Post by abrannan on Sept 28, 2005 17:58:18 GMT -5
You all knew it was coming. I picked up my copy of DDR:E2 on my way home from work, and played it for a half hour or so so that I could, as I always do, give you my quick-hit impressions of the game.
The short version - Now that Konami's got some serious competition in the dance game arena(ITG, PIU), they're stepping up their game.
The interface has been reworked yet again, into some sort of chimera of the Extreme and Max 2 interfaces, with a little left field thrown in for good measure. This is a "Good thing". The side wheel is back, and there are a TON of main menu options. They remembered to put dance mode in this time, so your corner buttons are no longer a problem. There's a ton of dancers available (If that's your cup of tea, it's not mine). They've got a quick-menu, availalbe if you hit start, that gives you easy access to exit, save, go to the shop, etc.
The shop is where you purchase your unlocks, using dance points accumulated from playing songs. It seems that all songs give you a maximum of 1000 dance points (for a AAA), and you start at different bases to make that happen. This means that you should drop it down in difficulty (possibly even to light, where you'll start with about 800 dance points) to earn dance points faster. However, in order to purchase songs in the store, you have to unlock them through Dance Master Mode, which is Mission mode mixed with a little NES Bionic Commando, "choose-your-own-adventure" zone sleection. This means a good portion of your early play will be in mission mode, playing on light and beginner to unlock further areas of mission mode, etc. You'll accumulate plenty of dance points here, so don't worry.
Musically, the beginning songs are a good bunch, with Butterfly (Upswing mix) and Cartoon Heroes available right from the start. Sakura is an unlock, sorry. The remainder of the initially availalbe songs are mostly licensed pop songs, but with a greater number of original artists. The re-recorded pop songs are of a much higher quality, too. This songs selsction makes this the game I'm most likely to pull out to play with the "DDR virgins" of the world.
I've still got a lot of play through to give a final assessment, but so far, so good. Looking at my other DDR reviews, I'm usually disappointed at first glance, mostly by the percieved lack of songs. Not so here, my first glance puts this one at #2 in my list of US Dance game releases. (Right behind ITG, which I broke out for a few songs to do a side by side comparison). There is still the possibility it could hit #1, as I haven't touched online play, or any other game modes (Including workout, which seems to be back to the old MAX2 style).
Between this, ITG, and PIU's release this year, we could be entering a new golden age of rhythm games.
The short version - Now that Konami's got some serious competition in the dance game arena(ITG, PIU), they're stepping up their game.
The interface has been reworked yet again, into some sort of chimera of the Extreme and Max 2 interfaces, with a little left field thrown in for good measure. This is a "Good thing". The side wheel is back, and there are a TON of main menu options. They remembered to put dance mode in this time, so your corner buttons are no longer a problem. There's a ton of dancers available (If that's your cup of tea, it's not mine). They've got a quick-menu, availalbe if you hit start, that gives you easy access to exit, save, go to the shop, etc.
The shop is where you purchase your unlocks, using dance points accumulated from playing songs. It seems that all songs give you a maximum of 1000 dance points (for a AAA), and you start at different bases to make that happen. This means that you should drop it down in difficulty (possibly even to light, where you'll start with about 800 dance points) to earn dance points faster. However, in order to purchase songs in the store, you have to unlock them through Dance Master Mode, which is Mission mode mixed with a little NES Bionic Commando, "choose-your-own-adventure" zone sleection. This means a good portion of your early play will be in mission mode, playing on light and beginner to unlock further areas of mission mode, etc. You'll accumulate plenty of dance points here, so don't worry.
Musically, the beginning songs are a good bunch, with Butterfly (Upswing mix) and Cartoon Heroes available right from the start. Sakura is an unlock, sorry. The remainder of the initially availalbe songs are mostly licensed pop songs, but with a greater number of original artists. The re-recorded pop songs are of a much higher quality, too. This songs selsction makes this the game I'm most likely to pull out to play with the "DDR virgins" of the world.
I've still got a lot of play through to give a final assessment, but so far, so good. Looking at my other DDR reviews, I'm usually disappointed at first glance, mostly by the percieved lack of songs. Not so here, my first glance puts this one at #2 in my list of US Dance game releases. (Right behind ITG, which I broke out for a few songs to do a side by side comparison). There is still the possibility it could hit #1, as I haven't touched online play, or any other game modes (Including workout, which seems to be back to the old MAX2 style).
Between this, ITG, and PIU's release this year, we could be entering a new golden age of rhythm games.
Somebody with a CF help me. With the Itg i just hold X down to modify.
