Dane Cook said it best — “I just wanna dance.” If you have an Xbox 360, Kinect and Dance Central 2, you can do just that.
The sequel to the Kinect launch title — developed by Harmonix Music Systems (of Rock Band fame) and published by Microsoft (taking the reins from MTV Games) — brings more than 40 new tracks to boogie down to from artists such as Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. The game even features a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”
The songs from the original Dance Central can be imported for use in this game, but at a price of 400 Microsoft points ($1 buys 80 points). Additional songs can be purchased via Xbox Live.
Players match the dance moves of onscreen avatars, and the game shows moves coming up like Rock Band would show notes to play, along with the names of the moves (such as “The Gun Show” and “Dog Pound”). And yes, Will Ferrell’s Night at the Roxbury head bob is included for Haddaway’s “What is Love.”
There are various modes of play in Dance Central 2. The obligatory dance mode allows players to pick any song from the track list to dance to. The game allows for second players to jump in and out of songs, which is great for play in groups or at parties. Two players can play either competitively or cooperatively.
The game also features a campaign mode, the Crew Challenge. One or two players start their career small, building their reputation to unlock chances to dance with bigger, more difficult crews.
Motion gaming is often thought to have potential as a weight loss tool. Dance Central 2‘s fitness mode counts calories as you dance through set lists.
If you can’t dance, Dance Central 2 might teach you (or at least will try). A tutorial mode, Break it Down, shows each dance step by step, isolating the various dance moves. Players can even record themselves to compare to the onscreen dancers.
That might be necessary — Kinect is a very particular judge. It uses its camera to match players’ moves to those on the screen, and it knows if you’re wrong. This can be frustrating at first, as the game moves fast, but various difficulty levels let you get the hang of it.
Dance Central 2 does what it’s supposed to do very well — it gets players up and dancing. The jump in functionality is great for group sessions, and if you want to use motion gaming for weight loss, that utility is built in to this game. So if you do “just wanna dance,” this may be the best way on the Xbox 360 and Kinect to do it.
VERDICT: Dance Central 2 is a great choice for those who want to bust a move with Kinect.
