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Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition
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Graphics & Sound:
Can't get enough of Hannah Montana or the High School Musical gang? Well Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition is the solution for you!
The graphics in DDR: Disney Channel are pretty much the same as any of the other DDR versions. You still have a screen with brightly colored arrows and a dancer in the background. This time though, you can dance as your favorite Disney Stars including Hannah Montana, Kim Possible, Troy, Gabriella, Zack, Izzy and many more. There's even unlockable clothing options, just in case you don't like their default outfits. The characters aren't as realistic as I would have liked, though. Their "dancing" really doesn't look much like dancing to me. But hey, it's still the Disney people you love.
As with any DDR game, people always want a great song selection. If you like the Disney songs, this game is meant for you. There are 20 Disney songs including stuff from High School Musical, The Cheetah Girls, That's So Raven, Kim Possible, and more. There are also 20 more Konami songs, some of which you'll probably recognize from other versions of DDR. All of the songs in this game are appropriate for any age group, so you don't have to worry about a six year old asking what the Whistle Song is about (like you would have in DDR: Max 2). You'll probably notice that there are only 40 songs available, as opposed to the 70+ songs that were in DDR: Extreme 2. I'm not sure why there are so many less, but there are still enough to keep you busy! |
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Gameplay:
Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition differs from the previous incarnations only slightly. If you've never played any version of DDR before, you'll probably want to run through the Lesson Mode. It'll teach you how to play the game. After you're done with it, you can go practice in Training Mode.
In Magic Mode, you unlock outfits for the characters instead of new songs. You have to compete against the characters and beat them to unlock the outfit and the links to the other characters. You will actually see your opponent on the screen beside you. When you or your opponent gets a combo of 10, you throw an attack at the other person. Some of these attacks are easy to deal with, but others, like the one where the order of the arrows is moved around, were hard for me. I really don't like the arrows out of order!
If you want to just jump in and play songs, you can do that in Free Play Mode. After selecting a character, you can then scroll through the songs using left and right on the D-pad. All the Disney songs are on the first selection screen. If you want to play the Konami songs, you select More Songs and it'll pull up their song list. To go back to the Disney songs, just select Disney Song List as the song selection. Playing songs in Free Play Mode unlocks more of the Konami songs. All the Disney ones are unlocked at the beginning.
Workout Mode is also available. It still works just like the previous version. You can tell it your weight and it will calculate how many calories you burn. You can play a course so that you don't take a break in between each song or you can play it just like Free Play Mode where you choose each song to play. The game will store a diary of your progress for you.
If you're looking for the Courses, Survival Mode, Combo Challenge, or Endless Mode, you'll find them under the Advanced Mode selection. Courses have song lists for you to play a group of songs in a certain order. In Survival Mode, you'll have to dance perfectly! If you get a rating of anything less than great 4 times, you lose. Combo Challenge is very much like that, except you lose as soon as your combo stops, so you can't even get a single step lower than great. Endless Mode lets you play all the songs in the game without stopping, until you lose on one. You'll get a break after every 5 songs. Unlike previous games, all of the modes are unlocked automatically, so you don't have to play forever and ever just to unlock a Course.
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Difficulty:
If you've never played DDR before, it might take you a few minutes to pick it up. Luckily, the Lesson and Training Modes should help with that greatly. There are also a number of songs that are very easy to get through on Beginner. You might not be able to unlock any of the extra clothing at first, but is that really that big of a deal?
If you're one of the extreme players that has to have a lot of ten foot songs and wants the greatest possible challenge, you might not enjoy this version as much as some of the others. As I said before, there's only 40 songs total. The highest foot count on any of the Disney songs is 8, so there are just not as many killer songs as you probably want. There is one Paranoia, but that's about the most difficult song available.
I did notice on a few of the Disney songs that the timing seemed to be just slightly off. If I played just listening to the rhythm and not even watching the target arrows, I got mostly goods and greats. On most songs when I play like that, I get about 85% perfects. But that was only one or two songs, and it wasn't bad enough that I even remember which songs they are. |
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Game Mechanics:
The concept of playing Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition is easy to understand. The implementation is the hard part. As in any DDR, you can play using a dance pad or the controller. You can even swap back and forth if you just have to continue playing, but are too tired to stand up.
You'll see arrows scroll up the screen and a target arrow at the top. Essentially you just hit the button that corresponds to that arrow exactly when that arrow hits the target at the top of the screen. Using the dance pads, you hit the up, down, left, and right arrows. If you're using the controller, you can use the up, down, left, and right on the D-pad. The buttons can also be used, (X) is down, (O) is right, (Triangle) is up, and (Square) is left. The (X) or (O) button will select choices for you. The (Triangle) or (Select) will take you to the previous menu. That's all there is to the controls.
The dance pad that comes bundled with the game is exactly like the previous Konami pads. They work well and are accurate. As long as you're on the slower or lower foot songs, you probably won't have any problems with them at all. Once you start going faster though, you'll want to find some way to secure it to the floor a little better because they will slip easily.
Overall, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition is a decent edition to the DDR family. Given the smaller song list, I'm not sure it's worth the same price as the previous versions, but it is nice knowing that I have something that kids can play and I don't have to worry about what they're listening to. If you're a huge fan of the Disney songs or if you want kid friendly songs, I would recommend it. Otherwise, you'll probably be happier with one of the older versions. |
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-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl |
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