Dancing stage fusion is made by konami which makes all of the dancing stage range and the ddr games. If youve never played them on ps2 before, they are in the style of the arcade dance games you find in bowling alleys, fairgrounds and such. i own 5 other dance games so i think i have a good basis for comparison(2 dancing stage, britney dance beat, pop idol and dance uk, and i have also played the bratz game)Out of all of the dance games i think the dancing stage range is the most playable. The arrow style is one i am used to since i used to spend alot of time in arcades playing the games, and in my opinion it is the simplest.
The game has expanded way more on previous dance games. There are the standard game, lesson,training and workout modes. On top of this are the party, mission and non stop modes. I will review each seperately to make it a bit clearer.
Firstly this game has a great range of songs. There are a huge 21 licensed songs which impressed me alot as no other dance game i have played has this many. 12 are listed on the box, the rest are:
Come into my world - Kylie
Gotta get thru this - Daniel Bedingfield
I believe in a thing called love - The Darkness
Its raining men - Geri Haliwell
Kim Wilde - Kids in America
Tom Basil - Mickey
Sexiest man in Jamaica
Sunlight - DL Sammy
Go West - Petshop boys
Personally i think this is *such* a great mix. Its mostly pop orientated with the token few r+b style or dance style songs so there really is something for everyone. its silly to complain if you like rap or something that there arent rap songs cos they have to be songs you can dance to. If you are younger than me and think you havent heard of all the licensed songs, you will probably know them when you hear them.
The unknown songs are just the average stuff youd expect from a dance game, pretty rubbish really but there isnt one dance game that doesnt have them (to my knowledge).
A good thing also with the licensed songs is that if you dont select a character to dance with it instead plays the video to the song so you get to see loads of great videos from the likes of kylie and junior senior, along with the words displayed on the screen!
The actual game has lesson and training modes to get you started. Lessons are useful for the beginner and training allows you to practise the song and change options so that the steps are simpler and so on. also playing in training mode means you dont have to worry about wrong moves (in game mode if you miss loads of arrows it finishes but in training it doesnt matter) so this mode is good to watch the music videos in. There is also the standard workout mode to see how many calories you burn.
The actual game mode allows you to unlock more songs, dancers and outfits giving you an incentive to keep playing. Mission mode sets you different missions you have to completewhich then unlocks more missions for you to do, adding to the gaming aspect of it. There is a nonstop mode for experts to try as well! The game can be played as 1 player, 2 player or double (where one player uses both dance mats) so there is plenty of scope for you to progress right from the absolute beginner to the hardcore dance game addict.
Finally there is the party mode. In this mode there are some games you can link with eye toy so if you have a dnace mat and eye toy like i do then this is the ideal game for a party or gathering. there is a feed the animals game where each of the arrows represents a different food. an animal appears on screen, say, a cat, and you press the arrow which means fish. There is also a running game where you use the side arrows to run faster and the up arrow to jump over holes. these games can be difficult but are still fun.
With eye toy you can see yourself onscreen while you dance (cool but offputting at times!) and you can use your hands to dance, like the arcade dance games where you use hand sensors as well as your feet. There is another dance game with eye toy where the screen gradually gets dirty so you cant see the arrows - you must clean the dirt away as you dance. there is also a ball bouncing and a coconut catching game.
As you can see this review has turned out pretty long, and thats because of all the features this game has. It really is amazing - dancing stage in my opinion has the clearest arrow system. ad to this aamazing number of tracks from chart artists, missions, eye toy compatibility (you CAN still play the main game without eye toy though) and mini party games and youve got a superb game no other dance game can come close to. Its also a pretty good price so this is definitely the MUST HAVE dance game.
