Dance Dance Revolution

So, one of my Christmas presents was DDR: Hottest Party for the Wii. Normally, I don't enjoy exerting any form of physical effort (with exception of the fingers) for video games, but the Wii in general forces you to move at least your arms to some extent. So, I figured that moving your feet would be just one level above that.

Now, for those of you who don't know what DDR is, it's a giant cross pad with up, down, left, and right: just like any ol' D-pad on a controller. However, your fingers don't do anything but sit on your hands for this game. You push the buttons with your feet. There's usually a heavily beat oriented song playing and arrows moving up through some clear arrows at the top that signal where and when to stomp. Go to an arcade and you'll see what I mean.

Anyways, a friend of mine was playing the game for PS2, and it looked mind-boggling the way his feet were all over that board. Therefore, I decided that it would be cool if I could at least do something like that...only maybe to a lesser degree. Finally a DDR (other than that Gamecube Mario version, seriously...no one likes Mario, Nintendo) came out for the Wii. Although, being the Wii and all with the fancy controllers and such, there are hand movements as well as the footwork. This just makes it more complex. I'm not very good at it as of now, but I'm getting better. Hopefully, I'll keep interest (this game has to beat Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn to do so) long enough to get good at it. It's certainly good exercise.

So, DDR: Hottest Party probably isn't the best one of the bunch, but it's fun and certainly has the DDR feel to it, although the arcade version looks like the controller pad isn't lame. It's not a game that you just play through, beat, and be done with it. It's as hard or as easy as you want it to be, so you can take it at your own pace. I can't say it's an entirely serious game, and it might be a bit girly; but don't let that stop you from getting it if you're bored and have lots of open space and privacy in front of a TV.

Rating: B