The Game:
I remember the days when, to play the latest and greatest video games, you had to get off your ass and go to an arcade. In those glory days, gaming arcades were a cornucopia of sights and sounds, blinking lights and high scores. You played games that simply couldn't be played on a home console, either due to high-end graphics, gameplay mechanics (usually involving something like a steering wheel or physical gun replica), or the sheer fun of having a crowd look on and cheer as you beat level after level.

Then came the PS2 generation of gaming. The games on the PS2 looked pretty darn good, and games on the Xbox and Gamecube looked even better. And while the decline of arcades in America had already begun prior to that particular console generation, the PS2 cemented it. In America, arcade gaming was breathing its last gasps. The only thing left were physical games (such as air hockey) or games that required some kind of attachment, like boxing games which made you wear gloves.

By far the most popular post-PS2 arcade game, though, was Dance Dance Revolution (or DDR as it's more commonly known). DDR sparked a minor arcade renaissance, with kids from all over the world jumping and tapping their way to gaming glory. To me, DDR was the pinnacle of latter-day arcade gaming: with it's massive platform controller that required you to jump all over it, DDR simply could not be played on a home console.

Boy was I wrong.

Not only could DDR be remade on home consoles, it was remade very well in dozens of different iterations, with dance pads now available at any game retailer for as low as $20. That, to me, was the final straw for arcade gaming. In Japan, it's still going strong, but here in America, I've got the brand new DDR game for the Xbox, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4, and it doesn't even seem that bizarre to me that I had to buy a dance pad to play it on. It's all par for the course with today's consoles.

Now, as you might be able to tell from the game's title, Dance Dance Revolution is not a new-comer to the console world. In fact, you could almost say it's been done to death, if it weren't for the fact that every new version still sells like hotcakes. That being said, it's a little difficult to objectively review this game. It's not story based, and the gameplay has by now been honed so finely that there are far more game modes than you would expect from a game that essentially makes you tap in time to a beat. So what is there to separate this game from the billion other games that carry the DDR name?

Gameplay:
The answer is: not much. But how much innovation can you put into a game like DDR, anyway? The biggest change from the series, a career builder called "Quest Mode," sucks. Hard. You play a novice dancer making his/her way to Dance City (catchy name) to become the ultimate dancer. The way you do this is by...dancing. You don't even dance against other people, you just dance and fill up a meter. Once the meter is full, even if the song isn't done, you get to move on. You gain points by how much the audience likes you, and their approval lets you open up new stages on which to strut your stuff. In-between, we're treated to ludicrous exchanges with other dancers, each in cell-shaded 2D glory. There is no sense of accomplishment or even simple progression to Quest Mode. It's just a grind and the attempt to marry DDR to a more linear style of gaming falls utterly flat.

However, luckily for fans, there are still multitudes of other modes. The basic mode is Game Mode (the winning streak of classic names continues), which is where you...dance to songs. Shocking, I know. The idea here is that you have a rotating list of songs, and most of them are locked. To unlock them, you have to beat the currently unlocked songs. Simple enough. Well, simple enough if you know how to play DDR. At this point in the series, the game isn't catering to newbies (despite a thoroughly over-detailed tutorial), and even the simplest songs were enough to trip me up until I got the hang of it. That being said, once I got into the spirit of things, and I untangled my legs, I was able to get through a good portion of the songs. In addition, you also get a multiplayer mode, called the Party Mode, which gives you many different options on how to play with others (although you'll need multiple pads).

Next up is Workout Mode, the mode which has singlehandedly caused parents across the country to buy a version of DDR for their kids. This mode is exactly the same as Game Mode, except Workout Mode acts as a mini personal trainer. You enter in some basic profile information and the game sets various workout goals, and tracks how many calories you burn when you're dancing to any one song. The cool thing is, once you've set up this mode, it will track the calories you burn when you're in any other mode, and it will provide a breakdown of how you've done over time. Very nifty, very cool, and honestly one of the few instances of a video game in America providing something outside of entertainment value. I don't care if this mode is on several other DDR games, its inclusion alone is a valid selling point.

Challenge Mode provides specific requirements you must meet to beat the level. These are, like the name says, pretty challenging. Training Mode lets you work on songs that trip you up as often as you want without it going on your record. Jukebox mode allows you to hear the songs in the game without actually playing the game you just spent $40 on.

The last mode is something that I've enjoyed lately in games like Elebits and Locoroco: a level editor. Yay! I love level editors. If you ever feel like the designers didn't do something right, here's your chance to make it happen. The DDR level editor is pretty detailed, allowing you to completely create brand new steps to a song, and change the corresponding background video, as well. I spent more time in the level editor than I did with the main game (and that's saying something, as I did quite a few of the songs in the main game), going from making absurdly easy levels to levels so hard they'd make your feet bleed and everything in-between.

And, of course, seeing as how DDR is on the Xbox, it has several different Xbox Live functions. By now, as with the main game, the online portion is pretty well put-together, as is clearly proven by the plethora of options available to you. You can choose from all different kinds of matches, different styles of play, and even make it so only people with dance pads can play against you. There is one problem: barely anybody is playing online. I don't think Konami got the memo that the Xbox is more or less dead. Unfortunately, the audience DID get the memo, because it took forever to find an opponent. The other big deal about DDR online is downloadable songs, but none of those are available for this particular title yet.

In the end, aside from the abysmal quest mode, there's nothing here we haven't seen from other DDR games. Even the anime-esque characters that populate this game, while a divergence from the standard DDR title, is par for the course in the Ultramix series. So why buy this title at all? It all boils down to the songs. Aside from the standard fare from several DDR regulars, Ultramix 4 contains tracks by the Pussycat Dolls, Oingo Boingo, Geri Halliwell, Prodigy, Stray Cats, and several other names that most people would recognize. DDR purists might bemoan the licensed songs, but for my part, I found it refreshing to listen to a song that I actually knew beforehand. How can you not enjoy jumping in the air like an idiot to "Dead Man's Party"? It's impossible to dislike it.

Graphics:
The Ultramix series has always differed from the other titles graphically, in that you get several generic anime-esque characters who dance to randomized backgrounds that look like perfunctory "visual modes" on programs like iTunes and Musicmatch. But let's face facts: who the hell is watching the stuff on the screen? If you're not looking at the next step you need to make, you're going to lose. Period. The amount of concentration it requires to get some of the harder songs in the game is such that you might not even notice things in the real world, let alone extraneous stuff in the game. The only thing that bugged me was major video slowdown at every single loading screen. Poor showing on that one, Konami.

Audio:
As is to be expected of a game where the main goal is achieved through sound, the sound on DDR Ultramix 4 is great. You've got a Dolby Digital soundtracks of some awesome songs. And if you don't like the song that's playing, once you beat it you don't have to play it again.

Conclusion:
As has clearly become the case with every DDR title that's released now, it all comes down to what songs you like. By now, you know the gameplay. If you don't, go pick up an older DDR title and a dance pad and educate yourself. It will be cheaper than Ultramix 4. But if you know what this is about, and you just want to get your groove on, see if the songs here appeal to you. Recommended