Not since Dance Dance Revolution has there been a dancing game that has kicked this much ass. Dance Central is one of the reasons many Xbox 360 owners purchased a Kinect. For me it’s the only reason.
The concept of Dance Central is simple. Pick a song and copy the moves of the character on screen. Sound simple? It is! With the Kinect there’s no need for a controller so anyone can play this game, from gamers to non gamers alike. If I can get my 6yr old niece and my 60yr old aunt to play this game, it says a lot about the accessibility and wide spread appeal of Dance Central.
And it is the choreography and the music that makes this game so appealing. Whatever your music tastes you’re bound to find a song you like. And for the songs you might not like, you may just grow to enjoy and appreciate them. I know I have while dancing to them. Additional songs can be purchased via Microsoft Points.
The difficulty of the moves varies depending on the song and difficulty level. Each song has an Easy, Medium, and Hard level in which the routine changes with the difficulty. New songs, characters, and outfits are unlocked as you increase your Rank Points by doing well in each song.
And if you’re having difficulty passing a song there is a “Break It Down” mode which allows you to practice each move with the option to slow the move down. Pretty cool indeed. Not so cool is the so called “Work Out” mode that supposedly counts calories. I didn’t find it to be very accurate, but it’s still pretty cool it’s in there.
Another mode is “Dance Battle” which allows you and another player to take turns competing in a song. A tip if you’ve never played a particular song is to let the other player start first, you get to see the routine and you’ll know what to expect! Dirty I know! Hopefully they’ll be able to expand upon this mode in the future allowing players to dance simultaneously and pick their own characters.
So if you’re an Xbox 360 owner and you’re into dancing and music games this is a no brainer purchase. You just might learn a few moves to take with you the next time you’re at the club.
GOD KING GRADE: (A) ★★★★★
