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IGN Review of DDR Disney Grooves
Back in 2001, when Dance Dance Revolution was still an exciting arcade novelty, Konami released a Disney version filled with dance remixes of classic Disney tunes. All your favorite characters were dressed up like they were going to a rave and the whole thing was pretty absurd. Now, almost eight years later, Konami has done it again. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Grooves lets you shake your groove thang and Wii remote to a butchered soundtrack of all your parent's and grandparent's favorite Disney songs.
This is DDR, which has been around for a decade, so I'm not going to get into the gameplay at depth. You all know that you stomp on arrows to music. This version, much like the Wii versions before it, also throws in a Wii remote and nunchuck element to add to the dancing. There are also the gimmicks that are there to mix up the gameplay. Some notes need to be stepped on twice, others are trap steps. Some spin from all sides of the screen and others will cause the screen to become obscured if they're missed.
All in all the extraneous gameplay elements do nothing to add to the experience. In fact, they actually make it feel even less like dancing. Thankfully the motion control and gimmicks can be turned off, allowing players to have a pure DDR experience. In addition the game is really easy for a DDR game, even easier than previous Wii installments. Expert mode, the hardest mode in the game, would pass for Light mode, or maybe Standard on another DDR.
For anyone that's played either of the Hottest Party editions of DDR on the Wii, the gameplay is going to feel very similar. Most of the features are in here. There's a standard single-player mode, multiplayer mode with up to four dancers, and a workout mode. Even the crazy characters from Hottest Party are here, in chibi form, and the option to use your Mii is included as well.
A lot of the style and presentation from the main DDR games has gone out the window, though. The dances in the game are all different, but they're also all terrible. Really, it barely constitutes dancing. It's great that my Mii is there skipping in a circle with Donald and Mickey, but… he's freaking skipping in a circle with Donald and Mickey.
The Disney touch does come in with dozens of dance stages and costumes. Venues inspired by nearly every animated Disney film imaginable are in here, and their color and vibrancy captures the look and feel of the film their representing. Additionally, you can dress up the characters, or your Mii, in dozens of different costumes -- many of actual Disney characters. Hilariously enough, the game does not restrict any of the characters to specific gender clothing. So if I want to dress Craig Harris' Mii up like Cinderella and make him dance about in high heels, I totally can. And I totally did.
DDR games are basically about what songs are offered. It's used the same formula for years so it all depends on whether or not these songs are fun to dance to.
These ones are not.
Most of the songs have a BPM that is too low to be energetic. Even on the harder difficulties you're basically two-stepping. None of the songs are actually fun to play in the way that previous DDR songs like Rhythm and Police or Masuda Japan were.
The track list is bizarre. It's over 40 songs from the last 60 years of Disney films. There are some obvious choices, like songs from The Lion King and The Jungle Book. But then you get weird things like The Ballad of Davey Crockett. Was the world ready for a dance remix of this song? I submit that it was not.
A lot of these songs did not need to be re-recorded. They could have worked anyway. The songs from Lilo and Stitch and tunes like Step in Time were perfectly fine for dancing. It's really weird that there are only a couple songs that are the originals, two being He's a Tramp and Thomas O'Malley. They're slow, and old, and clash terribly with the rest of the songs.
Even worse, the game's soundtrack has a handful of rap songs from the mid-1990s when Disney made their own Mickey-themed albums. Ice Ice Mickey, Crazy 'Bout the Mouse, DJ Good, and Ducks in the Hood are songs that should have never been played and to insert them into this videogame like they're nostalgic Disney classics is horrifying.
There's an obvious missed opportunity here. Disney has produced a half dozen Disneymania CDs, featuring those years' hottest pop stars singing Disney songs. Why didn't they use those tracks? They all have high production values, and feature singers that are actually recognizable and relevant.
©2009-04-14, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This is DDR, which has been around for a decade, so I'm not going to get into the gameplay at depth. You all know that you stomp on arrows to music. This version, much like the Wii versions before it, also throws in a Wii remote and nunchuck element to add to the dancing. There are also the gimmicks that are there to mix up the gameplay. Some notes need to be stepped on twice, others are trap steps. Some spin from all sides of the screen and others will cause the screen to become obscured if they're missed.
All in all the extraneous gameplay elements do nothing to add to the experience. In fact, they actually make it feel even less like dancing. Thankfully the motion control and gimmicks can be turned off, allowing players to have a pure DDR experience. In addition the game is really easy for a DDR game, even easier than previous Wii installments. Expert mode, the hardest mode in the game, would pass for Light mode, or maybe Standard on another DDR.
For anyone that's played either of the Hottest Party editions of DDR on the Wii, the gameplay is going to feel very similar. Most of the features are in here. There's a standard single-player mode, multiplayer mode with up to four dancers, and a workout mode. Even the crazy characters from Hottest Party are here, in chibi form, and the option to use your Mii is included as well.
A lot of the style and presentation from the main DDR games has gone out the window, though. The dances in the game are all different, but they're also all terrible. Really, it barely constitutes dancing. It's great that my Mii is there skipping in a circle with Donald and Mickey, but… he's freaking skipping in a circle with Donald and Mickey.
The Disney touch does come in with dozens of dance stages and costumes. Venues inspired by nearly every animated Disney film imaginable are in here, and their color and vibrancy captures the look and feel of the film their representing. Additionally, you can dress up the characters, or your Mii, in dozens of different costumes -- many of actual Disney characters. Hilariously enough, the game does not restrict any of the characters to specific gender clothing. So if I want to dress Craig Harris' Mii up like Cinderella and make him dance about in high heels, I totally can. And I totally did.
DDR games are basically about what songs are offered. It's used the same formula for years so it all depends on whether or not these songs are fun to dance to.
These ones are not.
Most of the songs have a BPM that is too low to be energetic. Even on the harder difficulties you're basically two-stepping. None of the songs are actually fun to play in the way that previous DDR songs like Rhythm and Police or Masuda Japan were.
The track list is bizarre. It's over 40 songs from the last 60 years of Disney films. There are some obvious choices, like songs from The Lion King and The Jungle Book. But then you get weird things like The Ballad of Davey Crockett. Was the world ready for a dance remix of this song? I submit that it was not.
A lot of these songs did not need to be re-recorded. They could have worked anyway. The songs from Lilo and Stitch and tunes like Step in Time were perfectly fine for dancing. It's really weird that there are only a couple songs that are the originals, two being He's a Tramp and Thomas O'Malley. They're slow, and old, and clash terribly with the rest of the songs.
Even worse, the game's soundtrack has a handful of rap songs from the mid-1990s when Disney made their own Mickey-themed albums. Ice Ice Mickey, Crazy 'Bout the Mouse, DJ Good, and Ducks in the Hood are songs that should have never been played and to insert them into this videogame like they're nostalgic Disney classics is horrifying.
There's an obvious missed opportunity here. Disney has produced a half dozen Disneymania CDs, featuring those years' hottest pop stars singing Disney songs. Why didn't they use those tracks? They all have high production values, and feature singers that are actually recognizable and relevant.
©2009-04-14, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved