Dance Dance Revolution Universe Bundle -Xbox 360

Description

Dance Dance Revolution: Universe Bundle continues the long DDR tradition of innovation and creativity. It's an entirely new game for the next generation! Dance Dance Revolution Universe, exclusively designed for the Xbox 360.

Features

• More than 65 songs, including songs and dance remixes exclusive for the Xbox 360, licensed songs, and popular hits
• How To Play, Trial and Super Easy modes aimed at first-time players and beginners
• Relay mode lets friends and family play DDR like a marathon race -- players can switch off to other teammates and keep the party going all night
• Enhancements to features from the original DDR series, including Workout Mode, Edit Mode, Quest Mode, Party Mode and more!
• Xbox Live enabled online competitions and downloads

Customer Reviews

Somewhat disappointing for experienced players
Elihu D. Feustel

If you have played DDR on other platforms, you will probably be disappointed with this version. In particular:The music selection was less varied than in past editions. There are licensed songs, but mostly older songs or "hip-hop" - there are not many current dance songs. There are reconizable artists doing songs for this mix (Midihead, Echo Image and Neuropa to name a few), as well as remakes of older songs (like Ecstasy, Insertion and Candy).The doubles charts seem like they were designed at random. There is a progression of moves you expect to see based on difficulty, and they are very different from singles. The doubles steps don't follow that progression, and are not very new-player friendly. A 6-foot doubles looks like a singles song randomly tossed over 2 mats. This makes many of the doubles songs more difficult than you would expect from the foot-rating. Another problem with doubles is that you must select the pad layout EVERY TIME you pick a song. It would be nice if it would default to the last layout you picked.The "improved graphics" do not enhance the game, but rather detract from it. DDR is a simple game - watch the arrows and step. The graphics and flashing tend to make it harder to see the arrows (although the movies are not harmful).Lastly, the load times are significant - about 12 seconds per song. While not terrible, other platforms load faster.The game includes "downloadable content" - there are 10 songs on the game that can only be unlocked through X-box live by paying $10.There are also songs unlockable through "quest" mode. This is the worst type of unlocking system I have ever played on a DDR platform. In previous versions, there were finite tasks to do, which if you did, gave you the ability to unlock songs. This version is fluky - you travel around from site to site, and mainly compete to get your "fan base" up. A problem with this system though is even if yuo do a song perfectly (full combo it), you may not meet the objective. Another fluke you may see is being assigned to do 15 Freeze steps, and the song doesn't have 15 Freeze steps, so you fail again. The quest mode is more designed to waste time than add enjoyment to the game.To the game's credit, it is very new-player friendly. It has a lesson based tutorial, and the quest mode will never kick you out mid-song (there is no life meter in quest mode).Another good part of the game is there is a nice variety of difficulty levels for singles, right from the start. Some older versions had "gaps" where there might be only a few songs at a certain level (especially 8+). The challenge levels of the songs are nicely dispersed. One odd thing though - there are a lot more jumps here than other versions. This is good if you play for exercise.If you are considering buying this, realize that your old dance pads will not work with this. The Konami pad included is pretty good for a thin pad, but you'll want to buy foam pads if you play the game a lot. If you are going to shell out $[...] for 2 "Beat pad pro" foam pads, you are better off giving up on the X360, and playing DDR on either the PS2 or Xbox. Both have better games, and a single set of Red Octane foam pads will work on both the PS2 and the old Xbox. There are much better games on the other platforms; on old Xbox, take a closer look at Ultramix 2 & 3. On PS2, look at DDR Supernova and Extreme 2, or "In the Groove" if you are a skilled player. Read more ›

Awesome game, terrible mat.
Kevin Nicholls

What's there to say about DDR that hasn't been said a million times before?This version is great, though some of the songs are a bit old. And it looks awesome on an HDTV.My only gripe is with the included dance mat. It's pretty bad, even as cheap ones go -- and for the sake of reference, the last mat I used was the Madcatz one for the Xbox, and it wasn't bad. This thing slips like crazy!Since the included mat uses USB, you could just buy the standalone game and a better mat for about the same price. If I had it to do over again, I would have got the Xbox 360 Beat Pad or paid a little more for the Xbox 360 Beat Pad Pro.

Worth Every Penny - And The Wait
Smileypie

We started out by thinking that the original DDR for the XBOX (NOT 360) was compatible with our new 360. Not so. Pretty disappointed when we found that the plugs were different on the dance pad, and once we found a "joy box" that turned the xbox dance mat into a usb-type pad; it still didn't work. Returned it and skeptically ordered the 360 version with 2 months and counting for the release. It arrived last week, and I have to say, it is a LOT of fun! Our kids are on it constantly, it is great to get up and play a "game" and move around. Even the adults are on this thing. The beats are actually very well put-together. The tunes are beat-driven to help you learn from beginning all the way up. Once you pass and get a perfect "grade" by dancing the correct way on the mat to the song, it unlocks another song in the progression of difficulty. You can also log onto xbox live and compete against others live. Haven't done that yet, we are trying to not fall over and trip still! I recommend this to anyone who is sick of sitting on the couch and wants to try something new. Also has a workout mode. Believe me, 3 to 4 songs nonstop and you are working up a sweat without pressing the workout option. We just ordered another dancemat after exhaustive research. This pad slips all over the place, so get some velcro to keep it still when dancing. Check out the dance pad pro (on amazon). It has a port for your headset and of course eventually the karaoke games that will obviously come out in the future.

Good, but previous versions better.
Jacob C. Miller

I bought the Dance Dance Revolution Universe Bundle from Amazon for the massive discount in price at a retail store. At a local store from a nationwide chain, the game was retailing for $59.95...just the game..without a controller. The Wireless X-Box 360 controller cost an added 39.99 and was an off brand. Purchasing it from Amazon, I saved 30 bucks and got a controller along with the game(though, the controller is corded, which is a bit of a drawback, a cordless controller would have been nicer).The game itself is similar to the other version of Dance Dance Revolution, except it has an added "Quest" mode. While the Quest mode is challenging, it's often prohibitively challenging. Many of the challenges are difficult to surmount, and choosing a 'overall difficulty' at the beginning of the quest mode does not seem to affect the songs difficulty in any way. Most quest mode challenges involve you earning a certain number of points over the course of one song. If you fail the song, all is not lost as you can continue and try another song. You can keep trying until you quit or master the song. It's nice that you don't fail if you don't succeed the first time. Some challenges, however, seem impossible to succeed at no matter how many times you try, or how perfect you complete a song. This makes the Quest mode seem tiresome and unrewarding. And since you MUST play Quest mode to unlock hidden songs, it makes finding those songs nearly impossible.For DDR purists, the quest mode can be bypassed and a much more familiar dance mode is available, similar to the other, previous DDR games. Allowing you to dance through any songs the game provides (Save the ones you have yet to unlock from Quest Mode).It's fun, and a healthy way to spend your time playing videogames. There is an added Calorie counter that shows you the amount of calories burned in all game modes after each song. It's supposed to keep track of your calories burned, but I found the interface to be unreliable and difficult to interpret.As far as Songs...I found that the songs on this version were lacking compared to other versions, Particularly the DDR Max and Max II versions. It is hard to put into words how songs on those games were 'better' than this, but they had certain...style...to them, that lacks in this game. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun, and since everyone has their own musical opinion, it's hard to rate. Overall, a fun game, DEFINITELY not worth paying store retail for, but a good game for 70 bucks. Read more ›