Just Dance 3 Review
A fun party title that brings one of the better dance franchises to Kinect
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SpectralShock
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So far, Kinect for Xbox 360 has often failed to make a significant impact amongst hardcore gaming enthusiasts. Just Dance 3 isn’t going to change that – however, it fits perfectly with the target casual audience of the device. This latest title from Ubisoft is a fine example of how jumping around in front of your TV can not only be fun but also organized and in style.
The earlier versions of Just Dance (1 and 2 were only released on the Wii) relied heavily on simple dance choreography to qualify as a dance game, due to the Wii’s control limitations. So you could literally strap the Wii Remote to your hand and move one hand only – all the while squatting on the floor, and still earn points. With Just Dance 3 and Kinect, the game now tracks your entire body movements thanks to the technology, thus keeping the general principle same but also making you actually dance.
The Gameplay is pretty straightforward. The player performs a dance routine, while human shaped icons at the bottom of the screen prompt you what the next step is going to be. A score tracker on the left side of the screen keeps a track of the score. A score ball displays accuracy and rhythm while stars are given to indicate how well you are dancing. While the icons at the bottom of the screen are helpful, the dancer on-screen provides more clues on the next dance move. All dances follow the 8 step routine – a sequence is repeated after a chorus or a verse and it becomes important to recognise the patterns for success.
Everything works well as expected, and most of the problems, which aren’t frequent, arise from the inaccuracy of captured moves by Kinect. The game’s difficulty curve is relatively low, so playing with little effort can still earn you big scores. Kinect’s tracking accuracy makes the game easy most of the time and impossible at others. Missing moves may sometimes still register in the game, but on many occasions doing something perfectly simply won’t get tracked by the game.
Players can increase their score by collecting bonus points, which are awarded for performing golden moves. These are special moves that you are asked to perform during your dance routine at various intervals, which grand bonus points and are extra difficult. After each song, based on your performance, your Mojo (the experience point system) is calculated. The more Mojo you accumulate over the course of the game, the more options of choreography and modes become available to you.
A song’s individual difficulty level can also be changed simply by holding up one arm after selecting the track. Easy level tracks only use upper body movements, whereas difficult level tracks require the player to really dance, using full body motions. The score ball is the sole performance indicator, thus it is difficult to gauge how to enhance your performance if you have missed a part of the choreographed sequence. It is difficult to know what went wrong – whether it was your hands, legs, or timing. The visuals, which are a cross between bright neon colours and old-school music videos, do add a certain fun factor to the atmosphere. Everything is very casual, but looks good at the same time.
The entire song list is divided into three different difficulty levels. In level 1, you have songs like B.O.B.’s Airplanes and at level 3 you have tracks such as “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” by Scissor Sisters. There is a lot of variety in the soundtrack, though for the purpose of the game most of the songs are fairly upbeat and focus on rhythm. A few slow songs are thrown in, but they sound out of place with the rest. The number of songs is rather modest, though fans will likely have a greater variety available to them as DLC.
New to the franchise with Just Dance 3 is the ability to play together with up to four different participants at the same time. This addition is likely the game’s strongest selling point, particularly because it’s meant to be a party game. Arranging four people in a room may sound difficult, but in reality this is fairly easy to do. Formation changes and spin moves add extra depth to the multiplayer modes, and with score being cumulative, all the focus is on keeping the group dancing rather than worrying about the winning score.
On the Xbox 360 Kinect version of Just Dance 3, players actually have the option of recording new routines with the exclusive Just Create mode. For example, during a song the dancer on the screen will start his dance routine as per usual. However, you can create your own 8 step dance moves during certain sections of the song and the game will record them. Later, you can replay your compiled dance sequence and get scored on how well you know your own moves. Just Dance3 allows for original pieces of choreography to be recorded and then played with any song from the playlist. What’s more, you can upload your original choreographed piece on the Just Dance community for others to try. Perhaps the only issue comes in a way of slight delay between the original choreography and the pre set routine, which can cause awkward pauses and missed moves as the game makes the transition during a song. Still, Just Create is a novel and fun mode that adds replayability and a creative outlet for those interested.
Though not the first dance game on Kinect, Just Dance 3 is possibly the most feature-rich. The multiplayer capability of up to four players is a standout, and is perfect for party settings. Creating original sequences with Just Create is a great addition, though created moves don’t often blend well together with the rest of the song. Some will find the choreography is too simple, and Kinect’s tracking may sometimes be an issue. The soundtrack is a bit focused on dance-pop, but that’s to be expected and DLC will likely expand the offerings. Just Dance 3 won’t help you get in better shape or become a better technical dancer. But it’s a great game for a party setting, and at the end of the day that’s what it was designed for.