I really enjoy the Dance Dance Revolution series. It's a very active way to play video games and stay in shape! With DDR Extreme 2 you get a new set of songs and some new activities.

First, if you've never played Dance Dance Revolution before, the basics. You buy a separate floor pad that has arrows on it. You stand on this pad and as the music plays, you dance around on the pad, hitting the arrows with your feet. So if the video screen shows an "up arrow", you hit the up arrow with your feet. It starts easy, so you get the hang of it, but soon you're actually dancing around, hitting arrows with two feet at a time, and having a TON of fun.

The key here is that you are actively playing. Instead of lounging back on the couch and pushing buttons with your fingers, you are caught up in the game, dancing as quickly as you can, and burning off tons of calories. You can easily lose a LOT of weight doing this - or stay in great shape - and it's not boring at all! It is a ton of fun. There have been many times that my legs have been aching but I've kept playing because I wanted to get to the next level.

So what does this version of DDR provide that others ones don't? Well, the key is the song set. Each set of DDR games comes with its own unique music set. I always highly recommend that you look at the full set list of the game to see if the music appeals to you. You can talk about graphics, or costumes or so on - but really, when you're playing you don't see any of that. You usually have no idea what your "character" is wearing or what the background is doing. All you focus on is listening to the music, watching the arrows, and getting your feet moving.

I have the song set separate so this review doesn't get huge - DDR Extreme 2 Song Listing

In addition to basic "play a song you like" gameplay, there is also a mission mode where you work your way up a tree, choosing from song X or song Y, meeting the mission parameters for each song. Sometimes you just have to play the song through, sometimes you have to get X perfect hits, and so on. You unlock new outfits, new songs, and move your way down the path. It's a great way to get introduced to songs you might not normally play. There have been many times in this game where I've skipped over a certain song figuring I wouldn't like it - but then when "forced" to play it to get through a level I found it really was quite good!

There's also a workout mode, if you want to focus on raw calories burned, and you can chart your progress online if you want to see how well you stack up to the competition.

For me personally, this song list isn't one of my favorites - but again I accept we're all different and we all have vastly different musical tastes. So where I personally would play one of my other DDR games for the music selection, I'm sure many people will think this is their favorite because they love the music here. That's why it's great that there are so many different DDR games out there, something for everyone.

Enjoy!