Day 5: Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2

Playstation 2
2006

This game came out of nowhere for me. After the failure that was DDR Extreme...I had honestly given up on the series and felt as though Konami had abandoned making Dance Dance Revolution games with decent song lists....and then I stumbled across this. Surprised that they even bothered to make a Dance Dance Revolution game that was not an arcade port, I delved into it with the help of my little sister--and...we had a blast.

Instead of just mindlessly going through Arcade mode to unlock songs(which was fine for the DDR MAX series, but took forever), there is a "Dance Master Mode," which forces you to start from the bottom tier and work your way to the top, unlocking goodies as you go. Just to mess with you, they have you meet certain requirements, like "play this song as it scrolls DOWN" or "play this Light song with the Arrows INVISIBLE." It all proved to be good fun and actually made me better at Dance Dance Revolution--it forced me to break my habit where I play the songs on 1.5 or 2.0x speed.

PROTIP: Despite starting from Beginner mode and slowly moving up,
Dance Master Mode is a great way to sharpen your skills. Get Dancin'!

On top of that, the arcade style graphic design is back in full swing and better than ever--as is the song list. Sure, the dancers are back--which is stupid because I always just turn them off anyway(and for some reason, they thought it'd be a great idea to have basically every dancer in existence selectable), but the song list is definitely one of the best in the series. Remixes and original mixes of arcade favorites like Dynamite Rave, Look to the Sky and Burnin' the Floor are back, as are some spectacular new songs found in the latest arcade versions of the game. Only a handful of popular radio songs are found in this game, but tend to be more fun(La Bamba, Play that Funky Music White Boy, etc.).

Whatever damage Dance Dance Revolution Extreme did to the series, DDR Extreme 2 makes up for it, and then some. Definitely a must-own for DDR fans and work-out fanatics everywhere.

Congratulations! You don't have to play Heavy mode on 2.0x speed anymore!

Graphics: 4.5: Sexy in-game menus and the always crisp and clear graphics give the game the boost it needs in the graphics department. The only thing hurting the score is the annoying dancers--who look goofy and outdated while dancing around in the background(should you enable them)...and they don't even dance in sync with the music.

Sound: 5.0: The best in the series is back, baby! You'll find yourself unlocking favorite after favorite after favorite arcade hit in Dance Master Mode, and then some in the new music department.

Control: 4.5: At this point, I didn't even bother playing this game on the pad--there's no way you're going to get me to play Sakura on a dance pad when I'm upstairs on the 2nd floor. I still say the Red Octane pads are the way to go--good luck finding them.

Fun Factor: 5.0: Even without a dance pad, this Dance Dance Revolution is just a joy to listen to while playing on the D-pad of a standard controller. It's a great way to kill time when bored, and pays homage to a great franchise that impacted all of our lives in some way.

Just one of the many cool music videos in this game--this Final Fantasy-like music video is from the song Polotvsian Dances and Chorus.

The Prime Setlist
1) Polotvsian Dances and Chorus
2) Cartoon Heroes speedy Mix
3) Sync
4) Sakura
5) Paranoia Survivor