Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA

THE BAD:
Less-than-spectacular song list. Low difficulty level. Not much different than prior DDR games.

SUMMARY:
The 5th and possibly final DDR title for the PS2, SuperNOVA is a somewhat-direct port of the latest arcade version of the same name. The latest incarnation of the franchise features the usual updates over prior versions, namely a relatively fresh song list and an updated single-player mode, as well as the return of online play.

The graphics are decent and serviceable. The backgrounds for most of the songs now consist of 3D and polygon-filled backgrounds with a futuristic or outer-space type setting with little or no real flash or details. The few songs that have music videos feature generally high-quality video content but on some it falls just short of being perfect. The dancers now have a more cartoony look instead of the old polygon-based models, which look better than before but still show a lot of rough edges and lack of detail. Additionally the dancers don't show much visual flair, and the fact that the female dancers are capable of little more than uncontrollable booty-shaking is almost funny. Add that they dance to the speed of the song and watching them dance to a very fast song will almost have you laughing-it's that bad. Sounds are excellent as is often the case, the music quality is very high although the repetitive crowd noise quickly gets annoying and there's no real way to turn it off. Controls are fairly simple and accurate-a dance pad usually works well but the response depends on what kind of pad you're using (either a Konami pad that can be purchased with the game as a bundle or a 3rd-party pad), but if you don't have one the regular PS2 controller is very responsive and accurate as always. Gameplay is really unchanged from the prior DDR games-it's very simple to pick up and play: Watch the arrows on screen and step on the matching arrow on the pad at just the right time. The new single-player mode is an improvement over Extreme 2's mode in both gameplay and ease of understanding, but it's also way too easy-a player with any sort of real DDR skill can all but complete it in just 6-8 hours at most, or at the very least play through enough to unlock almost all the hidden content. This is a good thing for beginners though, as it provides a very generous learning curve and doesn't get too hard too fast. The main game mode maintains the same arcade-style gameplay as before, and the game as usual delivers on it's promise of quantity of music, this time boasting a total of 74 songs with over 100+ minutes of gameplay plus a few additional online-only songs. The song list is generally of mixed appeal-while there are plenty of J-Pop themed and inspired songs here as well as a handful of songs from the arcades (plenty of fan favorites like Naoki, dj TAKA, and BeForU among others), there's also more of an emphasis on classic top hits from the 70s & 80s. And while there are no songs repeated from prior PS2 titles, those who have played the Xbox DDR games will see a few familiar songs from those games, which may feel like a bit of a ripoff even though they play better on PS2. Also present as unlockable modes are the "Advanced" modes like Nonstop, Survival, and Combo Challenge to present additional challenges and replay value for advanced players, as well as Training and Edit modes. Online play is also available, taking the place of Extreme 2's online mode (Extreme 2's online play was disabled jsut before SuperNOVA's release). Overall though, this song list's difficulty seems a bit easier compared to the prior games, although the 5 boss songs, at the highest level, will have even the best sweating hard until the end to keep up.

As a whole, this is still a solid addition to the franchise but it just feels like nothing really improved over Extreme 2, and in fact more like SuperNOVA took a small step backwards. Diehard DDR fans will probably not care and pick it up anyway, but if you're a casual fan you should rent this one first and make your decision mainly based on the song list. If you see songs and/or artists you really like then go for it, otherwise sample it first ot see if there's enough to hold your interest for more than a game or two. If you're new to the franchise this isn't a bad place to start because of the low difficulty level but it's not the best one overall. In the end maybe DecentNOVA would've been a better title, it's solid but by no means super.