User Reviews (1 - 11 of 35)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Another DDR winner from Konami!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 71 / 74
Date: September 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is the newest DDR Playstation game from Konami. And it does not disappoint.
DDR is a game you play by moving your feet on a controller dance pad and following directional arrows to different songs on your TV screen. You can select different levels from beginner on up according to your abiility.

One of the reasons DDR is so much fun is the variety of options it offers. For example, the background graphics change. You may be dancing with a Captain Jack video with one song or animated visuals with another. You can opt to dance with different characters or dance alone. You can compete with another player, play with one pad or two, choose your songs or have them chosen for you etc. So many options you will never get bored!

Another key element of DDR fun are the unlockables. DDR Extreme starts you off with 44 songs. There are 11 new Konami original songs like "Firefly" and "Jet World" , 5 songs from Karoke Revolution including "Believe", and ""Ladies Night", 11 Konami originals from previous games including "Higher", "So In Love" and "Wild Rush" and 17 licensed songs with "Diving", "Planet Rock" and "Never Ending Story" among them. As you pass certain levels and complete a certain number of songs you UNLOCK new songs. Unlockable songs include "Tsugaru", "Drop the Bomb" "Funk Boogie" and many more.

With DDR Extreme you also "unlock" characters to dance with. You start with two named Blues and Rhythm and eventually unlock others including Baby-lon, Spike, Janet and more. There are also different game modes including endless, oni, nonstop and mission.

DDR Extreme also features a workout mode. You can input your weight and workout goal. You may want to workout for a certain length of time or to burn a certain number of calories. Choose your level of ability and get moving! DDR Extreme will show you approximately how many calories you burned and compare your current session to previous sessions.

One new feature of DDR Extreme is the party mode. These are mini-games. You will need an eyetoy camera (not included with the DDR Extreme game). With the camera your image is projected on the TV and you respond to the activity shown on the screen. You might be wiping bubbles off the screen that hide the game arrrows or feeding animals. Other mini-games include "Coconut Panic" where you shake the trees and catch coconuts, "Magical Ball" bounce the ball on the screen with your hands and more. About 7 of these cute games.

I purchased my Playstation 2 just to play DDR. I thought it would be super exercise and keep my interest and it certainly does. I wear a mini-pedometer and rack up thousands of steps daily moving to the music! It's so much fun you forget you are exercising. Great for coordination too. I highly recommend DDR Extreme and the other DDR games for all ages!

Konami improves on the series again

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 44
Date: September 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Before I talk about the many great aspects of this game, let's get the two bad things out of the way.

First, the game is called DDR Extreme - the same name as the arcade version. However, very few of the arcade version's "trademark" songs made it onto this mix. No Sakura, no Bag, no Paranoia Survivor, no Cartoon Heroes, etc.

Second, just like the other PS2 DDR games, there are far too many repeats. Of the 70 songs on this mix, there are at least 20-25 songs repeated from other PSone/PS2 games. So if you have all the other games like I do, it's a bit of a rip-off.

That said, the game is outstanding. The biggest improvement this time around is that the exclusive, new songs to this mix have awesome stepcharts. Before, popular songs like "Days Go By" and "Sandstorm" got the half-@$$ed treatment from Konami - even the heavy steps were uncreative and easy. This time, songs like "Scorching Moon," "You're Not Here" and "Simply Being Loved" have creative, tricky, fun steps that use triplets and gallops.

Even though some Extreme "trademark" songs are not here, the Extreme songs that are here are the pick of the litter. We get "The Legend of Max," "A," "V," "Jet World," "321 Stars" and a few more. We also get several songs from older arcade mixes, like "Theme from Enter the Dragon" and "Only You"... good stuff, and it shows Konami caters to the longtime players.

For the newer players, we get a selection of songs that everyone will recognize, such as "Like a Virgin," "YMCA," etc. I'm not so thrilled with these songs, but I admit the steps for most of them are pretty good.

