It's interesting what you can get away with here in the world of gaming. Someone makes a popular platformer and you can create your own while taking certain parts that worked in another game and reinventing them to your own desire. Someone creates a game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and all of a sudden, the field's wide open for gang-based warfare games, be they first-person, third-person, or driving/shooting. Then you have the Dance Dance Revolution games from Konami, which have gained worldwide popularity both in the arcade and at home. Since Konami hasn't been keeping current on updates over the year, Roxor Games got the idea to build their own DDR game from scratch, and that game is In the Groove. It's gained a lot of attention all its own- maybe a bit too much. Konami's filed a lawsuit against Roxor over the game's creation, citing copyrights and other legal issues. However, that hasn't stopped Roxor from giving the home market a try.

In the Groove marks RedOctane's software debut on the PlayStation 2, after making a number of dance and other peripherals for the system. It's a good debut, a DDR clone that has a variety of modes going for it and some touches that really bump up the gameplay. If only it had gone the extra mile with visual improvements and song selection, we could've had a classic alongside Konami's legendary titles. As is, it's an alternative, and a pretty good one, but that's mostly about it.

Let's talk about the game's modes for a minute. You've got your standard Dance Mode, which takes you through the steps of a style similar to that of the arcade game. You choose certain songs for each stage and then follow through on a set difficulty level, either starting out with your basic Beginner or getting right into the higher expert modes and seeing how you can hold up. Battle Mode pits you against a fellow gamer in two-player action, where you can unleash Modifiers to mess up their performance depending on how well you do. Tutorial Mode will walk you through Groove's basics, like expected. Fitness Mode will put you through a workout mode of sorts, allowing you to lose some pounds as you dance. The interesting thing about this game's Fitness edition is that you can have a second player join in for a dual workout, or go for Double Fitness for extreme pound burning.

However, the real mode that will put gamers to work will be Marathon Mode. This is completely non-stop dancing over a series of four or five songs, where you really have to keep up in order to keep the round going. I love this mode, although, I admit, there were a few times I simply did not finish it out of sheer exhaustion. (I'm a big man, after all.) The fact that modifiers are still included in here to try and mess you up will keep you working at it.

What I like mostly about Groove is some of the changes to the DDR formula. As much of a clone as this game is, there are some nice touches that come into play. Sometimes the arrows spin in parts of the game that will make you rethink a dance step, and the patterns can change during a song to keep you on your toes, literally. There are also quads and the use of your hands that come into play, having you put them to use on a dance pad and making it a full-out workout. If that wasn't enough, you must also avoid stepping on mines that scroll up on the screen, or you'll take a drastic hit to your dance meter. It can be frustrating for beginners, but those familiar with games of this nature will take the challenge and feel right at home.

It's good that In the Groove has this going for it, because the other areas come up short. I like some of the graphical touches in the game, especially with the polygonal arrows and some of the groovy dance patterns, but it feels second-nature in comparison to DDR's show-stopping presentations. Then there's the song selections, which have a superb mix of trance, J-Pop, and techno tunes, but you can't help but feel let down by the fact that the game contains no recognizable licensed tunes. I can understand if this would've made Roxor work a little harder, but it would have been worth it to throw in something that we can relate to. Oh, well, the soundtrack is still worthy of mention.

In the Groove surprisingly wins some points for originality, but seems to come up slightly short with its presentation and its tendency to lean toward the more hardcore dancing community. At least it's still got some stuff for amateurs, however, and it remains a welcome delight in terms of gameplay. Just do yourself a favor and DON'T play with a controller. You'll be robbing yourself of the experience that RedOctane had in mind. Get to dancin' already!