Ultramix 4 also has a quest mode, which is a career mode of sorts. You're sent to Dance City, and your goal is to become the ultimate dancer. You'll do this by earning fans, which translates into money, which lets you open up additional areas to dance in, and so on. This mode has you dancing to fill up a meter--once the meter is full, you can quit out midsong and continue forward, if you want. It's a silly mode with plenty of ridiculous text-based dialogue, including the obvious favorite, "Yo! That ain't a chillin' place for a novice like you!" Wise words, indeed.
Graphically, the Ultramix series has always looked different than the other DDR games. It uses a set of cel-shaded characters that dance onscreen. Behind them, a randomized series of prerendered video clips plays. It's all hectic and visually pleasing, but like any other good rhythm game, you'll be too busy focusing on the gameplay to care much about what's happening behind it. The quest mode attempts to make the background videos part of the gameplay, as you'll get more money for dancing well when specific videos are playing. But since you always want to dance your best, this doesn't really change your strategy or anything like that.
While Dance Dance Revolution was once on the cusp of mainstream success, it's fallen back into a niche these days. If you're one of the serious fans that still love the series, Ultramix 4 certainly has all of the modes and options that you'd want to see from a DDR game. But if you can't get behind a number of the songs on the game's soundtrack, you could just as easily take a pass.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- Dance Dance Revolution,
- Konami Corp.,
- Microsoft Xbox,
- song,
- gameplay


Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4 (Xbox):
