DDR Universe

[taxi]

The new 360 game, it got good reviews.

Does anyone here have any opinions on the game / bundled pad?

Thanks.

[xstatic]

it's skankolicious.

[DougNoTronik]

The pad is pretty similar to most of their previous soft pads but now includes the xbox guide button that is in the center of normal controllers... but the game is somehow getting worse and worse on the xbox.

DDR Universe Review:
by Can That Game Please Get Worse K Thx

What can I say about the my excitement of sliding the DDR Universe Disk into the Xbox 360. Wow, finally a revamped DDR on a next gen console! I was pumped because the line of DDR Ultramixes was going downhill on the regular xbox and with the power of the 360 I thought that there is no way it can get worse!

To elaborate on the past:

Ultramix 1 (2nd best xbox version):
Pros->Quick load times, cool songs, downloadable song packs, ability to play with people on the internet, smooth scrolling arrows.
Cons->Internet play was a little frustrating because after a match, you were back at the main xbox live menu and couldn't stay with the people you were playing with.

Ultramix 2 (Best xbox version):
Pros->about every mode that I wanted to play, cool songs, more downloadable song packs, excellent xbox live interface which included lobbies that players could remain in until they signaled that they were ready to play and which they were returned to after play, icons that indicated if you were playing with a player who was using a pad vs. a controller, and even an interesting tournament bracket system, the ability to turn off face buttons, up to 4 players simultaneously.
Cons->The xbox live ranking system was broken and didn't seem to update most peoples scores which was pretty demoralizing.

Ultramix 3 & 4 (How do you place a different rank on two turds?)
Pros->Cool songs as usual for the ultramix series, internet play as before, quest mode addition.
Cons->Completely terrible load times when you start the game, especially if you have downloaded xbox live song packs (easily a 40 seconds or greater with annoying sound effects to boot which was the main reason I couldn't keep playing this), off sync arrows and occasionally no music playing, blurry scrolling arrows which seem the product of reduced frame rate, an online multiplayer menu that is more convoluted and confusing than genetic diversity is to a mountain man, and I'd rather stop now.

Back to the present:
So on my first song I notice that the arrows are skippy while scrolling. OMG even with the super power of the 360, Konami's programmers still couldn't make the 2D graphics of the arrows scroll fast and smooth, like on the PS2's DDR Extreme series and ITG.

Well, maybe if I turn off the movies and background dancers it will be better... oh wait, you need movies turned on to excel in quest mode...

As usual, the announcer gets on my nerves over time (like 3 seconds) and what is this??? you can't turn it off in this version, only lower the volume to level 1.

What is this, I see word misspellings in the party mode description of one of the game types, where they call Mats, Dats.

Ok, Ok, well what about online play, there has to be some redemption there.... except that I can't use any of my old song packs, and oh my goodness, a worse xbox live interface than even the first Ultramix.... is that possible? You can quick match and hope to be lucky enough to find a match (not likely) or create one... go ahead spend some time making all the settings of game mode, difficulty, and song selection and then create it... what is this??? a 30 second timer for gamers to join your match... oh gee, nobody joined back to the MAIN Xbox Live MENU!!! Minutes of painstaking options settings down the flusher. No prob I'll set them again, I'm sure that next time... nope nobody joined again.... but it only took about 12 times before I finally got someone, what a wonderful use of my time, I wish they made an achievement for how many matches you have created, I might be in the top 10 by now and have hecka gamerscore. One last sweet feature, the game has crashed more times than all of my other 360 games combined in the few short days that I have owned it.


In summary:
DDR Universe (The turdiest of turds):
Pros->That is 80 dollars that you won't accidentally spend on a diseased hooker in Vegas which might actually have saved your life in the long haul.
Cons->The returns policy of most video game retailers doesn't like it when you have already opened the game, bad load times, constant crashing, most convuluted quest mode in history that even the average gamefaqs member can't figure out, worst online play design ever, skippy scrolling arrows, some songs are off sync, still thinks it is ok to call the African American dancer 'Afro', no way to view achievements in game, and I have to stop now before proboards runs out of space...

The End

[gracie]

ok Questions for all you ddr-aholics...
How accurate is the calorie counter?

[gracie]

taxi said:

The new 360 game, it got good reviews.

Does anyone here have any opinions on the game / bundled pad?

Thanks.

If it's the universe one...Well, it's not that hard. Even on difficult. n fact Basic (light) was so easy I had to do standard. The songs are pretty cool. but it wasn't much of a challenge.
I didn't but it, the kids I babysat for had it. If I can say it wasn't that hard it really wasn't. I'm not that coordinated and on UM3 I can do (now) all light and some standard. So for me to have to go to standard on Universe...

[darksideofjae]

Here's my short review on it. I'll just list the Pros and Cons

Pros:
1. It has some cool songs
2. Nice beginners mode to learning
3. Calary Counter counts while playing in regular and dance master mode (i think thats what it's called)

Cons
1. Arrows blend in with background too much
2. Can't turn off background to avoid arrow blend-in (background needed for bonus points)
3. Lack of any USB mat support
4. Terrible online mode
5. The things you have to do to unlock songs are frustrating, especially to new comers.

That's all i can think of off hand. As of right now i rate it a 5/10.

[crazysilent029]

so i was wonderin none of u guys think its a buy at least?!

i just want ur opinion b cuz i was thinkin on buyin ddr universe


but do u guys have any idea on wat songs are gonna be on ddr universe 2?

if u do let me know

[Laura Moncur]

I'm actually really loving DDR Universe. The foam Mad Catz pad I bought to play it with was broken, but I bought DDR Universe 2 bundled with the soft pad and it works just fine. It's a little hard on my feet, but my foam pad should be fixed soon.

I can play DDR Universe for an hour a day and never repeat a song, unlike some of the PS2 versions. I've been really happy with it.

[Pyrochaos]

I had to take a raincheck on DDR since I tried making a controller for the 360, and failed. I need to try again, this time with the help of a friend who is actually good at soldering.