In this last week we have received 2 family games to review, the first being Skylanders which we absolutely loved and the second being Just Dance 3 from Ubisoft.
I took Just Dance 3 home with me so that the family could have a go as we were massive fans of the original Just Dance on the Wii and as such were best placed to try out this new version on the Xbox 360 Kinect.
It should be noted that I never got a chance with Just Dance 2.
Just Dance 3 is a pretty simple game really with the whole basis being on getting up in front of the TV, choosing a song and dancing your heart out. The Kinect menu system works and is pretty decent though my daughter did have some problems getting it going in the beginning.
After that we jumped right into selecting a song from the massive track list, Just Dance 3 has 53 tracks on the disc and you’ll be able to continue buying more tracks as DLC moving forward.
The track list is also very up to date with songs such as Party Rock Anthem from LMFAO that was released in 2011 lining up next to some all time classics like Think from Aretha Franklin all the way back in 1968.
Each song is rated on difficulty and effort with 1 being easy (hah) on both scales and 3 being absolutely freaking impossible unless you are some freak who can move their body in ways that shouldn’t be possible.
As well as difficulty and effort ratings each song is also labelled as either a Solo, Duet or Quartet. If you’re playing with a friend however you can still both do the Solo songs it just means that you’ll both be doing the exact same moves while if you do a duet you’ll each have your own routine.
Okay so that’s the info covered, how does it actually play.
Well it’s actually pretty good. The Kinect does a good job of picking up your movements and translating them into the game and you really feel like you need to pull of the moves correctly to get the maximum amount of points. Obviously it’s not perfect as Kinect isn’t perfect but it’s a big improvement over holding a Wii controller and having your wife cheat by simply moving that hand instead of really getting into it.
It also offers perfect drop in / drop out multiplayer with another person being able to jump in at anytime by simply walking into the dancing area and getting their groove on. This unfortunately is also a bit of an issue as it often misjudged what was going on and instead of tracking the dancer moving around it decided that a new dancer had arrived and the old one had left leaving a duet dance with 3 scores and only two players.
It’s not a major problem unless you are keeping track of scores, which you always should be doing as winning is everything*.
And that really is the crux of the entire game isn’t it? It’s not a complicated title it’s simply a dancing simulator and I’m not a professional dancer so I can’t say how well that actually works. What I can say is that it’s fun and if the idea of a dancing sim game appeals to you then this is a good one to get.
If the idea of a dancing sim game horrifies you then really what are you doing reading this review?
Scoring
Gameplay: 8.5/10
It’s a dancing game that is very good but not perfect at tracking you but it allows for 4 players simultaneously which is pretty incredible
Design and Presentation: 8/10
It’s pretty decent looking and easy enough to navigate though the menu system could be improved for greater control.
Value: 8/10
There are extra’s in the package like the ability to make your own moves and share them but the core of the game is dancing to bundled music which should keep you going for months
Overall: 8/10
It’s a very good dancing simulation game and if your loving Dance Central but want a better multiplayer experience then this is a very strong contender. It’s a job well done by Ubisoft
*This is not always true, unless you’re Charlie Sheen
Last Updated: October 21, 2011
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