Dance Dance Revolution Bundle Review

While 2009 may be known as the year of the musical games due to the ungodly number of Guitar Hero installments (plus one Rock Band) there is another reason to call it as such.Dance Dance Revolution ("DDR"): Hottest Part 3 had the misfortune of being released on the same night as Tekken 6, Forza Motorsport 3, and the new Ratchet and Clank game, making it an obscure title that gained little attention.Fortunately for Konami, however, this nerd looked forward to DDRHP3 exclusively on the night of its release and picked it up at midnight.After playing the game for two days I can safely say it was somewhat worth the price and I will be using it frequently for both leisure as well as exercise.

The one thing I would like to state is that the last DDR game I bought was DDR: Konamix before I entered college in Summer 2002.I have not played DDR: Hottest Party 2 or any other mix since so forgive me if I rave about a feature that was introduced earlier.

The first thing I noticed off the bat was the DDR School, something I wished they had included in previous versions that I had played.This allowed the player to truly explore the dance pad before going crazy.It went through the basic without making you feel like either an idiot or Grandma for inquiring.Similar to the beginner mode in the Guitar Hero franchise, DDRHP3 also has a relax mode that is way too easy.This allows the player to figure out foot placement, movement, and balance since it can be frustrating to get into a game and consistently fail.While most DDR veterans and casual gamers will not need to utilize these features, kudos to Konami for integrating a user-friendly set of features to entice new gamers since most installments just throw you in the fray.

Once I was done exploring the beginner features I immediately went into what I had been waiting for months to try out, namely to see how well the master tracks of American songs faired in DDR.I checked out the song track list and tried out most of the ones I wanted.The first song I tried was Feel Good, Inc. by the Gorillaz, a song that has a killer music video and seems to be in a lot of musical games this year (including DJ Hero).When I finally got the song loaded up a grin spread across my face when I realized that the original music video was playing in the background.Later, I discovered that this was true with all songs with a music video including Duran Duran's Hungry Like a Wolf and Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.I also enjoyed the song A Brighter Day, which is what enticed me when I first saw the E3 trailer.

While I liked the majority of the soundtrack, what disappointed me most was there was not enough songs to play and no way to download new ones.I honestly thought there was going to be over 150 tracks to download by, as it turns out, that is only for the XBox360 and PS3 versions coming out later.This made my heart sink as around 50 songs is NOT enough!I want more... so I'll have to get it for the XBox360 instead.I could write an entire blog post on what songs should have been in such as Heaven by Belinda Carlisle, the entire Night at the Roxbury soundtrack (extra points for head-bobbing), or God-forbid early Britney Spears.The only solace I can get from this is that the Wii version allows you to load all the songs from DDR Hottest Party 2 if you have a saved data.This is great but... I don't own DDRHP2 and it's still expensive to get it.

What I also was disappointed to discover was that the custom interface, the edit mode, and the eight-button mode were only for the other two systems and not the Wii.While Nintendo and Konami did NOT advertise these features for the Wii version, one would hope the Wii would utilize practical features such as downloading new songs.Without new songs, the game gets old and players lose interest if not buy the game for another system entirely.

However, once I got over my disappointment over the lack of features on the Wii, I decided to see what exclusive features the Wii did have that made up for the loss.My disappointment was almost alleviated.

The Wii has three distinctive features that separate it from the PS3 and 360 versions.

1:Balance Board Interface.Basically, you can use the Wii Balance Board (assuming you actually bought a Wii Fit) and do moves on it like leaning.This is kewl for the first few minutes but loses it luster quickly.

2:Remote and Nunchuk Interface ("Hypermode")

THIS is the reason why I got the Wii version (that and it came out first).Hypermode allows the player to move their arms with the remote and nunchuk for added challenge and exercise.I wanted something more than a Lord of the Dance version that only uses your feet and I got it with this feature.

3:Mii utilization and customization.

I gotta admit, it is a little cooler to customize and use your Miis to dance but I would also get the same satisfaction if the 360 utilized the avatar characters... which isn't much.

That is pretty much it for the Wii version as all the other features are standard including a workout mode for added calorie burning.

After all the hype of a Wii version it really does not distinguish itself other than the fact that it came out four months earlier.If I had not paid full price for this version, I would seriously consider waiting a little longer and getting the XBox360 version since it does have downloadable content and so forth.However, I will not discount the fact that I love this game all the same.I've played it extensively and expect I will for a while now.I dock DDRHP3 one star for a lacking soundtrack and the inability to download more songs unless you fork over however much to get the second Hottest Party.I'd rather pay a LOT less to download one song at a time from XBox Live.

All in all, a solid B+.The lacking soundtrack really killed any chance of an "A" rating.

Peace out!!

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Product Description:
DanceDanceRevolutionHottest Party 3 is a dance/party game for Wii that takes the long-runningDDR party to the next level. Bundled with the game's iconic floorperipheral, and including controller support for the Wii Remote/nunchuckcontroller configuration, and for the first time the Wii Balance Board,it is sure to be the life of the party and get you into shape. Game alsoinclude local 2-4 player multiplayer support, a diverse 60-song soundtrack,entirely new modes and more.

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