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| | Title:
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3
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System:
Xbox
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Genre:
Music/Dance
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Publisher:
Konami
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Developer:
Konami Corporation
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Release:
11/15/2005
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Rating Pending (RP)
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The Xbox received a special edition of the Dance Dance Revolution series with Ultramix 3. It’s, to say the least, crammed with content. There’s so much stuff you might not know what to do or what mode to play first. If you plan on playing this game, but you’re new to the series, you might want to try the Training mode first in order to get a feel for the game. Although, while DDR Ultramix 3 offers up a lot of content, online and off, it seems to lack a sense of user-control over the actual dancing.
The gameplay is diverse…very diverse. The exclusive (and most fun) mode on the Xbox version is the Quest mode. This comprehensive feature allows for up to four players to battle for the number 1 spot as America’s top dancer. In Quest mode players are on a 3/4 view map of the U.S. and Canada, where they must venture by going from checkpoint to checkpoint. By standing on a checkpoint you are given a view of the required score you need in order to win recognition by that dance industry. Different checkpoints have different score requirements, and by choosing to take on that challenge players must dance until they reach that score. However, it takes a long time to reach certain high scores, and equally as long, to rack up points. The points and score are separate, and you rack up both score and points by dancing. Certain travel routes require a specified amount of points, but if you get stuck at a checkpoint without the necessary points to travel, you’ll have to dance to earn more points. Yep, you’re a dance whore.
The neat part about the Quest mode is all the neat things you gain by winning over checkpoints. You can upgrade your dancer with more backup dancers, or you can get credit cards to compensate for low cash. It is fun earning new things in the Quest mode, and with the ability to share your scores online, it only enhances the gameplay experience.
Other modes include: Challenge, Freeplay, Party, Live, and Workout. In Challenge, players take on different dancing tasks, ranging from executing a certain number of combos to doing every dance step with a “Perfect”. The Challenge mode is about as fun as the Quest, except without the multiplayer support. The Freeplay mode allows for up to four players to dance-off on a concert stage in front of a live audience. The funny part is that how you dance depends on how the crowd reacts, and the better you do the higher your score. The higher your score, the quicker you’ll move up to the front of the stage. However, if another player or CPU opponent manages to out-dance you, they’ll move up to the front of the stage, with fireworks and all. The player with the highest score will win the round by the time the selected song ends.
Workout mode allows you to choose your weight and a couple of other settings to pace yourself for a workout. Trust me, with some of the songs on this game, and if you’re using a dance pad, you could easily get a good workout with the proper settings. This mode will stay active throughout the gameplay once it is setup.
Party mode is composed of several different game modes: Attack, Quad, Bomb, Sync, Score and Point mode. In Attack mode players can rack up points from dancing well to attack or defend against their opponents. In Quad mode players can use up to 16 dance pads in some of the most hectic, fun, and crazy dance battles imaginable. Bomb mode is like a dancing version of hot-potato, and whoever messes up will end up with the bomb and loses. Therefore, if you dance better, the bomb leaves your possession. Score and Point mode are somewhat similar. In Score mode whoever racks up the highest score by the end of the round wins. In Point mode you start with 16 points and whenever you mess up you lose a point...whoever reaches 0 points first is the loser. Sync mode is interesting, as players can cooperatively dance to a tune while trying to avoid messing up. The gimmick to this mode, though, is that players cannot mess up at all, and must stay in sync to win. Otherwise, it’s game over.
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