The new interface looks sharp and works well. As for the different modes, Mission Mode is a blast. It asks you to complete certain sections of songs, but mixes up the arrows, speeds the song up and down, or gives you requirements such as not being able to step on certain arrows. It will take you quite a while to finish 100 missions.

Oni (Challenge) mode is back, and the courses are more interesting and thought-through than they were in DDRMAX. Nonstop mode and endless mode return, too.

Not having an Eyetoy, I can't tell you if those mini-games are any good, but I think it's safe to say they're a fun diversion.

Best Video Game Series In History

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: December 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

An ultra fun video game that gives a good workout just seems too cool to be true, but there is a game that has those attributes: DDR, which is easily the best game ever made for sure!

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and all the other DDR games out there are 2-D games with one major point: Dancing with your feet. You have a dance mat (or stage) where you tap your feet on the arrows planted on the mat, trying to step on the arrow labeled the same direction on the mat as the arrow that scrolls up the screen, trying to tap your feet on the arrow at the same time the scrolling arrow is inside the outlined arrow in the same direction. There are five (or six) ratings you can get for your accuracy: Marvelous (Not on a regular game), Perfect, Great, Good (Which should really be Average), Almost, and Boo. You want to get the first ratings I listed, and not an Almost or Boo, or else your dance gauge (Which kind of shows your health) will start to slip until it runs out and you lose a song. At the end of the song, you can receive an overall grade, depending on your overall accuracy, of either an E (Which you get for failing a song), a D (Which you get for surviving, but receiving a poor score), a C, a B, an A, an double A, or a triple A (Which you get for receiving a perfect score).

When you first get the game, you start with 44 songs, and you can unlock 26 more songs for a grand total of 70 songs. To unlock the hidden songs, you must clear songs about 5 to 10 times with at least a C rating. Once you win about 5 to 10 times, a new song is unlocked. The first song you can unlock is called Scorching Moon, and the last one you unlock is called The Legend Of Max. You can also unlock new dancers for dancing in the backround in songs without real music videos, but I never use characters (Having a character is optional).

The Party Mode, which is new for DDR Extreme, is a futuristic-style way to play video games, as you can dance with both hands and feet while seeing yourself dance, although you need the camera for PS2 to do so. Being able to play with both your hands and feet while watching yourself is genius, and must be extremely fun to do. The Hands And Feet Mode is likely the highlight of the Party Mode; the other games are too simple and easy.

Along the way, you can unlock two new modes: Mission Mode and Endless mode. In Mission Mode, you dance to different songs with an unusual task to win. Be careful about the visual tricks that are used in many of the songs in Mission Mode. In Endless Mode, you keep dancing until you fail with a randomly chosen character. The songs that you dance to are randomly selected. The problem with it is that I might end up with the ugliest character in the game to use: Rhythm, an ugly barbie girl that's hard to look at.

The Workout Mode in the game allows you to keep track of your fitness, and allows you to figure out what you should be doing to keep yourself healthy. If it's on, you'll see how healthy of a workout you got after you finish dancing to a song. Your score will be better if you play fast songs like Drop Out or either of the Paranoia remixes, so play those songs if you want to get fit quickly.

The training mode is a mode where you cannot unlock anything, but you can practice the different songs in the game without being stopped by failing and without the thrilling backgrounds.

Finally, I'll take you to the information mode, which gives info about all of the different songs in the game. It tells you if the song you're studying is from a previous DDR game or not, what you should try to do while dancing to the song, or what kind of music it is. According to it, plenty of songs from Dance Dance Revolution Konamix have been brought back, but only three songs have returned from DDRMAX2.

