Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Dance Central

You got the rhythm?
Dance Central. Gaming, Dance Central, Xbox 360, Microsoft Kinect, Microsoft, 0

R-h-y-t-h-m as my music teacher used to drum into us week in week out at school. Why is that important?Because you’ll need plenty of it when it comes to playing Dance Central for the Kinect for Xbox 360.

If you’ve been playing games for some time you’ll know that dancing games aren’t new, chances are you’ve been caught prancing around your living room before, most likely on a plastic mat making sure you step on the right button at the right time.

Flash forward to the year 2010 and with the wonders of Kinect you can now ditch the dance mat, and get down with the boogie in your living room with the Kinect tracking your every move top to bottom.

Boot up the game, choose your track and get dancing. It really is that simple with the game giving you a variety of songs from Lady Gaga to No Doubt to M.I.A. to Bell Biv Devo, and a variety of difficult modes that determine whether or not your can get away with “dad dancing” or whether you’ve really got to bust a groove.

Like Rock Band, or any other dance game you’ve played, the focus is on you perfectly copying the on-screen dancer to score points, the more point the more prizes with more songs getting unlocked along the way.?Easy will mean you can just about get away with shaking your arms and side stepping, while difficult really does require you to multi-task your body to the max.

In total there are 600 moves in the game and thankfully for the dedicated, a chance to practice those moves to make sure you get it right.

Where Dance Central succeeds is in its simplicity when it comes to playing, it really is just a case of selecting your song and following the dancers on screen while a Technicolor of imagery absorbs you so much you forget you are actually making a complete fool of yourself in front of those sat around you watching.

While the game doesn’t support multiple players at the same time, the game does show three dancers on screen encouraging you to get others involved.?Only when you get a freestyle moment which is recorded and saved to share later do you realise that this could be a historic moment if your life.

As for graphics, the games developers have kept it clean. There is plenty of colour as dance stages are in nightclubs, rooftops and other venues. Luckily there are no avatar's in sight and unlike Your Shape you aren't modelled on the screen either.?

Verdict:

Dance Central probably isn't the first dance game you will have played and probably not the last, however it is fun, it is enjoyable, and it is easy to get tempted in to dancing in your living room.?It is also one of the better games for the Kinect system out there and if you’ve know any young girls this is going to be a sure fire hit.

Downsides are a lack of career mode that means this is a dip in and out game rather than something you'll feel the urge to complete, but that's not too much of a problem in our book. This is an after the pub, after dinner, after school game, rather than something you'll find yourself spending hours playing on a Sunday morning as you attempt to shake off that hangover.

Just make sure you remember to bring your rhythm.

Once again... r-h-y-t-h-m.

Tags: Gaming Dance Central Xbox 360 Microsoft Kinect Microsoft

Dance Central. Gaming, Dance Central, Xbox 360, Microsoft Kinect, Microsoft, 1  Dance Central. Gaming, Dance Central, Xbox 360, Microsoft Kinect, Microsoft, 2  Dance Central. Gaming, Dance Central, Xbox 360, Microsoft Kinect, Microsoft, 5 

Dance Central originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:10:23 +0000

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