Dance Factory (PlayStation 2, 2006)

Dance Factory is a fantastic game for DDR fans or music lovers who want to play something physically active. Codemasters did a good job of delivering a game that is appealing in both concept and graphics. The game comes with a few licensed songs that you can dance to on three different modes: easy, normal, and pro. The real novelty of the game lies in loading up your own music CDs on your Playstation, from which Dance Factory generates a unique stepchart. Music rhythm is pretty much always synchronized very well with the stepcharts. With long songs, the stepcharts tend to have something like a 5-second break after every 1.5 minutes so you don't get too worn out before completing a song.

Other features of this game include the dancing "creatures." A unique creature can be "extracted" from every music CD you use, and these creatures can customized with accessories and dance along to your music. When not dancing with your creature, you can dance with colourful background themes much like fancy screensavers. Extra themes can be purchased with points you accumulate through dancing. The game also offers a fitness mode that tracks how many calories you burn, as well as a battle mode if you have two mats.

In spite of its fun functions, Dance Factory is not without its weaknesses. Graphics-wise, you won't find the creatures or the themes especially intricate; both have rather repetitive movements. More serious players might also find the stepcharts too easy; players used to playing 8-10 footers on Konami's DDR series will find Dance Factory's pro level somewhat equivalent to 7 or 8 footers on DDR. (Normal is similar to 4 footers, and I haven't tried easy yet, but I can imagine it would be close to 1 or 2 footers.)

However, the biggest annoyance I had with this game was the ARROWS. They are spaced too far apart, have irritating animations, and cannot be customized. Every time you step on an arrow, its edges create a ripple effect that distorts the immediate area around it. When you have a fast series of taps (steps on the same arrow) it becomes especially hard to see when arrows start rippling one after another. Also, it generally creates an illusion that arrows are moving slower than they are, which may throw you off beat. Perhaps this is a feature that will just require some getting used to, and some people might not mind it as much as I do. I simply prefer arrows clear-cut like in DDR. Expert players might consider the animated arrows a bonus obstacle.

Overall, I can say that Dance Factory is a neat game designed more for fun and music enjoyment than competition. Its limitless capacity for songs of any type makes it a novelty among DDR-type games.

This game is terrific. You can put in any CD. The dances do take a little while to load, but after they do then you can save them to a memory card and they don't take long the next time. You can also create your own dances. It is just as good, if not better than DDR

I was extremely pleased with this game, I really love the fact that you game put your own cd in and have dance steps made from it... I have already lost 12 pounds, without really even tryin... this game is the best!!

I came across this game while looking for DDR. I had been impressed with the idea of a game that gave me exercise! :) However, I wasn't impressed with the music selection on the ddr games, and the fact that to get any more music, you had to buy another game. When I saw that any cd's could be used with Dance Factory, I was thrilled. And sure enough, it worked great! Compared to DDR, the choreography of the dance steps isn't quite as sharp. But it's fair, and fun to try to follow. I also like the mode where it shows how many calories I've burned, and the distance of jogging to which it compares.
Highly recommended!

I hope this comes as no surprise to say that this product is a shameless clone of Dance Dance Revolution. However, it expands on the formula.

While the game itself offers only a few tracks, the key advantage is the ability to generate movesets for any audio CD.

While the actual program is kinda cheesy (dance creatures?) and somewhat limited in terms of background visuals, if you truly enjoy the concept and core gameplay of DDR but want your own music instead, this is an excellent choice.

I will caution that, in the end, like most of the PS2, it suffers during close inspection - the movesets don't always match the main pace of the song - however, for a true fan or someone who is tired of the whiny techno, this is an excellent choice.

And if you want a laugh, throw in an audiobook.

i like dance factory more than any other dance game because you can dance to your own music at three different levels of difficulty. the only thing i dislike about it is it has this longer step to it that sometimes gets a little annoying, but most of the time it's okay. you also get these little dancing guys for every one of your cds you put in and get to give them accessories. they also have a mode where it counts the steps and adds up the calories so you can see how many you've lost. it's way cool.

Great game if you do not really like todays music. You can put your own music CD's is and make yoru own dances to them.

