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Casual gaming's popularity is at an all-time high, and there are a few things we can thank for that. There are cell phones (now viable gaming platforms), an abundance of accessible, cheap PC games, and no one can ignore the hottest “new-gen” console currently on the market, the Nintendo Wii, either. It makes excellent business sense for anyone and everyone to cash in on this ever-widening audience, and with Dance Dance Revolution Universe on the Xbox 360, Konami's throwing their dancing hat into the ring. [I want a dancing hat. –Ed.] Arrow-stomping Bemani veterans can get excited, too; DDRU is definitely a contender they can cheer for.
Accessibility is the key ingredient to bringing in non-gamers, and DDRU has made some steps in the right direction. It includes a “How to Play” mode that hand-holds throughout the learning process, complete with an instructional voice-over. All of its lessons are appropriately basic, but if you fail one and exit out to the main menu, you'll have to start over from the very beginning. Your progress is lost. That's not pick-up-and-play friendly, especially since the “How to Play” mode is actually quite long.
Your carpet mileage may vary, but as far as flat plastic mats are concerned, DDRU's can't be beat.
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The “Lesson Mode” is an improvement, since all of its lessons are broken up and are individually selectable. The whole mode has a very nice learning curve, which will take players through everything from regular steps to cascading 1/12th arrows at a logical pace. Plus, the game saves your accomplishments by marking every lesson you've passed. Unlike the “How to Play” mode, however, the “Lessons Mode” doesn't automatically move on to the next lesson; you are ejected to the menu every time you succeed, and have to proceed manually. This is strange, and Konami would have made things a lot easier for everyone if both modes had automatic progression and selectable lessons. The world may never know why the features were split among the two modes, and it doesn't make sense.
Once newcomers are ready to join veterans in normal gameplay, they'll be treated to the largest list of songs a home console DDR has ever had. PlayStation fans might not like to admit it, but the Xbox DDRs always had the coolest extra modes in town, and the biggest music selections. The latest one's only real weak point is a lack of genre variety. People who have played and loved any past DDR won't be let down, but anyone looking for – to be blunt – anything other than fast-paced dance/techno music won't find much to like. That aside, DDRU arguably bears the finest soundtrack among its home console brethren. A multitude of dance and techno flavors are represented brilliantly across the board; even the wackier songs on the soundtrack are quality, even if they are an acquired taste.
Fast-paced music is usually what you're looking for when you want to work out, too, and DDRU has an “Exercise Mode” that's a little different than past ones. Instead of serving up a specific list of songs and calculating your calories burned at the end, turning on this “Exercise Mode” tells you what you've worked off no matter what mode you play – a nice feature, but one that isn't clearly documented either by the manual or in-game.
Almost everything in DDRU suffers from a lack of explanation, as a matter of fact. For a DDR entry that's clearly reaching out for the casual gaming sect, you'd expect to have everything laid out clear as day, but few things are. What's really peculiar about this are the big, open fields for mode descriptions that are mostly empty, save for a sentence or two. There's plenty of room there for more detail (and one wonders if the Japanese version of the game filled in all of that space), but it's strangely vacant. Most of the work appears to have gone into the “Edit Mode,” which is a welcome and robust addition for enthusiasts, and it has a good showing here. Bizarrely, the “Edit Mode” doesn't let you use a second controller to do the actual step editing; you have to detach the dance pad and use the regular controller as your primary for that. That aside, the rest of the game isn't explained nearly as well.
That lack of instructions affects the “Party Mode,” which can be a whole lot of fun, but a little confusing at first. Jumping right in to any of the games will surely baffle first-timers, because it's not clear about what you're supposed to do. If you want to learn about a lot of the multiplayer options, you'll need to read the manual, and most people won't bother with that during a real party. The Mario Party series and most of its imitators understand the importance of short but sweet minigame descriptions, which makes their absence in DDRU's all the more disappointing. Once you're past that and comprehend the “Party Mode” gameplay mechanics, you and a few friends can truly enjoy yourselves.
The included dance mat (in the bundle version only) is a well-built offering, which will serve clumsy and skilled dancers alike. On a hardwood floor, the mat didn't slide or bunch up, even on faster songs set to higher difficulties. Your carpet mileage may vary, but as far as flat plastic mats are concerned, DDRU's can't be beat.
Overall, the entire game is a great dancing package, but what about Konami's efforts to lure in casual gamers? They're hit-or-miss, rough around the edges, and in need of a lot of work. If they can polish things up by the time the inevitable DDRU2 comes along, they might lure in more people to 360 gaming than the Gears of War crowd... But if all of their effort is being spent on the upcoming Wii version, it may never happen. Nonetheless, if you're already into Bemani or intrigued with and want to give it a go, Dance Dance Revolution Universe is as good as it gets at home – for now.
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