System : Playstation

Genre : Music

Price : $59.95 at any respectable import store

It's that time of year again. Konami's updating their Bemani line with new versions of practically every game in their series. And what would Bemani be with without an update of their most popular series, DDR?

Since the gameplay's been discussed in the past and most people know about the series ( If you don't, check either my, Pat's or Carl's archives for reviews on previous incarnations) this review is assuming you know how to play. What we'll discuss here is the differences and new additions (or actually , lack there of)

Some of the new additions to 5th Mix are Long Version songs. These having been popular in Guitar Freaks for the longest now have been added for those who have the common interest in seeing how long the human body can be made to jump around or how long a blister takes to form on a finger. With 4 Long Version songs and all of them pretty good, you should have no problem working up a sweat. Also new to this Mix is the Gallery Mode, with about 220+ pictures to unlock, with art ranging from pictures taken of DDR games, merchandise to screenshots taken of past Mixes to shots of Konami's new personal idol group (all of which are pretty cute) , Be 4 U.

But this Mix seems extremely rushed, as some things that were standard in other Mixes (most importantly Nonstop and Endless modes) have been mysteriously taken out. Also missing is Challenge and Solo modes which were introduced in EXTRA Mix. This is an extreme disappointment as Endless and Nonstop are expected on every Mix, (If the reason being that they were taken out is the Long Versions, they could have always just not made them available through those modes...I just don't understand.) And also, I don't understand why Afronova Primevil, Dive (Original) and Broken My Heart are even on this mix, as they were on the EXTRA Mix. I can understand why they put Dancing All Alone back on (the steps have been changed to something harder than 2Basic/1Trick/1Maniac, thank God), but those songs could have been used for something different, like Petit Love which is strangely off this Mix or something new.

But there's still a lot to like with this Mix, especially with 43 new songs. Personal favorite artist TaQ and Matt K's favorite DJ Taka are out in force on this one and provide very good beats all around. It's got a couple strange oldie tracks (What the? The Twist, Swing It and Never Ending Story?) but some of the others (Hot Limit, Moonlight Shadow and my personal favorite, Absolute) more than even out a strange balance within the sound track.

Graphically, I wouldn't even mention anything, as usually nothing usually happens in this category from Mix to Mix, but now the game seems to be 60 frames a second with an occasional hiccup every now and then. The backgrounds also for some reason or another seem less spastic. Hmm....strange.

Sound, Music is good. Like I said above, the balance on this one is great. The old announcer is back after a short departure on Extra Mix, and apparently learned even more odd quotes during his time off (I can see a dream in your dance, I can see tomorrow in your dance, we can call it our hope!). Despite the weirdness, nothing that you should hate here.

Good stuff all around. If you're a DDR fan and you want to get what will more than likely be the final Mix for the PSX (DDRMAX [6thMix] incorporates FMV backgrounds so it will undoubtedly be PS2 exclusive) then pick this one up. Despite the loss of some modes, it's still a good purchase and you really can't complain about getting 40+ new songs.

The Reverend Mofat Jones hopes to see DDRMAX soon. He can't wait to see some dumb fool try 300MAX and then pay for his bravery.

-Mofat

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