Customer Reviews

Dance Dance Revolution Universe Bundle

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have played DDR on other platforms, you will probably be disappointed with this version. In particular:

The music selection was less varied than in past editions. There are licensed songs, but mostly older songs or "hip-hop" - there are not many current dance songs. There are reconizable artists doing songs for this mix (Midihead, Echo Image and Neuropa to name a few), as well as remakes of older songs (like Ecstasy, Insertion and Candy).

The doubles charts seem like they were designed at random. There is a progression of moves you expect to see based on difficulty, and they are very different from singles. The doubles steps don't follow that progression, and are not very new-player friendly. A 6-foot doubles looks like a singles song randomly tossed over 2 mats. This makes many of the doubles songs more difficult than you would expect from the foot-rating. Another problem with doubles is that you must select the pad layout EVERY TIME you pick a song. It would be nice if it would default to the last layout you picked.

The "improved graphics" do not enhance the game, but rather detract from it. DDR is a simple game - watch the arrows and step. The graphics and flashing tend to make it harder to see the arrows (although the movies are not harmful).

Lastly, the load times are significant - about 12 seconds per song. While not terrible, other platforms load faster.

The game includes "downloadable content" - there are 10 songs on the game that can only be unlocked through X-box live by paying $10.

There are also songs unlockable through "quest" mode. This is the worst type of unlocking system I have ever played on a DDR platform. In previous versions, there were finite tasks to do, which if you did, gave you the ability to unlock songs. This version is fluky - you travel around from site to site, and mainly compete to get your "fan base" up. A problem with this system though is even if yuo do a song perfectly (full combo it), you may not meet the objective. Another fluke you may see is being assigned to do 15 Freeze steps, and the song doesn't have 15 Freeze steps, so you fail again. The quest mode is more designed to waste time than add enjoyment to the game.

To the game's credit, it is very new-player friendly. It has a lesson based tutorial, and the quest mode will never kick you out mid-song (there is no life meter in quest mode).

Another good part of the game is there is a nice variety of difficulty levels for singles, right from the start. Some older versions had "gaps" where there might be only a few songs at a certain level (especially 8+). The challenge levels of the songs are nicely dispersed. One odd thing though - there are a lot more jumps here than other versions. This is good if you play for exercise.

If you are considering buying this, realize that your old dance pads will not work with this. The Konami pad included is pretty good for a thin pad, but you'll want to buy foam pads if you play the game a lot. If you are going to shell out $[...] for 2 "Beat pad pro" foam pads, you are better off giving up on the X360, and playing DDR on either the PS2 or Xbox. Both have better games, and a single set of Red Octane foam pads will work on both the PS2 and the old Xbox. There are much better games on the other platforms; on old Xbox, take a closer look at Ultramix 2 & 3. On PS2, look at DDR Supernova and Extreme 2, or "In the Groove" if you are a skilled player.

What's there to say about DDR that hasn't been said a million times before?

This version is great, though some of the songs are a bit old. And it looks awesome on an HDTV.

My only gripe is with the included dance mat. It's pretty bad, even as cheap ones go -- and for the sake of reference, the last mat I used was the Madcatz one for the Xbox, and it wasn't bad. This thing slips like crazy!

Since the included mat uses USB, you could just buy the standalone game and a better mat for about the same price. If I had it to do over again, I would have got the Xbox 360 Beat Pad or paid a little more for the Xbox 360 Beat Pad Pro.

We started out by thinking that the original DDR for the XBOX (NOT 360) was compatible with our new 360. Not so. Pretty disappointed when we found that the plugs were different on the dance pad, and once we found a "joy box" that turned the xbox dance mat into a usb-type pad; it still didn't work. Returned it and skeptically ordered the 360 version with 2 months and counting for the release. It arrived last week, and I have to say, it is a LOT of fun! Our kids are on it constantly, it is great to get up and play a "game" and move around. Even the adults are on this thing. The beats are actually very well put-together. The tunes are beat-driven to help you learn from beginning all the way up. Once you pass and get a perfect "grade" by dancing the correct way on the mat to the song, it unlocks another song in the progression of difficulty. You can also log onto xbox live and compete against others live. Haven't done that yet, we are trying to not fall over and trip still! I recommend this to anyone who is sick of sitting on the couch and wants to try something new. Also has a workout mode. Believe me, 3 to 4 songs nonstop and you are working up a sweat without pressing the workout option. We just ordered another dancemat after exhaustive research. This pad slips all over the place, so get some velcro to keep it still when dancing. Check out the dance pad pro (on amazon). It has a port for your headset and of course eventually the karaoke games that will obviously come out in the future.

I bought the Dance Dance Revolution Universe Bundle from Amazon for the massive discount in price at a retail store. At a local store from a nationwide chain, the game was retailing for $59.95...just the game..without a controller. The Wireless X-Box 360 controller cost an added 39.99 and was an off brand. Purchasing it from Amazon, I saved 30 bucks and got a controller along with the game(though, the controller is corded, which is a bit of a drawback, a cordless controller would have been nicer).



