Before Guitar Hero and Rock Band stole every gamer’s living room, Dance Dance Revolution was once upon a time the king of party games. Who wouldn’t want throw down with challenging your friend in a dance off? Wait a minute; dancing here in the states isn’t nearly as accepted as it used to be. Who knows the cause of why guys usually turn into wallflowers at any wedding reception, high school dance, or any other event that revolved around dancing, but dancing isn’t something that many men do in public. So, with DDR taking the backburner while Guitar Hero and Rock Band continue to party it up in living rooms, Konami has taken a new direction for DDR with an attempt to capture the hearts of a younger generation of gamers by catering to fans of Disney movies and shows with their latest release, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition.

To quickly recap how to play Dance Dance Revolution – as if any knowledgeable gamer doesn’t already know – it’s simple to understand: when you see the arrows scroll up on your TV screen, you have to tap the matching arrow icon on the dance mat. If you hit it too late, you’ll receive “Boos” while if you are doing it correctly you’ll receive “Greats.” After the track is done, you’ll see your score broken down on how you performed. This is the premise of DDR dance to the track in rhythm and be rewarded for your dance skills.

For those thinking that the Disney Channel Edition would be toned down for the younger crowd in terms of difficulty, this is where you’d be wrong. You’ll be breaking a sweat with trying to keep up with the pace of scrolling arrows. Of course, if you aren’t a fan of Disney-oriented programs then it’s easy to assume that you won’t be having any fun dancing off what you ate for lunch. This can be attributed to the assortment of songs from Disney movies and shows.

How does the Disney Channel Edition differ than other iterations? To start, there are characters such as Hannah Montana (who can be seen plastered on the front cover), Kim Possible, Gabriella from High School Musical and much more included. This should be one of the biggest draws for players to pick up the game due to the massive interest Hannah Montana and High School Musical have in today’s public. Outside of that, of course there are songs from the likes of: Cheetah Girls, That’s So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and the aforementioned shows that have characters appearing in the game.

If that’s not enough, there’s a new mode called Magic Mode that’s being introduced. It’s basically a pumped up single-player career mode that allows players to pick their favorite Disney character and challenge another Disney character in a three-song showdown. If you win, you’ll unlock a new outfit for your character/avatar of selection. Also included in this mode is a combo meter that gets a boost when you perform a “Great” or higher. If you fill up the meter and the countdown, which is in the lower portion of the screen, hits zero, you can unleash a maneuver upon your opponent with speeding up their arrows or even rotating them. Think of this as similar to Guitar Hero’s “Battle Mode.”

If that doesn’t pique your interest, then you can always play through free play mode, training mode, advanced mode or work out mode. Everything is as you expect; free play mode employs players to choose their song and difficulty to compete against a friend or the computer, training mode is try out different speeds and songs, the advance mode is a gauntlet mode that has you playing as many songs as you can with only four continues to use if you fail, and work out mode has you playing for a certain amount of time or until you learn a set amount of calories. Also, there’s a lesson mode to teach newcomers how to play DDR, but it’s all pretty standard in the end.

Now, if you are looking for a beautiful game, then look elsewhere since the Disney Channel Edition is an ugly game. The characters are cel-shaded and have jaggies located all over them. If I was Hannah Montana (and of course, I am not) I wouldn’t want this poor variation of myself as a virtual representation. On top of all that, the backgrounds are too vibrant with wild neon colors. My eyes began to burn after playing Disney Channel Edition like as if I was staring at a vacancy sign at a motel for too long.

The song selection is specifically catered towards the crowd that likes Disney programs. I, personally, don’t like any of the tracks since I have no real connection to them. But, this is meant for fans and you could easily get into Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition without too much hesitation if you are a fan of the shows. The only problem is that compared to other DDR games, the Disney Channel Edition doesn’t have as many songs available to dance your night away. There are only 40 songs found here that’ll run their course within a few hours. 

The last big problem is the lack of an online mode. With no option to play online, this is merely only going to be played at parties (probably a mellow children’s b-day party) or with a small group of friends that want to dance to their favorite High School Musical songs.

Gameplay: 7.4
If you have played DDR in the past, then you should come into Disney Channel Edition with an idea of how to play the game. Not much has changed for the better or the worse.

Graphics: 5.5
Yuck; too much neon and way too many jaggies to keep this from being a visual treat.

Sound: 7.3
There aren’t enough tracks to dance to.

Difficulty: Medium
If you have bad coordination, then it’s safe to imagine that you’ll find it hard to dance in DDR.

Concept: 7.0
With relying on a popular license, it’s not very innovative as it could have been.

Multiplayer: 6.5
No online multiplayer = fail!

Overall: 6.8
It seems as if Konami is avoiding innovation and focusing on attaching licenses to the DDR franchise. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition isn’t for everyone since the songs are targeted for the younger generation. If you don’t know who the Cheetah Girls are, then you may want to skip out on this DDR title.