Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (Sony PlayStation 2, 2004)

The Dance Dance Revolution series is getting a little long in the tooth these days. The fire around the fad has cooled down quite a bit, but that doesn't mean the series isn't capable of putting out strong games. While most of the recent installments in the series haven't done much beyond adding the requisite mixture of new and old songs, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, goes beyond the standard update and delivers some new styles of gameplay that freshen up the experience without sacrificing the things that made the games popular in the first place. Most of the new features come as a result of support for the EyeToy, which isn't implemented throughout the entire game, but it makes a pretty substantial impact on the overall package. In short, this is a solid update.

DDR Extreme starts by doing all the things that you'd expect a new Dance Dance Revolution game to do. It contains the standard gameplay modes, including a mission mode that gives you specific challenges to complete, a regular arcade mode that lets you take on three songs at a time, an endless mode that lets you dance until you drop, and a diet mode that counts calories while you dance. You can play the game alone or with a friend, or you can play in double mode, which allows one player to play using two dance mats. Dance mats are key to the DDR experience. The timing-based gameplay can be translated to a controller, but simply mashing out directional presses in time to the music is about as much fun as playing your PlayStation 2 without a game disc in it.

For the uninitiated, DDR is a dancing game. You use your feet to press arrows on a dance mat that, as you might have guessed, goes on your floor. The arrows correspond with arrows on your screen, which directs you to step on the four arrows in time with the music. The game has more than 50 songs, with several different difficulty levels for each one, giving players of all skill levels something to do. You can even select difficulty levels individually in a two-player game, so each player can dance at his or her own skill level. The game scores and grades you based on how accurately you step on the arrows. It's a lot of fun and works especially well in a crowd, provided your crowd isn't filled with stuck-up dopes who think they're too good for a little silly dancing.

Where DDR Extreme separates itself from the pack is in its party mode. There are a variety of minigames to choose from here, each of which can be a drastically different type of game than what DDR fans are used to. Hyper dash turns the game into a side-scrolling race in which you have to stomp on the right and left arrows as quickly as possible, occasionally pausing to push the up arrow to jump or the down arrow to fling pitfalls at your opponent. Another game matches up each arrow with a different type of food, and you'll have to tap the proper type of food to feed a variety of onscreen animals. But where the game really earns its stripes is with its support for the EyeToy.

This game is so amazing-it really helped me to burn off the calories and weight!!! Endless fun and entertainment!! I have d.d.r. parties all the time!!

My daughter and I love this game. You can even have it set up to show you how many calories you burned and keeps track for you. Songs are fun, some even have videos you can watch. You get Graded on how well you do and makes you want to keep trying to get a better score. Great Excersize and Fun, from kids to adults.

We even upgraded to a more squishy pad. I Highly Recommend getting the Foam Insert Ones. Better on your Feet and Won't move around.

This Game is Really Fun and a Great Alternative then just sitting there Zoning out! (That's sometimes Fun too though)!

I love this game because you can actually get up and dance without using a controller. You can play video games and be active at the same time! It's exactly like those Dance Dance Revolution games you play at arcades. Choose songs, try to beat your recent grade and topscore, and unlock new players and songs etc.! There's a workout mode, party mode, play mode, beginner mode, etc. If you have an Eye Toy (you DON'T NEED one to play this game), you can see yourself on the screen! This is a must have for everyone!

I bought this game a couple months ago for my kids and they loved it !
even this is game is not a recent release,but the best part of it is that
my wife started to use it as a work out routine.Great game for the whole family
and you can have lots of fun with friends of all ages,the music is kind of retro
so if you are in your 30's you will recognize many tracks on it.
5✭ game highly recommended.