{"id":172,"date":"2014-04-05T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/stories\/?p=172"},"modified":"2022-07-17T18:34:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T22:34:42","slug":"ddr-5th-mix-2q2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2014\/04\/05\/ddr-5th-mix-2q2014\/","title":{"rendered":"DDR<\/span> 5th Mix \u2014 2Q2014<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The last of an era for DDR<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The end of an era had to come for Dance Dance Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion at some point, and that final\u00adi\u00adty hit like a ton of bricks with 5th Mix. There real\u00adly was\u00adn\u2019t much of a going-away par\u00adty or cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of all that was DDR<\/span> before the storm\u00ading of the gates that was Max, but 5th Mix rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded the cul\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion of the phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy that was danc\u00ading with arrows before speed mods and Freeze arrows came along and changed everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

5th Mix isn\u2019t bad, if you\u2019re used to play\u00ading DDR<\/span>. At this point, every\u00adthing is in place and you should know how things work: You step on four dif\u00adfer\u00adent arrows in time with songs in three dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adties: Basic, Trick and Mani\u00adac. You miss enough times, it\u2019s game over. If you should pass the song, you\u2019re grad\u00aded on how well you did. 5th Mix does\u00adn\u2019t intro\u00adduce any\u00adthing new mechan\u00adics-wise, and that\u2019s fine con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading it\u2019s con\u00adtent with let\u00adting you play DDR<\/span> exact\u00adly the way you\u2019ve played before. Instead, it makes changes in the aes\u00adthet\u00adics, and that\u2019s where change is need\u00aded the most.<\/span><\/p>\n

5th Mix changed the way the DDR<\/span> struc\u00adture looked with the great intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of the song wheel. Gone was the old look of CDs in a juke\u00adbox and in came a cir\u00adcu\u00adlar sec\u00adtioned wheel \u2014 sim\u00adi\u00adlar to the one found on the \u201cPrice is Right\u201d \u2014 that fea\u00adtures all of the songs avail\u00adable for play. This over\u00adhaul brings with it a bet\u00adter look and a bet\u00adter feel over\u00adall to the game, and it does\u00adn\u2019t hurt that it\u2019s the first in the series to run at 60 frames per sec\u00adond. Also, 5th Mix was the first in the series to intro\u00adduce a unique col\u00ador scheme that \u201crep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded\u201d the mix. This brings a fresh look to the table and works won\u00adders with mak\u00ading a seem\u00ading\u00adly tired con\u00adcept look new.<\/span><\/p>\n

The music is anoth\u00ader help in the revival. A few old\u00ader favorites returned, but there\u2019s quite a few new tunes and they stand out. One of my favorites, Heal\u00ading Vision ~Angel\u00adic Mix~, steals the show and makes its pres\u00adence known as a boss song as does Can\u2019t Stop Fallin\u2019 in Love Speed Mix and Afrono\u00adva Primeval. The rest of the songlist is kind of take it or leave it, but there\u2019s a good mix, which is essen\u00adtial to any DDR<\/span> mix\u2019s long-term replay value.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where I find a few prob\u00adlems with 5th Mix is also with\u00adin the song list. Thank\u00adful\u00adly, 5th Mix is the only ver\u00adsion that fea\u00adtures the ridicu\u00adlous long ver\u00adsions of a few songs. Prob\u00ada\u00adbly the most egre\u00adgious of these unnec\u00ades\u00adsary uses of space is the over\u00adly long ver\u00adsion of Dyna\u00admite Rave. Besides not need\u00ading yet anoth\u00ader ver\u00adsion of the elder\u00adly song, the long ver\u00adsion is LONG<\/span>, much too long and it bor\u00adders on obnox\u00adious. There is absolute\u00adly no need for a three-minute ver\u00adsion of any already corny song that appears much too fre\u00adquent\u00adly in DDR<\/span> songlists in the ear\u00adly days. And much like Dyna\u00admite Rave, the oth\u00ader long ver\u00adsions don\u2019t real\u00adly add much to the setlist. If I want to hear a ver\u00adsion of Brit\u00adney Spears\u2019 Oops I Did it Again, I\u2019d just lis\u00adten to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal. And B4U<\/span> ~Glo\u00adri\u00adous style~ is a com\u00adplete waste of space that could have been occu\u00adpied with oth\u00ader wor\u00adthy songs that did\u00adn\u2019t make the cut, like Rhythm and Police.<\/span><\/p>\n

5th Mix was a good last call to an era of DDR<\/span> that most play\u00aders did\u00adn\u2019t know was com\u00ading to an end. A pass\u00adable song list, great upgrade over pre\u00advi\u00adous ver\u00adsions and a stream\u00adlined approach to the cur\u00adrent DDR<\/span> struc\u00adture meant a decent ver\u00adsion to dance to with few prob\u00adlems. It\u2019s not the great\u00adest DDR<\/span> mix, but we can prob\u00ada\u00adbly safe\u00adly say at least it was\u00adn\u2019t Max. 5th Mix found its home right in the mid\u00addle of the series, where it was sup\u00adposed to be all along.<\/span><\/p>\n