But why is this 2-D game that has the same goal over and over again so great? Well, there are certainly several reasons why:

1. DDR Extreme has a total of 70 different types of songs to choose from. You can find the type of music that's best for you. From a typical energetic dance song (B4U), to a song that's easy to recognize (YMCA, Waiting For Tonight, Like A Virgin), to a jazzy song (On The Jazz, Funk Boogie), to a Japanese pop star song (Firefly, Pink Rose), to a supercharged song full of energy (Drop Out, I Feel...) to a song that combines a whole bunch of styles together (JaneJana, Do Me HIGEO Mix, Make It Better), to a theme song from a movie (Never Ending Story, Enter The Dragon) to even a classic song from previous generations of DDR (.59, Drop The Bomb), there's destined to be a song that you'll enjoy.
2. The replay value to this game is incredible, since you can build up your mad skills from beginner to expert, trying to successfully receive all Perfects on songs. You won't want to stop!
3. If you like video games, but you're out of shape, this is a game that can help knock off your weight and keep you fit. I've lost six pounds playing this game since November. I've never been very fat in my life, but I've suddenly started to love working out ever since I started playing this game. Awesome!

Then again, there are some downsides to this game, but minor downsides:

1. The host of this game gets on your nerves easily. Fortunately, you can shut him off when you're dancing, but not when it's most annoying: When you fail a song. His quote, "W-w-what?" is super annoying, as when he speaks in Japanese.
2. Our dance mat is very low quality. It has a huge tear in it, and it moves everywhere, while I get Boos out of nowhere. Then again, the problem with the metal stage is that the arrows are planted low in the mat, and it's harder to step on the arrows than with the mat.

Now, I'd love to grade the songs availible in this game in terms of how much I like their sound.

1. .59: A
2. 321 Stars: B (This one is easy to hate, but I can deal with it)
3. A: C-
4. A Stupid Barber: A-
5. Absolute: A
6. B4U: A-
7. B4U (B4 Za Beat Mix): A
8. Bad Routine: C+
9. Believe: B-
10. Bizarre Love Triangle: B+
11. Can't Stop Falling In Love (Speed Mix): B-
12. Diving: B+
13. Do Me (H.I.G.E.O. Mix): B
14. Don't Clock Me: B-
15. Drop Out: A+
16. Drop Out (Remix): A
17. Drop The Bomb: A-
18. Ecstasy: A+
19. Ecstasy (Midnight Blue Mix): A-
20. Firefly: A+++
21. Frozen Ray (For Extreme): B-
22. Funk Boogie: C+
23. Go West: A-
24. Higher: B
25. Higher (Next Morning Mix): B
26. Highs Off U (Scorcicco XY Mix): B+
27. I Feel...: A+
28. I'm For Real: F
29. JaneJana: A- (It used to be an F, but I'm no longer annoyed by it)
30. Jet World: A
31. Keep On Moving: C
32. Kick The Can: B+
33. Kids In America: B+
34. La Senorita: A+
35. Ladies Night: B-
36. Like A Virgin: A-
37. Love Love Sugar: D
38. Make It Better: B
39. Maximizer: A
40. Miracle: D+ (What the heck is a miracle to the singers of this song?)
41. Mobo Moga: A-
42. Move Your Feet: D+ (Boring topic. Plus, this song is outdated for the DDR it debuted on. It's new for DDR Extreme)
43. Music: A-
44. Never Ending Story: B-
45. On The Jazz: B-
46. Only You: B-
47. Paranoia Eternal: B-
48. Paranoia (Dirty Mix): A
49. Peace Out: B
50. Pink Rose: A-
51. Planet Rock: C-
52. Scorching Moon: B
53. Simply Being Loved: C+
54. So In Love: C
55. The Legend Of Max: B+
56. The Reflex: B+
57. Theme From Enter The Dragon: A-
58. There You'll Be: B+
59. Trip Machine: A
60. Trip Machine Survivor: B
61. Tsugaru: A
62. Tsugaru (Apple Mix): A
63. V (For Extreme): B
64. Waiting For Tonight: B- (I like J. Lo's version better)
65. Wild Rush: B+
66. Wild Rush (Remix): B
67. Wonderland (UKS Misx): C (For swearing in the song)
68. YMCA: B+
69. You're Not Here: C+ (The song is too sad)
70. Your Rain (Rage Mix): A-

