DDR Hottest Party - Review

Ladies and gentlefucks, here comes another hot helping of video game review...in other words, if you don't find my writing particularly interesting, or you don't play video games anywhere nearly as frequently as I do, you might want to turn around and run screaming from your computer now.

Now that the unworthy have taken a trip to the asylum (who the hell randomly runs screaming from their computers, anyway?), I can cut to the chase.

It's time to review:

And, honestly? This game is as good as any to abuse my powers of image inserting for.

First thing's first - I'd like to thank the deviant of our own community who goes by the name of BlauerAuss for suggesting this game to me. She didn't really do any suggesting, just told me that she liked it and never really had problems with it compared to the atrocities that I'd detailed known only as DDR Universe, and DDR SuperNOVA. And I went with that and bought the game on a whim.

Fortunately for me, my $70 wasn't poorly spent ($35, actually, because my roomie and I went halfsies, LOL). This game has surpassed all other DDR entries that have come in the franchise before it, and I'm very happy that I bought it.

Well, since it's a good game, and I like to end on a good note, I'll start with the bad news first, so I can leave with the good news.

If you're buying this game for the first time, one of the first things that you'll notice (and if you went in with the same low expectations that I did, it's a little disheartening) is the incredibly idiotic Announcer. He sounds a bit like a white guy that thinks he's awesome and black at the same time...he sounds like Weird Al Yankovic, kind of. not in his voice, but in his demeanor.

As unimportant as the announcer is to the actual gameplay, I still miss the old guy. The uppity disco dude with his "Okay, let's start"s and his "Let's reveal your soul"s, he was truly a staple of the DDR franchise for me. And since he isn't in either of the next-gen titles that I've played, I'm assuming that he either died or got fired, and a little piece of the dancer in me died with him.

Anyway, yeah, the new guy is a dork. Which kinda sucks. Also, they still haven't brought back ROBO2001, my all-time favorite character in the franchise. When they do, I'll probably giggle. No dancer can ever surpass the incredible ROBO2001, with his plug for a head and his Gundam-style wings.

As a matter of fact, all of the characters are new. No more Rage, no more Disco, no more Emi, no more Slutty...I mean, Lady (see below).

_{This was seriously the only image I could find of Lady...thank god it was one of her being slutty.}

Yeah, anyway, there's no classic characters (seriously though, Konami...bring back ROBO. Now.). Instead, they've got a whole new cast of semi-realistic dancers that only LOOK like the older dancers. Instead of Disco, there's U.G. Instead of Rage, there's Gaku. Instead of Lady, there's Domi. I mean, they do look legitimately different, but it's like the comparison between Bioshock and System Shock - you can totally tell that they're spiritual successors.

And now, onto the good news - and since the only two things I could find bad about this game were mentioned before, it's smooth sailing from here on, kids.

First and foremost I'd like to draw some light on Hottest Party's mission/unlock mode. This is a feature that is prominently featured in other iterations of the DDR series, and is also prominently flamed and criticized by me. Konami has an awful history of butchering these particular gameplay elements, forcing players to go through tedious, time consuming, annoying, and miserable tasks just to unlock music for use in the free play mode of the game - which is the only mode of the game that anyone actually enjoys. That, and workout mode.

I'm proud to announce that they did NOT fuck it up this time. It's so simple to unlock characters, stages, songs, outfits, and workout programs that it's actually a divine privilege to do so. I mean, yeah, hyperbole, totally, but my point remains. They've made it brilliant.

In DDR SuperNOVA, you traveled from stellar joint to stellar joint and completed annoying and often impossible tasks that weren't challenging...they were chores. They were difficult and meaningless chores. They'd make you need to dance several songs with ridiculous and random parameters set up and do so well or so poorly on them, just to UNLOCK the ability to play through the actual challenge stages. That's right, you unlocked the ability to unlock things. And that doesn't even COUNT for the store, so in actuality - get your notebooks out, class - you had to unlock the ability to unlock the ability to unlock things.

WHAT THE FUCKING HELL.

