Dance Central Review

                                                       (image borrowed from amazon)

As most of you already know, Kinect got released late last year. With its release, a number of games accompanied it during the launch. One of which is Dance Central.

Dance Central is the new rhythm game released by Harmonix (makers of Rock Band).

Presentation:
With really vivid colors and appropriate dancing backgrounds, DC does really well what it's supposed to do. Some of the characters look a little bit weird for me though. But that's just me. I think Harmonix did a very good job of designing the interface. From the menus to the highlights, all were very smoothly done. Extremely surprising because I never knew Harmonix had a knack for making a dance game since they've always played in the fields of band games.

Gameplay:
Dance Central is pretty straightforward with its gameplay. You choose a song, choose to perform it, dance battle, or break it down. Performing it allows you to do the whole routine by yourself. Dance battling means there's two of you who perform it alternately. You get to perform the same dance moves so when it's the first time you're playing, player two always gets an advantage.
The break it down feature is the most interesting one of the three. You get to learn the dance step by step. If you perform the step flawlessly the first time, it makes you do the next step. If you don't, you have to complete it thrice to move on to the next. If you're still having trouble completing it three times, you get the option to slow the routine down and return it to normal speed once you've gotten the hang of it.

This are the songs that are included in the game. As you may have well noticed, there is variety in their choices of tracks. If you want other songs that are not in this list, you are given the option to download some on Xbox Live. Really sweet deal.

• Audio Push – Teach Me How To Jerk
• Basement Jaxx – Rendez-vu
• Beastie Boys – Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix)
• Beenie Man – King Of The Dancehall
• Bell Biv DeVoe – Poison
• Benny Benassi – Satisfaction
• Cascada – Evacuate the Dancefloor
• Christina Milian – Dip It Low
• The Commodores – Brick House
• Craig Mack – Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)
• Dirty Vegas – Days Go By
• Eric B. & Rakim – Don't Sweat the Technique
• Fannypack – Hey Mami
• Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne – Down
• Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie
• Kylie Minogue – Can't Get You Out of My Head
• Lady Gaga – Just Dance
• Lady Gaga – Poker Face
• Lipps Inc – Funky Town
• M.I.A. – Galang '05
• Nelly Furtado – Maneater
• Nina Sky – Move Ya Body
• No Doubt – Hella Good
• Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)
• Quad City DJ's – C'mon N' Ride It (TheTrain)
• Rihanna – Pon de Replay
• Salt-N-Pepa – Push It
• Snoop Dogg/Pharrell – Drop It Like It's Hot
• Soulja Boy Tell 'Em – Crank That (Soulja Boy)
• Wreckx-n-Effect – Rump Shaker
• Young MC – Bust A Move

Conclusion:

Dance Central by far is probably the best game that utilizes kinect since it's excellent at what it does and is very flashy in doing it. I hope to see more games like these by Harmonix. Hopefully an all hiphop rnb Dance Central game gets released in the near future.

- Jeric