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The Lowdown
Pros: Classic Dance Dance Revolution favorites
Cons: Few "unlockable" secrets, few new songs, nothing new
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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When it comes to the Dance Dance Revolution series
you really don't expect any revolutionary gameplay changes from game to
game. After all DDR already has it fan base and unique gameplay. Dance
Dance Revolution fans expect a good song mix for each new release of the
game. Sadly, Dance Dance Revolution Party Mix doesn't exactly have the
greatest song list.
If you've never heard of Dance Dance Revolution this may be the mix to get
into. This is one of the few Japanese versions that comes bundled with a
dance mat and at a semi reasonable price. Dance Dance Revolution is a
game that you play with your feet instead of your hands. You can play
this game with the standard PS2 controller, which is missing the point
of the entire game. Gameplay consists of stepping on arrows at the right
time in the song. Arrows scroll smoothly up screen in variable speeds and
amounts depending on the level you choose: light, standard or heavy.
When you stomp on an arrow you're given a rating from "perfect" to
"miss" to tell you how accurate your steps are. Miss too many steps and
its game over. On the other hand you can get a combo by maintaining
perfect and great steps. Besides the arcade mode this mix contains two
other modes: nonstop and oni modes. Nonstop mode has you tackle four or
more songs in a row with one life bar. This allows for higher combos and
an added challenge. Oni mode forces you to get "perfects" and "greats",
miss three steps and its over.
Probably the best thing about this mix is that it is suited for new players
to Dance Dance Revolution. Many classic Dance Dance Revolution songs are
included in this mix like: Butterfly, Joga, Moonlight Shadow, B4U,
Absolute, and Paranoia. This mix also features videos, instead of
animated backgrounds, which is a first for the Japanese mixes. On top of
that this game features a character select screen with more characters
than any other Dance Dance Revolution mix. If you haven't played any
Dance Dance Revolution mix before you will probably enjoy the sound
selection.
However, if you have played any other Dance Dance Revolution game before a
lot of these songs will be familiar to you. Which almost makes this game
not worth buying. For new material there's five new songs to unlock as
well as "Wannabe", which is initially unlocked. The background videos
are for Conga Felling and the two Captain Jack songs (Dream a Dream and
Captain Jack Grandale Remix). These are the same videos that are featured
in the US version of DDRMax2, so it isn't anything new for import
gamers. The new songs include a new track from Be For U, Freedom,
Paranoia -respect- and Stars. All of these songs can be unlocked by
playing through arcade mode under thirty times. Other unlockable songs
include more DDR classics like: Can't Stop Falling in Love, 511 and
Celebrate Nite.
Graphically this version of DDR looks like any other Playstation 2 version.
The interface is based on the most recent "Extreme" version. A lot of
the background animations that you've seen in Extreme and some (like the
"fireworks" animation) have been reused since the first version of max.
The videos in DDR are pixilated messes, which almost makes the crisp
visualizations in B4U look better. Luckily, DDR has never been about the
graphics, its been about the gameplay. If you're watching the graphics
you're probably waiting your turn to play or
If you've played any other DDR game you know what to expect from the
series. Also if you've played any other DDR game you probably don't want
to get this mix. Five songs and a few new dancers aren't enough warrant paying for a new game
when there is Dance Dance Revolution: Extreme for the same price. With
all of the recent American mixes sporting more songs, especially past
songs it makes this release look pretty weak.
Import Friendly
Like all other Dance Dance Revolution games this game has the entire
song list and all the menus in English. Only the "information" section
is in Japanese, but that's not crucial anyway.
US Bound?
There is no announcement for Dance Dance Revolution Party Collection
in the US, and even if it was announced the song list would be
different.
Overall
If you've never bought a DDR mix before this could be a
good starter package, since it's got many favorites. However, for long
time fans of Dance Dance Revolution this isn't a mix worth getting.
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