While the time-honored tradition of plunking down the change in the once-thriving arcade scene has almost all but vanished (a moment of silence for the fallen), certain traditions carry on. Dance Dance Revolution provided what I might point to as the last stand of the arcade elite against their increasingly more powerful console brethren. It is the game that has endured in popularity well beyond the house that helped build it. Migration continues to occur as Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2 on the Xbox 360 tries to expand and secure the already well-established brand on the console scene, but how many times can a game make a misstep before it develops two left feet?

While I can't say that I'm of the DDR elite and have the power to move my magic feet and make Burning Heat tremble at a FC on heavy, I've been following the game after it spawned and gained enough popularity at the turn of the millennium. I was surprisingly satisfied with how engaging the game becomes when I let myself be taken away by the music and stop worry about appearing foolish. It happens to be one of the first, and to this day, one of the most solid rhythm-based games I have played. Not much has changed.

Though it does seem impossible to keep up with the dozens upon dozens of iterations and remixes Konami puts out for the series, the basics never change. You try to dance as dancers would ... if they were confined to four arrows on a dance pad (or eight on two dance pads for the insane). In this instance, up, down, left and right are the tools you use to keep a beat going, and they're all you need to know as you groove your way to DDR stardom. The engine offers some subtleties for change in song options (speed modifiers, arrow presentation, etc.), but the game's allure is the bare bones knowledge needed to jump in and keep doing so, even if you never graduate past this point.

This more or less brings us to the specifics offered in DDRU2, as a surprising number of features remain, and only a few steps are taken to define individuality in each title. The engine never needs retooling — the series works; why else would schools be employing it for help in physical fitness programs? However, many of the design decisions are still up for trampling, as more often then not, they seem to miss the mark completely on what is acceptable in terms of playability.

The ever-reliable primary game mode lets you cycle through all the tracks available at the start, and it is here where you will be spend most in-game time. Any additional tracks will be available here as well. It's a single-player mode through and through. Party mode offers the inverse, providing the offline multiplayer aspect (though who has the space for more than one dance pad?), which does a good job of lending itself to a number of different game modes. Attack mode allows you to gain power-ups through dancing to thwart opponent as well as bomb or relay. Endurance, Point, and Speed are par for the course, but a new mode in this edition Freestyle.

The name is self-defining: Create your own moves to any of the songs in the game on the spot, and be judged as a dancer. This is definitely a mixed blessing and will depend on your experience with the feature. I enjoyed trying to go ape shit on the dance mat while trying to maintain a shred of dignity, and I would like to think anyone not capable of the end-game dance moves on higher difficulties would partake joyfully as well. It works up a wonderful sweat, without the nasty after effects of mucking up and not worrying about failing out. In my mind, trying to recreate Christopher Walkens' memorably awesome dancing talents in the video for "Weapon of Choice" in any one song is principle alone to recommend this game type, as you can truly do what you want, be it serious or completely overblown.

The efforts of trying to include this as a workout regimen are very real, if not as effective as a full-blown exercise, for those who would get no more than a couple clicks of the mouse. Even as a general motivator, the game's workout mode can be a gracious help. While not a fully fledged experience, you enter your statistics and turn it on when you start a session to help monitor a helpful routine or to see if flailing around in the same spot is helping burn calories. It has always seemed like a really well-meant afterthought and succeeds in the small intentions it puts forth.

Other functions, such as a jukebox for listening to songs, a records hall and practice mode, are all shoe-ins for inclusion. Editing mode remains wiselyintact, though the overall menu layout has cleaned up quite a bit while still providing the single most useful tool for any serious DDR player. You may edit any of the existing step patterns to your liking in any of the songs present.

This is not a new feature for DDR on the consoles, but it reminds me of the very essence of replayability it represents: being able to streamline the creation process with ease right into the core basics of the game. From difficulty to preference, dancing steps favorites or even movies that play in the background, making the song completely yours, why other big-name rhythm-based franchises haven't gone on and implemented this into their own games (and the demographic for this is generously growing) leaves me more than curious. Though for DDR's sake, it continues a nice standard and leaves any wanting and creative DDR player with happy feet.

Offline multiplayer is easier to access than Xbox live, as you would be hard-pressed to find another player online. Whether humility gets the better of the DDR home public (and with anonymity, I question how) or the series hasn't reached critical mass for online play is difficult to tell. The several attempts thus far have proven unsuccessful; if you can't attract quick matches on Xbox live, then I say the game has a little more time until it is fully embraced by eager DDR players at home in the online sense.

Marching on with another sour note, Challenge mode exists as a sad testament to overscaled difficulty, as the escalating experiences become apparent early on as being an effort in patience rather than a learning curve. The mode is obviously geared toward the more advanced players. By the third bracket, I felt insulted that not only were sharp increases in unfair treatment taken to justify "difficulty," but some of the challenges want you to perform poorly on purpose, bringing into question the motivation and legitimacy of the entire endeavor. If the challenges do not represent a learning tool to get better and beg of the skilled to forget what they have learned by catering to poor performance, which demographic are they trying to express enjoyment to? It was a seemingly aggravating experience to my head and feet alike.

Quest mode leads me to my biggest questions, as it now gives another shot at trying to get it right and continues to suffer from completely egregious downfalls. The game fails to inform you that the lowest difficulties will do nothing to gain enough points to continue in Quest mode, even if the songs are perfected, providing a confusing, unbecoming exercise in entertainment. On top of sloppy navigation in the overall world, a complete and utter lack of respect with help sections on how to progress, and no feeling of involvement or motivation to overarch the experience to keep the player going, the mode takes little precautions and falls flat on its face.

The soundtrack almost seemed devoid of the heavy J-Pop I prefer and am accustomed to with the DDR series (as the console versions tend to be). The mention comes from some of the more engagingly energetic experiences I enjoyed in the arcade, loving to try to keep up the fast pace and watching others do the same. Little effort is taken in downloadable content as well, as only a few tracks are offered, with no real props to any of the DDR greats for download. Though, musical tastes differ, and the game provides a wide arrange of what could only be described as a more Euro-Centric theme. The dance mat is not beyond preference, as one of the most integral parts of the experience is the peripheral itself. I'm sorry to see little effort to increase quality has been taken with the dance mats; this seems almost to be the worst home pad yet, with no traction as expected and completely twitchy button activations in any menu one would frequent.

The biggest problem the game has is not in the core itself, but the ways it tries to branch out. A basic edition mode has been included to try and make the game appear more accessible, but the game never lets on the claim as anything more than a facade. For the elite or the skilled, there's no issue. People like me, who have at least graduated onto higher difficulties, will not run into these problems for some time. Unfortunately, as daunting as games that pride themselves on this sort of skill seem to be, the last thing that needs to be present is an underlying tone of condescension for the players who just wouldn't be able to cope due to inexperience.

The basics will remain for them, but with so much content left seemingly untouchable for the rather large majority, the effect is not one of tempting progression, but a feeling of disappointment. This is underlined by how poorly Quest mode is constructed and Challenge mode executed. Though having fun is rule No. 1, at some point, entertainment is still only a few feet ahead of achievement in skill-based games, and the bar will be different for everyone. My question is how easily novice players will trip, and how many will stick around for much longer after the fact.