Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party - hands-on

As straightforward as that sounds, however, you'd be amazed at how much it complicates matters. Keeping track of your feet is a full time job in DDR, requiring every ounce of your concentration, so imagine what throwing in a small addition like hand movements does.

Actually, you don't need to imagine, because we'll describe what happens. Gaming journalists who think that they're experts at these things step smugly up to the mat and promptly commence tripping all over themselves. Legs tangle, hands flap and curse words fly. At one point, a Nunchuk sliced wildly through the air, nearly decapitating us and the DDR producer standing nearby. Exaggeration aside, we did come within inches of receiving a nasty black eye from a videogame controller.

As straightforward as that sounds, however, you'd be amazed at how much it complicates matters. Keeping track of your feet is a full time job in DDR, requiring every ounce of your concentration, so imagine what throwing in a small addition like hand movements does.

Actually, you don't need to imagine, because we'll describe what happens. Gaming journalists who think that they're experts at these things step smugly up to the mat and promptly commence tripping all over themselves. Legs tangle, hands flap and curse words fly. At one point, a Nunchuk sliced wildly through the air, nearly decapitating us and the DDR producer standing nearby. Exaggeration aside, we did come within inches of receiving a nasty black eye from a videogame controller.

And gameplay is only going to get more devious as development continues. If everything goes according to plan, the Nunchuk and Wii remote will eventually be responsible for different symbols on the screen - possibly one corresponding to the left side of the body and one to the right side. A competitive multiplayer mode is in the works that would enable you to hurl obstacles or extra arrows at your opponent by performing various specific movements with the controls. Finally, a cooperative mode would demand that up to four players pull off the exact same motions at the exact same time to progress through a song. We think you'll definitely want to keep the mats safely separated for that party.

It all sounds rather chaotic and dangerous, yes, but it could also be precisely what the stagnating franchise needs to feel fresh again. Personally, we're a hell of a lot more excited about the prospect of bizarre dancing injuries than we are about the addition of a new Jamiroquai song.

And gameplay is only going to get more devious as development continues. If everything goes according to plan, the Nunchuk and Wii remote will eventually be responsible for different symbols on the screen - possibly one corresponding to the left side of the body and one to the right side. A competitive multiplayer mode is in the works that would enable you to hurl obstacles or extra arrows at your opponent by performing various specific movements with the controls. Finally, a cooperative mode would demand that up to four players pull off the exact same motions at the exact same time to progress through a song. We think you'll definitely want to keep the mats safely separated for that party.

It all sounds rather chaotic and dangerous, yes, but it could also be precisely what the stagnating franchise needs to feel fresh again. Personally, we're a hell of a lot more excited about the prospect of bizarre dancing injuries than we are about the addition of a new Jamiroquai song.

Charlie Barratt
I enjoy sunshine, the company of kittens and turning frowns upside down. I am also a fan of sarcasm. Let's be friends!