It's time to talk about In The Groove. In The Groove (or ITG) is a game created by RoXoR Games, published by Red Octane, and is much harder than anything DDR can dish out. Instead of being limited to a 10-foot scale, there are 11, 12, even 13-footers. The ITG scale does not actually have a limit, but nothing has been officially created beyond a 13. In addition to higher limit on song dificulty, there is another dificulty level: Expert. Expert mode is only for the very very experienced players, where the easiest songs are 9-footers. ITG also includes hand plants. HORRAY! Now, you have to hit the pad with your hands and feet, usually during freezes, but there are the occasional hand+jump combo. Also new to ITG are mines. Mines are steps where if you have your foot on the sensor when it crosses the arrow bar, you lose part of your life bar and points, but you continue your combo. Also, the grading system has been revamped to include the DDR equivalent of Marvelous: Fantastic. With the new grade piece, it is easier to tell how far offbeat you are, and you can get better combos and more points. Also, having an extra timing piece makes the perfect window slightly larger, allowing for easier combos and better scores. RoXoR Games was actually sued for the creation of this game by Konami for copyright infringment, but won on the fact that the graphic engine and basic designwas completely different from DDR. The arrows from ITG are not sprites like DDR, but actual polygonal figures, like a 3D character in any other game. This allows for extra mods that change how the arrows move, like being able to move back and forth across the screen, spin, shake, shrink, etc.
This game is a must-buy for any player that wants to continue to dance in their living room. DDR will peak in difficulty at about the 9-foot range, with a few 10-footers. When you get up into the 9-footers, you need to buy ITG. The entire Expert level is 9+ in difficulty, with plenty of 10's, 11's, and 12's. There are few 13's, and those you won't need to worry about for a while.
My personal experience with this game: This game is amazing, it is a must have for any self-respecting dance-gamer. The stepcharts are amazing, and the music isn't bad. Not the constant J-pop, Happy, and licenses of the DDR franchise, but when you pull out a handplant combo, and jump right into a minefield, you aren't really paying attention to the music. It is a much better trainer than DDR, and requires much more skill. The hardest song in DDR (Paranoia Survivor Max Oni/Challenge) doesn't hold a candle to some of the steps in ITG, for example, Pandemonium (average of 9 steps per second) or Euphoria (constant 32nd note chains).
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