Dance Dance Revolution X

What’s the Story?

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION X marks the tenth anniversary of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) franchise, and launches with simultaneous versions for the arcade and the PlayStation 2 console. In the home version, players step on a special dance mat controller to correspond with arrows (left, right, down and up) that scroll down the screen in time to the music. The game's 75-song dance-oriented soundtrack offers a few licensed tracks (Pet Shop Boys, MC Hammer), but is comprised mainly of Konami in-house musicians and underground dance artists.

Street Master mode follows a story that progresses as players dance to unlock more songs and plot points. Players can choose from a standard arcade mode, a Battle mode where you square off against a friend or the computer, and two endurance modes where you play for as long as possible, Course and Endless. In Workout mode you can track calories burned, time danced, and weight. Finally, players can create their own song mixes and step patterns in Edit mode. Players can also use Sony's EyeToy camera to project videos of themselves dancing on-screen.

Is It Any Good?

When compared to the depth of gameplay and multiplayer modes offered by other Dance Dance Revolution series like Dance Dance Revolution Ultimate for the Xbox 360, DDR X comes up a little short. There are fewer tracks by well-known artists, the story mode is pretty shallow, the graphics aren't as crisp, and the announcer who talks over top of the songs is intrusive and annoying. With its low price point, DDR fanatics might still want to grab the game for the new songs, but it's not the strongest game in the series.