Aside from the missing functionality, the thing that disappointed me most about DDR Hottest Party 2 had to be its soundtrack. First up, the game has a hodge-podge of about twenty techno and dance songs that you've probably never heard of. However, this is par for the course as far as the DDR franchise is concerned. The problem I have is with the covers of "pop hits" that they have included. These "hits" include "Black or White" by Michael Jackson and "Bust a Move" by Young MC. To be fair, there is a cover of Rihanna's mega-hit "Umbrella" but the cover is so bad, it is hardly a good thing. If Hottest Party would have stuck to the DDR standard fare, it would have been okay, but the inclusion of outdated or poorly covered pop music feels weird and can be a real drag to listen to, let alone dance to.

Graphics in this game are also quite underwhelming, although I have never been one to knock a rhythm game for background graphics, but these are so bad. The characters barely ever move, and the stages look bland. The only thing about the visuals that wasn't completely disappointing was the Mii support. However, even that is a bit tainted because the Mii head is placed onto a DDR character's body, resulting in some weird proportions.

Overall, Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 was definitely a disappointment. The original Hottest Party did a lot for the franchise by adding the hand movements, and it would have been nice to see some more innovation implemented in the sequel. As it stands, however, Hottest Party 2 is almost exactly the same as its predecessor, just with different songs. Since the majority of those aren't even that good, it's better to just pass on this party.

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Staff Contributor