The game itself is similar to the other version of Dance Dance Revolution, except it has an added "Quest" mode. While the Quest mode is challenging, it's often prohibitively challenging. Many of the challenges are difficult to surmount, and choosing a 'overall difficulty' at the beginning of the quest mode does not seem to affect the songs difficulty in any way. Most quest mode challenges involve you earning a certain number of points over the course of one song. If you fail the song, all is not lost as you can continue and try another song. You can keep trying until you quit or master the song. It's nice that you don't fail if you don't succeed the first time. Some challenges, however, seem impossible to succeed at no matter how many times you try, or how perfect you complete a song. This makes the Quest mode seem tiresome and unrewarding. And since you MUST play Quest mode to unlock hidden songs, it makes finding those songs nearly impossible.



For DDR purists, the quest mode can be bypassed and a much more familiar dance mode is available, similar to the other, previous DDR games. Allowing you to dance through any songs the game provides (Save the ones you have yet to unlock from Quest Mode).



It's fun, and a healthy way to spend your time playing videogames. There is an added Calorie counter that shows you the amount of calories burned in all game modes after each song. It's supposed to keep track of your calories burned, but I found the interface to be unreliable and difficult to interpret.



As far as Songs...I found that the songs on this version were lacking compared to other versions, Particularly the DDR Max and Max II versions. It is hard to put into words how songs on those games were 'better' than this, but they had certain...style...to them, that lacks in this game. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun, and since everyone has their own musical opinion, it's hard to rate. Overall, a fun game, DEFINITELY not worth paying store retail for, but a good game for 70 bucks.

Good product and a blast to play. Graphics are greatly impoved over other gaming systems. The ability to download new songs for a nominal fee is an outstanding feature. The game pad works great!

Bought this for my 10 year old daughter's birthday as she liked the arcade game. It was fun, but a bit harder to operate for her. Need a hard flat surface to play it on, and the pad has no "Feelers" so as to help her center herself so she can strike the pads with her feet when needed. She has a tendency to loose her center and move out of the pad sensors so though she is hitting the pads, she is not getting the points for it.

Songs were ok, but kind of lame.

Good workout for her though and she works up a sweat playing on it alot. She loves it.

I've always seen DDR games and they seemed fun but I could never get past a few steps before getting kicked out of a song.

When I read that this game has some tutorials for beginners, I thought I'd take the plunge and buy it. I was not disappointed.

The game begins with some tutorials that explain the basics of the game. However, it fails to tell you that you will not be penalized for extra steps or, more important, for leaving your foot on an arrow after you've hit it. The animations show the dancer return to the center position after each step. You will not advance very far if you do that. It's easier to leave your foot wherever it lands and then move to the next step from there.

From there it's on to the game. I was able to complete all the available songs at the Beginner stage in a couple days. From there I moved the difficulty level to Basic. Things started getting even more fun and I was getting more exercise (you have the option to keep track of calories burned each day, which is a great motivator to return to the game day after day.)

Unfortunately there are a couple of songs on the Basic level that are just impossible for a beginner and while I don't want to give up, I'm growing frustrated with them. If you try to skip them and go up to the next level up, the songs are in line with those 2 songs that I just can't get pass.

There is no middle ground. I would have liked to have some songs that are a bit more challenging at the Basic level but not to the point of those impossible songs. In other words, the difficulty level didn't increase slowly, it went from a good difficulty level for a beginner to crazy difficult.

The Quest mode is confusing. You dance to the songs perfectly, and yet it says "Failed." It makes no sense. It's also very repetitive "Dance to 35 songs." I don't have time to dance to 35 songs yet I can't seem to be able to save my progress.

The game overall is a lot of fun, and I'll keep trying to get past those 2 impossible songs. I guess that once I figure out how to master them, I'll be ready for the next difficulty level. It's just frustrating.

The pad itself is good enough most of the time. I don't have much problem with it slipping since the rubbery bottom of the pad adheres itself well to my laminate flooring.

If you are like me, someone who has been wanting to learn to play this game, this is the right version to get.

DDR is a great game for exercise, parties, or just a good source of music =)

The only problem with the ddr pad is if your not centered and you attempt to hit one of the buttons on the top or bottom edge, it won't trigger, so you have to center yourself every so often. But until they make a metal pad for the 360 what can you do?

One other problem with the game: The 360 allows for custom sound tracks in some games, however the makers of DDR Universe have decided NOT to use that and therefor you cannot import your favorite song, or classic DDR song, and create a custom dance track for it =(

Overall I would recommend this if you enjoyed other ddr games and have a 360 =)

Once my kids showed me how to work the game, I love it! I can sign in, put in my weight information and put the game into workout mode. It tracks how many calories I've burned while playing the game. Doing challenges or going into the Quest Mode can be addicting...I keep trying to "beat" the game and before you know it I've been exercising for over an hour! Much more fun than going to the gym!!!

I am a mother of a teen and I love playing this. It is addictive, but I get physical activity out of it and learn to move to the rythym.