I love the idea of making my own ddr dances. Dance factory gives you two ways to do this, either let the game generate the steps for you, or go in and do it yourself. What i don't like is some dances that are generated feel off tempo. Also the steps that are generated are only on 1/4 or 1/8 notes, even if the music has 1/16 notes that feel natural to step to. The only other down side, is the arrow placement on the screen. If you've played a lot of ddr it may throw you for a while, but i got over it after a few songs and a bit of concentration.
However, there is an infinite playlist! and if you don't like what was generated for a song, you can go do your own steps. If you're on the fence about this game, i say that the pros out weight the cons and buy it! (honestly, if you hate it you can sell it back after all).

The fact that you can use your own music is just terrific!
Its better motivation to dance and work out a little when the track is something you really like, from your own music collection!!
I give A+ to this product

such an awsome game... especially when you want to dance to your own music... we had a game party and it was a big hit...something we will use all the time! we even bought this game for our friends!

This game is good for people who like to use DDR casually. For the serious dancer (such as myself) it is basically a waste of money. The up and down arrows are switched from the DDR series (which takes a while to get used to), the backgrounds can be so flashy that they are distracting, the messages get in the way, and many of the created dances are just not in sync with the actual music. I would recommend that gaming companies leave the dancing games to Konami and I hope Konami makes a better version of 'Dance Factory.' I do, however, love the fact that I can dance to my favorite music or songs that seem interesting. This is a good try by Code Masters, but it needs TONS of improvement before it becomes as big as DDR.

Overall a good game. Easy to load and use. The controls are slightly glitchy. Slower songs produce rutines that are very enjoyable, however fast songs are very difficult and don't match the beats as well as other games in this genre. Memory card usage not nessessary. I wanted to dance to music I like and this game makes it possible.

I bought this because I really like DDR and wanted to play new songs. But the up and down arrows are opposite from DDR so i mess up all the time and dont really want to try to learn to play it that way. They should have kept it the same.

I love this game because it is an excellent workout and you can keep track how many calories you burn and dance to your own songs!

I love this dance game... especially because you can put any cd you are in the mood to listen too...
It is a lot of work and a good workout... Must Try

You really can use your own cds. It's a blast to play and a great workout. If you like the other dance games then you'll love this one.

This is a great game that will not get old fast like others. It really makes dance moves from any CD, even downloaded MP3's. Once the game loads it instructs you on when to remove the game CD and add your music CD. It's that simple. My daughter has other DDR games and gets tired of the same old songs that are either from no name artists or songs that are outdated. With Dance Factory she can decide the music she wants to dance to, and can change it up as her taste in music changes. Dance Factory is easy to use and we had it up and going in just a few minutes without reading the included instructions. This is the most flexible DDR game out there. It is a must buy if you are into the DDR games.

I love this game. not only can i dance to the songs that i want to dance to but my kids can dance to the music that they like. Since I have large age gaps in my children, my older ones can listen to teen music while my little one can listen to disney. I mostly bought this for my kids, but i got sucked in when i was able to put my music in as well. Great workout. And, you can actually have fun while working out (shocking as it may be). My kids were on it last night for a couple of hours and didn't even realize that they were also getting a work out. I would definitely purchase again, without a second thought.

Bought this for my teen, but I also use it as it is a great workout-don't have to go to the gym! It is great because you can use your own music and it provides the steps to follow, it mixes up the dances. It takes a long time for your cd to upload into the game though. The graphics are "different" but ok. My teen likes the graphics of DDR better, but likes the fact that you can use your own music. Would buy it again!

My daughter and I played the game last night (I had also purchased 2 dance pads)and it was loads of fun, not to mention a workout!! I'm still getting used to it, but we had a blast!! I would def. recommend this game it makes exercising FUN!

Fun game, although if you are used to playing DDR games your timing may be way off at first. Also, graphics are somewhat lacking, though there are some psychadelic visualizations. The Song-analyzing stepmaker feature is pretty nice, it's always fun to be able to dance to whatever songs you like. Overall, I'd give this game a 7/10.

My 13 year old daughter loves it. Great exercise as well, instead of just sitting and watching something.

This is great! You can dance to YOUR music not stuff you've never heard, not stuff you don't like but your favorites, what YOU want. I play/dance until my legs hurt so much I start missing too many steps. It has 3 modes, Easy, Normal and Pro so you can choose the level of difficulty for each song.
It's so much fun to play/dance with the songs I like. I have one of the other DDR games and I can't stand the songs on it, I don't know most of them and the ones I do know I don't care for. I totally recommend this DDR disk, especially if you get bored with the same songs, you can change it up, load new songs anytime. Buy this disk, get exercising and have FUN!!!! You will love it!