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Update: We've updated the screenshots to include an updated option screen from our video capture...
Konami's new PS2 title DDR Max, scheduled for a fall 2002 release, promises to be the largest mix yet. There will be over 65 songs in this version, 20 of which will be exclusive to DDR Max. Among these will be the 300 bpm song Max 300, which Konami claims to be their most difficult yet. The song list on the E3 demo included: Groove 2001, Healing Vision, Let the Beat Hit Em!, Look to the Sky, Love Again Tonight, Midnight Blaze, Share My Love, Paranoia Evolution, Overlast and Orion 78.
Aside from the new songs, DDR Max adds several features which are new to the US, including stop arrows, which require that the player remain on the arrow for the duration of the stop. Another new feature is the options menu within the song list. When choosing a song, you can call up this menu to change speed and arrow scrolling style. The speed can be changed to anything from half-speed to 8x modes. One can also choose to have the arrows scroll downwards rather than upwards, accelerate or decelerate their progress towards the top or bottom of the screen (see the movie for an example of this). Other modes include hidden, stealth, sudden, mirror, left, right, shuffle, little, flat, and solo.
DDR Max will now feature a new rating system which will better indicate the difficulty of the song. This system includes a pentagon shape whose points are extended to varying degrees based on five of the songs characteristics; Air (amount of airtime/jumps), Freeze (the number of stop steps), Voltage (how much energy you use, ie how exhausting it is), Stream (the amount of arrows and the spacing between them), and Chaos (the difficulty/complexity of the patterns). Due to complaints about the Japanese version's only including this rating system, the US version will also have our old friend the foot rating system. There is also an improved judgment system, which figures in the difficulty of the song when determining the grade.
Game modes in DDR Max will include Arcade, Workout, Training, and Edit mode, which allows you to create your own arrow patterns. Character selecting has been eliminated although occasionally there may be a character on screen in some songs. The game now runs at 60 frames/second which gives it a much smoother look compared to the PSX versions. The backgrounds for each song will now include fluid full-motion video.
Konami will not be developing new pads, although they will probably ship a greater quantity of new pads upon release of the game.
For the most part I enjoyed my experience with the DDR Max demo. The increased frame rate makes it look much nicer but also gives it a different feel, which took a while to get used to. The idea of stop steps was not too difficult to pick up, yet they gave the song added complexity and provided an interesting challenge. I was able to play one round that had descending accelerating arrows that was pretty fun once I got the hang of it, but did not seem to be significantly harder. I am sad to see the character selection go because I really liked some of their designs. To me it added something of a personal touch. Even so the game was solid on the whole, and I look forward to seeing what new songs will be included.
Jaimie Nakae
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