In DDR Universe, their "quest" mode was no better. Instead of traveling to these bizarrely-named "Stellar Joints", you would travel the country in your fancy Dancer-Bus, and enter dance battles and competitions in cities. They could've made it interesting and fun, but...they didn't. The so-called dance battles were the worst things ever! You would be told to dance against someone until their 'dancing gauge' depleted entirely. Then, while you were 'battling', their gauge would slowly replenish. Would yours? NOPE! And since yours was dependent on skill, and theirs was dependent on nothing, these dance 'battles' would last upwards of 15 songs! That's right - they go on at the end of the song if you haven't beaten them by then! And after you've beaten them it still isn't over, because you DON'T UNLOCK ANYTHING.

Sorry about that, I digressed in a big way. Digressed into a rant. But it helps to give you some background as to why I love Hottest Party so much more.

The method of unlocking in this game is similar to the method in SuperNOVA, but it is in no way the same. Groove Circuit consists of you choosing a character and traveling to different venues, then completing three straightforward challenges. It's never random - the first of 3 involves dancing to a set number of songs of your choice, the second of 3 involves dancing a few pre-selected songs, and the third involves beating the venue master in a dance battle. And in this dance battle, it has nothing to do with dance gauges or any of that old bullshit. It's a straight up competition to see who can acquire a greater score...THANK GOD.

After you complete each of the preset challenges, you unlock something. There's no store, so you don't have to unlock it twice, it's just there, you just earn it, and can instantly have it. And it's so refreshing that it works that way. Because there are so many new elements in the game including stages, outfits, and new characters, there's also tons of stuff to unlock. So there's always something that you still have yet to earn. And guess what? Groove Circuit can be played with up to four players. At the same time.

There are new features that integrate the use of the WiiMote and the Nunchuck, primarily 'hand steps' that involve the use of your right and left hands as well as the dance pad. It's an interesting and potentially fun addition to the DDR mechanics that are worth giving a try. Fortunately, you can easily turn these controls off, allowing you to play with a Gamecube controller or dance pad, or the standard Wii dance pad that comes with the game. On the Gamecube controller, there are four ways to operate the arrows: the C-Stick, the Analog stick, the D-Pad, and the face buttons. Since the face buttons aren't as perpendicular as other controllers for other systems, it takes a little getting used to, but it's still just as functional as they are.

They've also added some new play modes, particularly to the 'Free Play' option. There are cooperative dance modes for more than 1 player, battle modes, straightforward multiplayer, and the good old fashioned single dance mode.

I'm not done yet with praising this game, though. Beyond the mission mode, and beyond the vast options for controllers (also, this is a game for up to four people, which rocks), they've actually updated the graphics.

Now, I don't mean that they've made the graphics next gen or High-def, like they did for DDR Universe...while those were pretty, they did nothing for the feel of the game. In DDR Hottest Party, though, they've legitimately improved the dancing.

Now, dancers move realistically (just looks at their poses!) to legitimate routines. Often, the lead dancer will dance a different pattern than the backup characters, and while the dance is always in beat, it's never to the BPM. By that, I mean that they don't look retarded and hyperactive if you select a song with an insane BPM, like the Legend of MAXXX would have.

This might sound a little insignificant, but it really helps the game lose it's stigma of "crazy stupid Japanese fad", and makes you feel kind of cool playing it. And considering that it's DDR, that's a big improvement.

And lastly, the music selection is as good as, if not better than any other game in the series. Usually, I play DDR for the techno, and they've taken a refreshing approach to integrating pop and rap songs into their lineup - almost all of the popular music that finds its way into the tracklist has been remixed and sped up, thereby increasing the amount of fun had whilst playing it. There's also the triumphant return and remixing of some of my favorite tracks, including BREAKDOWN, Love-Shine, and B4U.

Alright, I think that about sums it all up. Time for a brief summary to this monstrous amount of text:

DDR: HOTTEST PARTY

(-)
announcer is annoying
no ROBO2001

(+)
Groove Circuit better than previous 'mission modes'
no store
dance battles are straightforward
plenty to unlock
dancing is realistic
up to four players
plenty of control options
new gameplay mechanics
more modes for more playstyles

OVERALL SCORE
9/10

So, yeah. Massive journal entry, but this game deserves it. If you're going to play a DDR game, play this one. It's far more worth it than any of the others.