Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (game & dance pad)

It's time... for the Hottest Party.

Reviewed by R0DJOh on November 23, 2007  |  report this review

It was about time that Nintendo consoles got a REAL DDR game, and not a dumbed-down kid-friendly version. Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party brings all the beats, challenge and style that you would expect for an actual DDR game.

By now you should know the mechanics... the game comes bundled with a dance mat, which is pretty much four big arrows you can step on. On screen you will see arrows scrolling up. When they reach the step marker, you have to step on the correct arrow. Arrows of course are arranged in a way that it makes you look like you are "dancing" to the song that is playing in the back. The objective is pretty much to make as less mistakes as possible to clear the stage. Miss to many steps and you lose.

DDR:HP has a neat soundtrack. Half of it includes hits from past decades as well as more recent, and the rest are typical DDR songs, though all of them are either completely new, or new remixes of known DDR songs exclusive for this version. The soundtrack has a few duds here and there (who said Caught Up was a hit?), and by today's DDR standards it could have had more... but it's not bad for starters.

Beside the feet markers, this game features exclusive Hand markers which prompt you to shake the Wii remote and the nunchuck when they appear. While this is a neat idea, you'll find how it doesn't detect ur moves all the time... I wish this was implemented in a better way... Great potential got lost here. Thankfully you can turn this off.

Another addition to this one are "Gimmicks" which add and extra challenge to the songs. These include Double Arrows, arrows that spin to confuse you, arrow blockers, and "Missile" arrows to attack your opponents. These are pretty cool, but if you don't feel like using them you can also turn these off.

So to end this review, if the Wii is your main console and you can't really do any better, then DDR:HP is a great choice to get your dance on. It's the DDR game that Nintendo console owners deserve. Let's hope we get a sequel with more extra modes, more songs, and better use of the motion controls.