Top 3 Best Songs:......................Top 3 Songs I'm Best At:

1. Firefly....................................1. .59
2. Drop Out..................................2. Firefly
3. Ecstasy..............................3. B4U

Top 3 Worst Songs:.....................Top 3 Songs I'm Worst At:

1. I'm For Real.............................1. I'm For Real
2. Love Love Sugar......................2. You're Not Here
3. Move Your Feet..................3. Theme From Enter The Dragon

Top 3 Hardest Songs:
1. Do Me (H.I.G.E.O. Mix)(On the Heavy level)
2. Tsugaru
3. The Reflex (On the Heavy level)

(I would've put on The Ledgend of Max except everyone would think that it's the hardest song, and I wanted a more interesting song to top the top 3 list)

Top 3 Easiest Songs:

1. Funk Boogie
2. Peace Out
3. A Stupid Barber

Final Grade: A+. The minor downsides have no effect on this incredible game. It's simply amazing. I will be buying the previous DDR games in the future as well to increase my amount of availible songs.

In relation to the last sentence from above, these are DDR games currently in my collection:

- DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution (Best Song: Hysteria)
- Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (Best Song: Firefly)

Great for all ages!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: November 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm a 46 year old mother of 4, and I got this game with two game pads for the primary purpose of 1) getting some exercise indoors without being bored out of my mind, and 2) having a fun game to play with my kids that involved more than sitting on the couch and pressing buttons.

On both accounts, DDR Extreme succeeds beautifully. It's easy to learn the basics using the tutorial, and the rating system makes it easy to find moves within my skill level as I get better. Since each song has several levels of difficulty, and the players don't have to be on the same setting, it's just as much fun playing with my eight year old as it is with my sixteen year old.

I invested in a pair of top quality DDR pads, with one inch thick foam inserts, so it's easy on the feet, even though my legs don't usually like high impact activities. In workout mode, you can set it to be low impact only, but I like the choreography better high impact.

DDR Extreme may be redundant if you have other DDR titles, but if you don't, you will be well pleased with the song list. I have an Eye Toy, and have tried the Eye Toy games, but they are just gravy. The dancing is the meat of the game.

Dance Dance Fiasco

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 17 / 23
Date: October 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After a solid outing with DDRMAX 2, Konami returns to its habit of screwing up North American DDR releases with the wildly misguided "Dance Dance Revolution Extreme".

Even the name is a fiasco - it borrows from the latest (last?) incarnation of the arcade game, but arcade gamers looking for their favorite Extreme songs will be badly disappointed. The defining songs of the arcade Extreme - "Graduation", "Cartoon Heroes", "Irresistblement", etc. - are completely absent. Only a few also-rans like "Moba Moga" and "Pink Rose" made it across the Pacific for this installment.

What's worse is a redesigned interface that tries to combine three functions of the MAX/MAX2 interface - game type selection (nonstop, edit data, etc.), song selection, and difficulty - into a single screen. I guarantee you will see this screen and have no idea what to do. Maybe it makes changing difficulty from one song to the next a little easier, something that was obscure but possible in MAX/MAX2, but that hardly seems worth the price of making the whole interface into an utter train wreck.

Workout mode is also a disaster, as it's no longer a separate mode. Instead, you essentially turn on a calorie meter, go play arcade mode for a while, and come back to the workout menu to check the results and turn off the calorie meter. They had it right for one game - DDRMAX 2 - and went right back and messed it up.

