Rock Band makers Harmonix bring the dance game craze to Xbox with their new Kinect-enabled boogier
Format: Xbox 360 Dev: Harmonix Pub: MTV Games / Microsoft Out: 10/11/10
Players: 1-2
I am pretty sure that almost everyone, when they were younger, would have come across those dance machines running Dance Dance Revolution at some point. Those old machines we used to bust moves on, pretending we were some sort of MJ rival, they seemed to be everywhere and everybody wanted to go on them – even if they only lasted about three minutes a turn.
Dancing games became huge in the late 90s and early 00s, in particular when we had the chance to own our own dance mat that we could use at home on PS1s and Dreamcasts. And more recently, the dance craze has taken off again with titles like Just Dance and SingStar Dance.
Dance Central a new Kinect-enabled dance simulator for Xbox 360 that looks to bring the dance game genre to the hardcore box of choice with a vengeance. Using Kinect’s motion sensor technology, Harmonix has created a dance game for the new gaming demographic and, at the same time, created the first truly appealing party game available on the new Kinect platform.
As the creators of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, Harmonix have real experience of making successful party titles, and are one of the best at creating games for families and groups of people. Dance Central is one of these games.
Although being markedly different to the old dance games we all may be used to, Dance Central certainly has the same fun factor that its ancestors had. It is a game that encourages people to get up and play, lose their inhibitions and shyness and just enjoy the social fun the title has to offer.
Unlike dance games of old, which simply required the player to move their feet on various pads, this Kinect-based game demands that the player is fully mobile and uses their entire body to perform the moves and routines on-screen. This not only makes the game pretty full-on, it also means that it seems more realistic and will appeal to people who love to dance. It must be said, a more relaxed, sit-on-the-sofa-gamer may want to look elsewhere.
The game offers five different game modes, all of which offer different challenges and require varying levels of effort. Some, such as Challenge Mode are particularly demanding and the difficulty increases as you pass each level. There is also a Workout Mode, which develops dance moves and routines based around the person playing and what they would like to achieve. There is certainly a degree of depth within the game, which is refreshing and extra songs are available via the Xbox Live Marketplace, so that there is constantly a new challenge on offer.
However, as with all Kinect titles it seems, there were a few downfalls with this game. Again, like so many other Kinect games played, the menu screens are really slow and difficult to work and become very frustrating after a short while. A swiping action is used in the menus, which is better than other launch titles, yet is still no substitute for a controller. Also, when it comes to dancing and using the sensor to perform moves, precision becomes very important, moves seem to require inch perfect accuracy to perform, otherwise you won’t get the points needed to pass the level. This may develop into a real annoyance for more relaxed gamers who just want to play and have fun. Few people will be playing this game to become a professional dancer and therefore won’t want to have to work to such precision.
Overall, Dance Central is one of the better titles released so far for the Kinect sensor. It brings back a lot of nostalgic memories of previous dance games that we all used to know and love, and Harmonix have taken a classic idea and developed it to produce a brilliant party game that fans of dancing and partying alike will enjoy. There are flaws with the title, as there seem to be with all Kinect titles released at the moment. Hopefully, by the time the inevitable Dance Central 2 is released, we will have a truly fantastic game that many will love.
Ian Davies
Tags: dance central, harmonix, kinect, microsoft, mtv, Music, party
