Title: Dance Central 3
Developed By: Harmonix Music Systems
Published By: Microsoft Studios
Based On: Dance Central franchise
Console: XBox360 / Requires XBox Kinect
Genre: Music, Rhythm, Exercise
Review Conditions: XBox360, Physical Media
Special Thanks: Microsoft Australia for providing me with a copy of this title to review
With Christmas just around the corner, companies have been releasing more family-friendly “motion controlled” games for the three major gaming consoles (Playstation 3, XBox360 and Wii [U]) which takes advantage of the consoles motion control functionality. These games generally target certain genres such as ‘mini-game compilations’ and ‘rhythm’, and as past has shown us can be of varying quality.
As I did last year, I will be writing up a number of reviews under the “Get Moving this Christmas” header, smaller and more direct reviews to help provide an opinion on how these titles fare. While you can expect more Wii U games to be reviewed once the console launches in Australia late-November… for now the first installment in the series is for Dance Central 3 on the XBox360.
The simple fact is that if you have played either of the first two installments in the Dance Central franchise and enjoyed them, then you can expect much of the same – good music, relatively difficult dance moves if you stray from the easiest setting and especially with the Aussie weather recently…. sweat pooling by your feet as you play. Each of the dance games released over the past few months have offered something different to set themselves apart and when it comes to Dance Central 3 its strongest feature is the choreography.
If you are like me and have two left feet, the game once again offers a detailed rehearsal mode which steps you through all the moves required to complete the dance at a specific difficulty level. With most songs having their own unique set of moves unless you are naturally inclined to mimic what the dancers do on screen it is possible you will spend your time before each dance using this mode to learn all the moves of the particular dance lest you build yourself up from the easiest difficulty and move up from there. Fortunately this mode is detailed and after a run-through for most songs I was able to get through with good scores on the standard difficulty.
With the exception of a few songs, you begin the game with a nice set of 46 songs which due to the story-mode contains hits from the 1970’s to recent releases. The new and old songs alike are all well choreographed and are well suited to the dance genre. While in the end the songs will all come down to preference – I was excited to dive into the songs from the 70’s – 90’s including Y.M.C.A. by the Village People, Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) by Los Del Rio and Samba De Janeiro by Bellini. Difficulty does also shift between the songs, especially when they remain faithful to original dance routines. The game offers many different ways to play these songs from single to multiplayer modes, exercise modes to functionality with the new XBox Smartglass and while nothing really breaks the status quo the game is once again fun to play. But something this game has on its competitors is a story mode….
While preparation is key to successfully complete the story mode, it proved to be a nice way of giving some songs purpose to appear in the game and a reason to include older tracks. You are invited to a mysterious dance party which serves as a recruitment test for the “Dance Central Intelligence” organization. Under the threat of Dr. Tan, you are tasked with travelling back in time to each era and learning the different styles of music in order to stand a chance against their enemies. Granted it is an odd storyline (Reminds me a bit of SEGA’s Dreamcast title Space Channel 5), but was entertaining to follow and suited the theme of the game well.
The game will allow you to carry across tracks from previous games if you so wish, but unfortunately requires you to fork out 400 Microsoft Points per disc, and tough luck if you have lost the manual for other Dance Central 1 or 2. Another nifty feature is the voice control functionality, which for the most part worked well.
The game is visually appealing, with well planned out menus, venues that were vibrant and full of life and a number of dancers which while not the easiest to mimic were well implemented and followed the choreography accurately. Dance Central 3 features a levelling system where as you play through the game you can unlock additional venues, dancers etc which helped keep things fresh although may down the track be equated as a grind.
In the end while not for the younger gamers, Dance Central 3 is a fun game with lots of potential for single and multi-player playthroughs. Kinect functionality in my opinion isn’t something a developer can add to just any form of game and expect it to be flawless (The fake walking in Kinect: Disneyland Adventures for example), but the Dance genre I feel is the one that has benefited from it well, and Dance Central 3 is a great example of how the Kinect can be effectively used in gaming.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: B
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: A
Gameplay: A-
Replayability: B+
Personal Opinion: A-
Overall Score: A-
