Ever wanted to
hook up your Wii and dance without those pesky little buttons or floor mats?
Well, you will have that chance now. Just Dance for the Nintendo Wii console has
been released by Ubisoft and it may be one of the first dancing games that you
actually get to dance in.
Unlike its
predecessors, Just Dance doesn’t use buttons to bust out the dance moves. You
actually have to get up and just dance if you want to get a high score on this
title. Just Dance offers a variety of different songs and genres to dance to.
Everything from "Who Let the Dogs Out" by the Baja Men to "Can’t Touch This" by
M.C. Hammer are offered, included with tons of dance moves that are sure to make
you look as ridiculous as possible.
This dance title
does offer some very simple to some very skillful dance moves that will keep
everyone at least laughing the entire time. Most of the songs are easy to dance
to, but the more difficult ones might prove too frustrating. Dancing is a matter
following the dancer on screen like it is a mirror image. The Wii-mote in kept
in the right hand and it reads the player’s motions. A rating is received based
on the timing of the move the player mimics.
Problems do
arise in Just Dance. Your dance moves must be absolutely perfect at times just
to get it to read your move. Getting an "Ok" rating instead of a "Great" rating
can really hurt your score, and sometimes it isn’t your fault. The game decides
the rating based on how good you perform the move and sometimes it just doesn’t
make the right decision. There will be times when you pull off moves perfectly
and it won’t even give you a rating. This can be frustrating even to the most
casual players. Everyone wants to be rewarded for their efforts.
Despite that
problem, Just Dance could have had a better layout and graphics. The graphics of
the dancers are very colorful, but having a more realistic character would have
been nice. The layout is very simple, but lacks in creativity. You just scroll
through them from right to left and it just isn’t that visually appealing.
Problems are
very common in this game and will be a deal breaker to gamers. This could have
been a step in the right direction for dance games, but instead just doesn’t
make the cut for dancing games. A flawed rating system will frustrate players
and only the hardcore dancers will be left playing this title.
Gameplay: 5.0
Finally, motion is used in a funny and inventive way in the form of dancing, but
the rating system will ruin and frustrate players.
Graphics: 4.0
The graphics are below average and simplistic. It would have been great to see
more realistic characters dancing around.
Sound: 7.0
A dancing title must have the good, quality hit songs. Although not all the
songs are by the original artists, there is a good selection of songs from many
different genres that are available.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 5.0
The concept of using motion controls for a dancing/rhythm game was genius.
Unfortunately, the mechanics weren’t perfect for a title like this. The rating
system was terrible and didn’t even rank some dance moves.
Multiplayer: 6.0
Four players are able to dance off against one another, but wouldn’t it have
been even better with more players.
Overall: 5.5
Just Dance has all the right ideas, but all the wrong mechanics. Below average
graphics and a flawed rating system were the difference in this game coming more
dud than hit.
