Dance Central 2 review

Formats: Xbox 360
Format reviewed: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Harmonix
Made2Game Dance Central 2 review score: 8/10

"That was the most fun I've ever had on a dance game!"

Said the lady after a heated series of aggressive dance offs.

There are some games, often ones adorned with cute fluffy kittens or, well, ones about dancing, that I find myself, as a red meat eating and beer guzzling monument to finely chiselled masculinity, slightly unqualified to comment on.

So I played Dance Central 2 first with my better half to gauge her professional opinion, what with her been more inclined towards flowers and bunnies.

Then I played it for several more hours on my own.

Okay, I confess, my meat often comes medium-to-well done and while I have been known to drink heartily on occasion, I'm not exactly a regular Barney Gumble.

Dance Central has been a guilty pleasure of mine for the past year and while Kinect doesn't do a lot right now for many Kinect-supported titles, it does do dancing bloody well.

You will feel this silly if your mum walks in.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
For anyone out of the loop, Dance Central is Harmonix's evolution of the Just Dance craze. You might wonder why we're reviewing a dance game but just look at the Harmonix back catalogue, which includes such rhythm action beauties as Amplitude, Frequency, the first two Guitar Hero games and the Rock Band series.

Dance Central’s premise is simple. A cartoonish stereotype of a hip modern youth gyrates on screen and you need to copy their actions for the steely eye of your Kinect, which judges your ability to groove like some unholy spawn of Craig Revel Horwood and HAL.

You're kept ahead of the game through flashcards that hint as to what the next move will entail, while a freestyle section will let you prat about or just catch your breath for a short while.

Everything about Dance Central 2 is improved over the original. Characters are less obnoxious than before and have far more animated personalities, while stages are more varied and befitting of their appropriate gangly avatars. The neon encouragement for dancing well is even brighter now too. Presentational improvements all round, then.

Elsewhere, freestyle sections can be omitted for anyone wanting a more serious session. The Workout features have been expanded through pre-set lists for specific burn rates. New-in-every-Kinect-game-this-season voice controls help the controller-free gaming when they actually decide to work, which to their credit is about 90% of the time. Oh, and you can make your own playlist for a quick blast through your tracks of choice.

Sure, it’s all incremental and to be expected, but each improvement will mean a lot for the people who enjoyed the first game.

There's also a new 'story' mode that entails impressing a handful of ‘dance crews' to prove you’re the best mover in town. The finale of this mode is brilliantly preposterous and justifies its existence entirely. That and it’s just nice to have some jazz around what is essentially a typical rhythm-action track crawl.

I know dancers wear some odd things but when did iron earmuffs become fashionable?

Body Movin'
The biggest improvements? Undoubtedly the track list and the addition of simultaneous two player co-op and versus modes.

Dance Central's tracklist was a bit sparse when it came to outstanding quality. I found myself repeating Poker Face and Jungle Boogie ad infinitum, hence the game's guilty pleasure status.

While Dance Central 2 plumbs the depths of acceptability with the likes of Willow Smith and Justin Bieber, its good songs are far better than those of its predecessor's best or, in my eyes, those of its key contemporary Just Dance 3.

Cheese in the form of Bananarama's ‘Venus’, Donna Summer's ‘Hot Stuff’ and Haddaway's ‘What is Love’ make for brilliant party fuel while the likes of Sir Mix-a-lot's ‘Baby got Back’ and O-Zone's ‘Mai AI Hee’ provide the quintessential silly-drunk-boogie fodder.

Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley, Daft Punk, Lena and La Roux display a finer sampling of modern pop artists while Harmonix's very welcome obsession with Lady Gaga continues - Dance Central 2 adds another two songs by the sirloin-suited songstress.

Don't worry if you have bad taste. The likes of David Guetta and Flo Rider are still stinking up a few slots in Dance Central 2’s otherwise appealing 44-strong strong jukebox.

You can also import all the original Dance Central songs if you've still got a copy of the first game, but it'll set you back the admittedly nominal fee of 400 MS Points.

So that's a far more varied, crowd-pleasing songlist. Excellent. The difficulty ramps up more quickly too. Anyone who 'blazed' (check me and my hipster ‘lingo’) through Dance Central will find the later songs of Dance Central 2 taxing even on easy.

These songs are full of energetic leap moves and complex foot shuffles. Trying to keep up with ‘Run’ is a workout befitting a cheetah while the 'Aphrodite' move is my new virtual nemesis. Seriously, I don't do sexy personal massages. I never hit it.

Yes, that is me. No, I am not ashamed.

Murder on the Dancefloor
The two player modes are the other main improvement, helping increase the game's stature as a staple party piece.

Co-op allows two players to dance side by side but on different difficulty levels, with their separate scores combining into a co-op total. It works well, as long as you've got the space at home, and players can jump in and out at will.

There are no choreographed duets a la Just Dance 3 - which also supports four player simultaneous play - but Dance Central 2's consideration to player skill and better ability feedback means it is the superior game if high score chasing is an important factor.

Battles are a completely different beast. These fights see players dancing together, taking elected solo spots (prime taunting time for the player granted a break) and engaging in heated scraps over a selection of four available moves, able to rob points from their foe if fast and groovy enough. There is much yelping, cursing and fist shaking but it’s all good fun.

Dance Central 2's versus mode has got a flow and a fire to it that Guitar Hero never managed to find. Ignoring the often overlooked versus battles of the PSP Gitaroo Man, this is one of the most thoughtfully crafted rhythm action versus modes ever.

This looks like an early script draft for Gears of Wars' Cole Train.

Just Dance
At the end of the day though, it's just dancing. Sure, it's accurate and yes, it's far better than any other dance game out there but if you're not sold on the idea of shaking your rump then its premise alone is not going to win you over.

Number two still got some of the issues of the first Dance Central. There’s still a sometimes puzzling learning curve as you get to grips with what each flashcard means, and the presentation may still be too ‘street’ for some, even if it is notably improved.

But those minor quirks don’t matter. I could go on for ages about how fun it is to mature from stumbling through a song with the rhythm and poise of a blind elephant to recognising flashcards and being able to instinctively earn flawless scores on an array of moves.

You can grow from a fumbling, easy-difficulty-playing baby who wouldn’t dare go past the half way point of the set list to nailing the entirety of a song on hard and seeing those gold stars appear. Then you can upload your triumphant and glorious finishing move photo to Kinect Share and live happy in the knowledge that your score will sit proudly on your friends screens, taunting them with your rump moving prowess.

Taking your favourite song into the 'break it down' feature and analysing those tough moves, slowly nailing the complex feet and arm motion so that you can take your stunning move string to a friends party and wow everyone with your rhythmic perfection, is as valid a gaming pursuit as nailing headshots in competitive shooters.

Moves like 'woo jab' will likely cause many hilarious YouTube accident videos post-release.

The fact is, Dance Central 2 is classic gaming - play, learn, investigate, improve, succeed. Sure, it’s not Dark Souls but nailing a song you’ve been working at for a while and earning an unbeatable score is guaranteed satisfaction.

For all the above, you're likely to have already made up your mind about Dance Central 2. Which is a shame...

Dance Central 2 walks the right side of appealing to a vast audience with easy to understand controls and an eclectic songlist, but manages to sculpt a genuine, accessible and appealing challenge around it all for those that are looking for a meaty, if very active, rhythm action game.

My girlfriend may have been the one to say it first but I agree; Dance Central 2 really is the most fun I've ever had with a dancing game.

Words by James Bowden (Twitter: @Dalagonash)

Please register or login to post comments