The original arcade version of DDR came at just the right time, interest in arcade gaming was waning and we were getting a bad press for all these overweight kids who were getting fat playing computer games. Now, i don't want to come over all political but i thought people got fat because they lacked a good diet and exercise. Just another medium to pass the blame onto for lacklustre parenting. Konami took a bold step in releasing the arcade game, complete with two mats and screens and bass-heavy speakers, it pretty much dominated every arcade it was put in. The genius of the design was that it drew a large crowd when someone was playing it, people watched and thought 'i could do better than that' and paid to play. Initially disorientating, you soon got into the flow and everyone could watch you make a total idiot of yourself, jumping around mildly in time with the music and waving your arms to keep balance. In another stroke of marketing genius, they ported it to the Playstation, now you could practice at home and show all those people who were laughing at you last time how good you've become. It also makes a great party game, the ultimate alcohol-fueled multiplayer title. So where next for the series? Well, combine this with Xbox Live! and you can start to get the idea.

Gameplay:

If you've never played or seen a DDR game in full flow, the premise is simple; press the buttons on the controller or direction on the mat in time with the music. The better you do, the more points you get. You see, you really don't need to complicate things to make a decent game. Arrows move from the bottom of the screen up to the top markers, when they hit the marker, step on the corresponding direction on the mat. This is an all-new version for the Xbox and is making a debut for the series on this platform. It uses all the best features from the previous versions and gives us a ton of extra content to play around with.

You have the basic arcade mode, where you choose your song, difficulty level and you play for points just like in the arcade. If you want to get an exercise regime going, you can try the workout mode in which you enter your details and you can monitor how many calories you are burning as you dance, obviously the faster you dance, the more you burn. You can view a multitude of statistics on your workout and is much more fun than slogging it out on a treadmill or some other such torture device. Fancy creating your own routines to the songs on the disc? The Edit mode lets you do just that, you can customise it to however you want. An especially fun option is to create something that looks easy to start off but quickly escalates to a heroic speed and shoving your friends in front of it. After a few drinks.

The most important new feature in this version is the ability to play online via Xbox Live! Log on and you can find up to three other dancing partners to play with. The Live! aspect works very well and is as smooth and stable as any other Xbox online game. You can have the voice chat coming from your TV's speakers so as not to distract you from the rhythm of the game and if you have the money, you can buy extra tracks to download and play along to.

Graphics:

DDR Ultramix is all about the dancing, not the graphics and they are purely functional for what you need. Colourful but not distracting and they convey the fun, lively feel of the game well. Dancing cartoon characters prance about the screen as you do on the mat and the animations coincide with the music well enough. Again, this isn't about being a 'graphical' game and too much would have done much more damage than not enough.

Music:

Well, this game really is mostly about the music and there is a huge list of songs to dance along to from Paul Oakenfold to MASAI and a ton of Konami produces tunes as well. The whole roster is around 50 songs covering R&B, pop and dance tunes and while they're not to my personal tastes at all, you can forgive this for the style of the game. I'll be much happier when they bring out 'Slam Slam Revolution' or something to that effect.

Longevity:

How long can you go? Inevitably you'll get bored of this and move on to the next one but it's still worth picking up and playing now and then, if only for the online play. There's not a lot of depth to the game but it's great to bring out for parties and will last you if you're on a long-term workout program.

Roundup:

Well, this is odd, the graphics are average and i'm not into the music but it's turned out to be a great game. This is one of those great videogame moments that you see the passion of the designers making the game really show in the end product. Just look at the tons of options, modes and features you have on offer. There's the Live! online play aspect and the best part of all is either making a complete idiot out of yourself or laughing at other incompetent fools struggling to keep the steps in time with the music. It's what all games should be like; fun to watch and play and completely interactive.