There was always a feeling in the dance game community that Europe was being left out somewhat when it came to Konami's million-selling franchise Dance Dance Revolution (Dancing Stage as we know it). While America enjoyed songlists of a size and quality to rival the original Japanese games, we poor Europeans had to suffer tiny songlists full of easy, inane pop tracks and games of no significant depth at all (I'm looking at you Fever and Megamix)...But the series has evolved. It's been almost 5 years since Dancing Stage EuroMIX hit our shores, and in that time players have progressively got better and desired greater challenges. This is where Dancing Stage MAX comes into its own...
The game itself is almost a carbon copy of the most recent American release "Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2" and boasts an all new "Dance Master Mode" - an extension of the Mission Mode found in Dancing Stage Fusion - in which players work their way around a virtual map completing different songs and challenges in the hope of unlocking new songs and features for the free play mode. The missions get progressively more difficult as you tackle disappearing arrows, arrows that scroll in a single column, and even arrows that appear less than a second before you step!
All the usual favourites are catered for - Workout mode, Course etc. - but there are also a number of extra tough modes to unlock that will test your skill and accuracy....one wrong step, and your whole game could be over!
As for the songlist, there are 20 "licensed" tracks by well-known artists, including Sugababes "In The Middle", Natasha Bedingfield "These Words" and Hot Chocolate "You Sexy Thing". Add to this some 40 other original songs - ranging from electro-pop ("Inside Your Heart") to Eurotrance ("Tomorrow") and Techno/Rave (old favourite "Dynamite Rave" makes an appearance!) - and what you have is the largest songlist on a PS2 Dancing Stage game ever! Quality stuff!
Eye-toy support is still there as well for those that feel the need to practise their hand-feet coordination. All in all, I have to say that if this is the future of the Dancing Stage series in Europe, then we can finally say that we have a game to be truly proud of! Thank you Konami!!
