Scholars of the early hip-hop generation know that back in the day if you wanted to show your dance skills you through down the cardboard right on the street, turned up the music on your boom box and went to town. Pump It Up: Exceed features that same hardcore spirit of competition, but the cardboard and boom box have been replaced with Dance Mats and DVD discs.

While Pump It Up may not be such a familiar name here in the United States the game is king of the arcades in Korea and Latin America. With the help of publisher Mastiff Games and Mad Catz, Andamiro's Pump It Up Exceed has broken into the United States, brining to Xbox and PS2 consoles the full power and flavor of the urban rhythm dance arcade game on which it is based.

Instead of randomly assigning buttons to beats, Pump It Up: Exceed arranges the dances to the song first. Then steps are assigned to arrows on the mat, so players move like they would on an actual dance floor. This allows for a more realistic game experience where players will move to the music and actually feel like they are dancing. And unlike other dance games on the market, which utilize four directional arrows, Pump It Up: Exceed 's pad features five inputs: the four standard diagonal arrows and a new center button. The extra button and the streamlined design of the dance pad is meant to allow players to experience freestyle exploration.

Beyond the way you interact with the game, Pump It Up: Exceed offers a nice variety of game modes to challenge players including Home, Sudden Deat and Tutorial modes. These modes give players of all levels of competition a challenge - from those just learning to dance to seasoned living room dance machines. Pump It Up: Exceed also offers players Rankings in Arcade and Survival modes, allowing them to post scores for other players to marvel at and attempt to beat.

Finally Pump It Up: Exceed features roughly 100 tunes with everything from rock to house to Latin to pop. Pump It Up: Exceed features hits by Grammy nominees The Crystal Method and Steriogram, as well as Earth Wind and Fire, Sugarhill Gang, Elvis and more. By playing and winning challenges players can even unlock more tracks and music videos to expand the fun of the game.

Pump It Up: Exceed is available for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox right now from the Mad Catz Store . Both the Xbox and PS2 game comes bundled with an official Pump It Up Beat Pad. Additional Beat Pads are also available separately.