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I am not a dancer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. In fact, some would call me downright clumsy to the point of fatigue and pain. Even a six year old relative told me that I couldn’t dance and so I pretty much got the hint. So I probably was not the best choice for reviewing Just Dance 3. But I’m always one to face a good challenge, even if it meant the total embarrassment that I would endure. But I was kind of surprised I liked it a little bit.
But before that, a quick look at the game itself. It’s a bit like Dance Central 2, its closest competitor, but I would say far more relaxed and less stringent than DC 2. And that can be a very good thing if you are a bit out of shape (unless you consider round a shape) like I am. But it’s not going to gain you any points if your goal is to be a better dancer. It’s the same type of difference between an arcade racer and a racing simulator. In the former, you just play around and the game rewards you for trying, where the other puts you through your paces of perfection. So players need to not go into the game thinking that they are getting a DC 2 experience, but for casual dancers, it can provide some welcome fun.
The 40 new tracks cover a wide range of musical tastes and generations, although most seem to come from the pop, dance and R&B genres. But there is some country and even some odd titles like This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas to round out the diversity. Current artists such as Katy Perry, Jessie J, Black Eyed Peas, Duck Sauce are featured, while classic singers like Wilson Pickett, Donna Summer and the Buggles appeal to the older generation.
The four player game was really the highlight for me and my friends. We would all stand up there in the living room and belt out our best dance moves, each doing their own thing in the individual choreography mode. It was pretty clear what the people on the screen were telling us to do, but some of it was a bit too quick as far as warning goes. This is true in the regular modes as well. And some motions do not transition well into others, causing us to be a bit convulsive in our approach. That was all part of the charm I guess. We could laugh at the awkward moments that we were all trying to do. The good news was that there was no facility to send those embarrassing moments to our co-workers, other friends, my family, etc. This makes it at least easier to forget the humiliation.
There is one big bad point though. As you know, this is the first time that Ubisoft has decided to bring Just Dance to the Kinect. And you would think they would want to impress this new market with a very cool tracking system, but they didn’t bother. The Wii has hand held controllers that can only track arm movements and thus this appears to be the only functionality they gave the Kinect as far as keeping up with the dances. It seems to ignore what is going on with your legs, which I thought was the most important part of the dancing experience. I almost consider this inexcusable in a game designed to use all parts of the body. But it does make the effort put forth a bit easier on the muscles, at least the leg muscles. Unfortunately the arm placement wasn’t that important either and so the game gives a good score for mediocre movements.
Bottom line is that even though the game was fun to play for a few with friends, you should keep in mind that if you are looking for a true dancing experience, this isn’t it. If you want some quick and casual fun, it might be worth it for nothing more than the giggles from those that play it with you or watch. Thus we give this game a 6/10. It had a lot of potential, but is bogged down too much by its port from the Wii.