The song list for Extreme-US is varied, but it's hard to get past the fact that a lot of these songs are just plain bad. Five are insipid covers borrowed from "Karaoke Revolution", and the choice of licensed songs is a mix. "YMCA" should be fun yet curiuosly isn't, and the idea of dredging up Pet Shop Boys and their body-suited flying surfers only makes you wonder "did we ever really like this stuff?" To think that the previous game had Kylie Minogue and The Crystal Method... sigh. A few points are due for bringing back some DDR oldies that hadn't previously made it to North America, like "Wonderland" and "Only You", though we're still waiting for the true classics (paging "Butterfly" and "Dam Dariram"...)

Some new mini-games are a nice addition - they'll only hold your attention for a few minutes each, since they're foot-stomping novelties and not dancing per se, but Konami at least deserves a point for trying something new.

Truthfully, this game should have been called "DDR Festival", the name given to an imminent Japanese release with the same interface and largely the same song list. The Japanese DDR gamers have already had their "Extreme" - packing a whopping 100+ songs and generally resembling its arcade version (true DDR players have probably already imported this from Japan, or emulated it with the open-source "StepMania" game for computers) - and it's hard to imagine they'll be terribly impressed with this installment.

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is not the newest installment in the DDR series. Nevertheless, this game exceeds in all aspects making it one of the best, if not the best Dance Dance Revolution game out there. This is by far my favorite game in the series because it has a great soundtrack featuring licensed songs from Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, and Kim Wilde. It also features a lot of Naoki's greatest achievements in music. And to back it all up, it has a really addictive game style and crams in dozens of modes and various unlockables. You should definitely give this version of DDR a go before you buy the newer versions, especially if you are new to this franchise. A+, 5 out of 5, pure perfection, you won't be disappointed. This is a must buy!!

Fun, engaging and exciting sequel...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There's been a lot of negativity brewing about this latest release in the DDR family, but with a much more accessible tracklist and some newer American hits (Move Your Feet, Planet Rock, Kids in America) as well as some forgotten DDR favorites, DDRMAX Extreme is definitely a good follow-up. It doesn't merit the criticism it has been receiving.

The gameplay is essentially the same, and with the addition of background dancers to choose from, players can not only beat levels to earn new songs, but they can also earn new dancers, as well as the different modes of gameplay (Party Mode, Endless Mode).

While the selection of songs might be more exciting than DDRMAX 2, the difficulty of levels is essentially less intimidating and more accessible to DDR beginners, save for naturally challenging tracks (Legend of Max, Drop Out, Maximizer). Hence, those players really seeking an EXTREME gameplay experience as the title suggests will be slightly disappointed.

Yet, as more songs are earned, players will have the opportunity to earn deft remixes of several of Extreme's hit songs (B4U, Higher, Drop Out, Tsugaru, Ecstasy).

In addition to the other PS2 releases in the same family, DDRMAX Extreme should a welcome component to anyone's collection.

This is so much fun!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is so much fun! The songs are great, and it's so much fun dancing and messing up in the privacy of your own home!! What I mean is, it's sometimes embarrassing to dance in front of people, and then it's just fun to play!

Game has potential, but one fatal bug

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: October 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am a longtime fan of the Dance Dance Revolution series and own virtually every game in the series, US or Japanese. And while I go back and play most of my older games regularly, I never play this one. Why? Because of one bug.

Due to a programming glitch, the "Dance Play Settings" menu was omitted. As a result, it is impossible to disable the corner buttons on a dance mat without a gameshark or similar modification device. The corner buttons are enabled to allow play with a regular controller, but are not intended for use with a dancepad. Of course, since this game is designed for a dancepad, this is a problem. With the corner buttons on, this game constantly registers mis-hits on my steps and is basically unplayable.

Konami should not have released this game with this bug, and they should have offered an update for free with a bugfix. As it, the game is unplayable.

DDR is the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Our daughter can't get enough of Dance Dance Revolution. This is really a great cardio workout for kids (and adults) and they don't even know that they are getting exercise. All the neighborhood kids visit us and all the want to do is DANCE!

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions