 In The Groove/Arcade
NOTE: I wrote this review a while ago. It's posted here for others to view
In the early days of this game, I was doing my homework. Reading about this game, reviewing the song list, looking at the pictures & watching videos of this game. I was not impressed one bit. I thought DDR was still king for me, but that was before I even played it.
Finally, a local arcade got an In The Groove machine, and I thought, "Eh, why not." Put 3 quarters in, hit start, I was good to go. Going around the song list wheel I see songs that were hyped on message boards, and thought to myself, I need to try them. So first song I played was titled VerTex. Never heard the music itself, but heard tons about it. I was liking what I was hearing in the little demo they give for each song, and picked to play it as my first song on difficulty "hard." Boy was I in shock. Not only was the song awesome, but the steps were great. The rest, is of course, history.
Game play: 9/10
Still has the standard DDR style game play, but with a few added bonuses. One of them being the number of mods available! You can go crazy with the mods on here. It's quite amazing how many are included. On top of that, there are mines(which in my opinion is the next best thing to happen to a Dance Sim since the Freeze Arrow), and triples and quads. Forcing you to go on your hands and knees. Last, there is the "Expert" mode, which would be considered the "Oni" type of mode. But songs do not just range in difficulty from 1-10. Oh no, it ranges from 1-13! That's right, 13! This is great for the amazing DDR'ers, and hardcore fans of the dance simulators. But do not fear, this game is for EVERYONE! Newbies, oldies, Hardcordies....(You get the idea)
Sound: 9/10
The music in this game is incredible! I instantly fell in love with many of the songs on this game, and never get tired of them. Only problem is, there is little diversity in the music. It's all trance/dance/Happy Hardcore. For me that's great, but I've heard many complaints about the song list, which is why it is not a perfect 10.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are not that bad. On various photos I've seen before I played, the graphics looked terrible. But once you play the game, they seem to be good. Not as polished as DDR's, and you do see the same backgrounds repeating over and over. Also, the song selection wheel's graphics are nothing amazing.
Overall: 9/10
A superb dance game for beginners and hardcore fans alike. A must try game that is sure to become the next dancing game to be crazy for, and may now be the new "King" of dance games.
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