PS2 owners have been able to get their groove on with Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution titles for quite a while now, but Xbox and GameCube owners have been left in the cold instead of working up a sweat.  Well, the good news is that Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix marks the first appearance of the franchise on a Microsoft console.  GameCubers will just have to keep waiting (outside, if you please, and lock the door on your way out).  But if you’ve got a ‘Box and enjoy the DDR games, or just haven’t yet had a chance to appreciate them, this is an excellent game for you.  Busting out with a never-before-seen-on-console simultaneous four-player mode, online play, and downloadable content – Ultramix is the undisputed king of the Dance Dance Revolution hill. 

At this point, after Dance Dance Revolution has been making the rounds for many years, it’s hard to imagine that anybody isn’t yet familiar with the concept of the game.  Nevertheless, it is my job to provide this information, as redundant as it may be for most to hear.  Basically, Dance Dance Revolution is played with a dance mat that sits flat on the floor.  The dance mat has four arrows on it that correspond to the onscreen arrows, which are constantly pushed up screen.  You have to stomp out the correct sequence of arrows as they are displayed.  Timing is crucial and you’ll have to hit the right arrows almost precisely as they are shown in the top-most targeting reticule.  While this may sound like child’s play, it is actually quite challenging.  Getting in the right mindset and building up enough stamina to correctly and consistently hammer out accurate commands is the game’s biggest learning curve and most endearing quality.  Luckily, Ultramix comes with a helpful training mode that will acclimate new players in the way of the Revolution.  And if you’re too lazy to use a dance mat and, y’know, “physically move”, the game can also be played using a dual shock.  Though doing this severely reduces the enjoyability of the experience.

Newbies and pros alike will appreciate the addition of three distinct difficulty settings.  I’ve been playing this series for two years and I still spend most of my time stepping away on the light setting, though this may be due to the fact that my natural habitat consists of a comfy chair and a bag of Doritos.  In any case, the one thing I wasn’t happy to find out about Ultramix is the harder overall difficulty of the game as compared to the previous PS2 versions.  Even on a light setting I was sometimes overwhelmed.  The song roster isn’t as impressive as previous iterations, clocking in at a relatively scant 45 songs.  But don’t fear, individual songs and five-packs can be downloaded via Xbox Live for a fair price (around one dollar per song).  This is an excellent addition since players have previously had to shell out fifty bucks for an entirely new song disc.  But with downloadable songs DDR fans can now consistently increase the lifespan of the game without investing one lump sum of cash.  Plus, you can save your stepping for the game instead of walking down to your nearest videogame outlet.

Like every other Dance Dance Revolution, Ultramix’s main mode requires that you select a difficulty level and song before you start stepping.  By excelling in this mode, you’ll earn new songs and other unlockable goodies.  The Workout mode is great for those looking to burn off a few calories.  You’ll enter your weight and the amount of calories you wish to burn during your workout, then, as you play the game, it’ll keep track of how close you are to reaching your goal.  Appreciated modes of play, but ultimately nothing new. 

The included Battle mode isn’t a new feature either, but its support for four players is.  While we weren’t able to test this feature out due to lack of players, mats, and floor space – one can only imagine how much fun four-player DDR has the potential to be.  But the best new addition to the age-old DDR formula has got to be the Challenge mode, which gives you unique goals to complete, such as retaining a full dance gauge at the end of the song or perfectly hammering out the correct sequence of arrows for a certain duration of time.  Why this mode is only now getting around to seeing the light of day is completely beyond me, it adds so much to the enjoyment of the game.

The four-player support, downloadable content, and Challenge mode will go a long ways to rekindle love for the game, but the online Xbox Live play will ensure you’ll be dancing up a storm long after the cows have arrived at their respective homesteads.  Playing against another person is great, but playing with DDR heads across the country is priceless.  Not only will you not have to worry about providing an additional mat to play on, but you can also specify custom settings to seek out other players that meet your criteria.  Also, the stat tracking features, which are automatically posted in the rankings area, works both for online play and offline.  So if you get lucky and bust out a perfect game on insane difficulty when playing offline, at least you’ll be able to brag about it online.

Visually, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix certainly isn’t the most impressive looking game on the Xbox.  All the trademark graphical additions, such as on-screen dancers who move with the beat, trippy background animations, and the newly introduced music videos, are all present here.  But as DDR games go, Ultramix looks the best.  The sound presentation in DDR games is easily the most important feature, and luckily Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix comes correct.  The new announcers that either praise or scowl you depending on your performance are nice additions, not terribly better than the previous games, but not any worse either.  It would have been nice for Konami to have included some fan favorite DDR songs on Ultramix, but the songs that are included are a nice assortment and should cater to most tastes regardless of musical preference.  If your sound system supports Dolby Digital 5.1 output, you’ll be glad to know that Ultramix is in full compliance.  There are also some advanced audio settings that can be tweaked in the game, but this feature is mostly for audiophiles.

Overall, Dance Dance Revolution offers up the most substantial amount of new additions ever seen in a DDR game since the transition to PS2.  New modes of play, online connectivity, and four-player support up the ante considerably, and the downloadable song packs are an ingenious idea executed beautifully.  The fact remains that if you’ve already purchased previous games in the series for either the PSone or PS2, most of the stuff here will be quite familiar, but Xbox owners who are looking to get in on the action now have the perfect excuse to get in shape.

Gameplay: 8.5
You know the drill: stomp out the correct pattern of arrows in accordance with the rhythm.  Same as always.
 

Graphics: 7.4
The mo-capped polygon dancers featured in Ultramix seem a notch or two above the last PS2 game, but even so the graphical presentation is far from impressive.
 

Sound: 8.7

Not as many songs as previous DDR games, but what’s there is good.  Plus the new announcers infuse the proceedings with a spot of spice.
 

Difficulty: Hard

Ultramix is anything but easy.  Newcomers will initially be overwhelmed with the game’s ramped up difficulty, but keeping it on “light” ensures that frustration is kept to a minimum.
 

Concept: 8.4
Exercising and playing videogames at the same time is a great idea, plus the online play is a long-needed addition that is surprisingly addictive.

Multiplayer: 9.1

Playing with other DDR fans is the best way to go, and since you can not only play with one, two, or three friends, but also anybody who has Xbox Live, multiplayer DDR has never been so satisfying.
 

Overall: 8.6

The PS2 games have slowly been amping up the experience with minute additions over the years, but this Xbox DDR considerably kicks it up a notch, like so much Iron Chef.