to a thin waist.

*****************

Final Thoughts:

I'm glad this is coming out for the XBox, but it's great on any platform, including the ones that are in pizzarias.

Also, when you bring it home you can hone your skills, that way when you ARE in the pizzaria, you can show up all your friends.

This DDR game is great!!! I got it at Christmas and play it about 3 hours a night. It is much more fun than aerobics and is VERY ADDICTING!!! If you need to lose weight, this is the thing to get!!! However, with that said, you must have a good pad to use the game. The cheap flimsy pads move around on the floor and the cheap hard pads will end up breaking eventually. I would suggest buying a cheap pad to see if you like it. But, as soon as you know you are addicted, spend the extra cash and get a good pad. You can find the metal pads on ebay for around $150 and if you are crafty... there are sites that show you how to build your own that is as durable as the arcade version. I've had friends stop by and make silly remarks about me playing a dance game. But, as soon as they try it, they can't stop! If you have xbox live, you can play it online. But...be forewarned, the guys playing online are usually very good.

First off, the DDR series of games is one of the best created/invented/devoloped genres ever, but it has limitations. For some reason a lot the US versions of DDR, especially this one, have a serverly kiddish feel to them with krappy music. The narator spouts things out like Oh Pooh (yeah very mature). The menu in the game looks like it was created in MSpaint in two minutes. On the upside, this game has a couple of remixed songs that are really good that don't show up on other versions. On the downside, a lot of music in this game is krappy R&B and wannabe POP music, a lot of songs are hard to stand. It almost makes me sad that I got a Xbox when I play watered down games like this. I have heard that the best DDR game is DDR 8th mix Japanese IMPORT version. You will need a PS2 and a mod chip to play that. It almost seems like a cruel joke to make the import versions so much better than the US ones. If I were to get a system exclusively for DDR it would be a PSTwo. Oh and stay away from overly expensive pads. I dropped $100 on a pad and it broke in three months.

It's good but it doesn't have a beginner mode. Intermediate is way to fast for a beginner.

This is the first DDR game released for the Xbox. Good game. Gots good songs on it, good style with it. For 19.99, thats a killer price for this game. I got it for 39.99 :-( . But yea this games definately a good DDR game. You can unlock new songs and features the more you play and the better you get at it. I recommend this game to new players and expirienced ones.

My wife and I bought this for our daughter and found that we have enjoyed it just as much as her. We purchased this to be a potential ffamily game and something that both my wife and I could enjoy together and couldn't be happier with it. There is a revue a little above mine that states it is a single player non-connected game, I am not sure if this reviewer was intending this referance to the packaged version, but we bought the extra pad and everything works great. I highly reccomend this to all users looking for some simple fun. The difficulty settings are reasonable, and one you realize what the game is asking you to do--ie dance and not play a game per se--it is loads of fun. For those of you that know how to salsa, there is a song for you too.
I found the tracks enjoyable and totally entertaining and cain't wait till I hook my stereo up to get things really going.