If you're thinking today's Kinect game sounds a lot like DanceDanceRevolution, you wouldn't be too far wrong, as DanceEvolution is from the same people - and despite being only one letter and a repeated word away, promises to be a much more in-depth and accurate experience, thanks to Microsoft's new Kinect camera technology. By tracking your entire body and putting it in the game, it means that every single move you make as you dance can be analysed and scored in the game - which also means you can finally chuck out that battered plastic pad.
DanceEvolution has "players moving] their body to the beat and position of their bodies against a variety of on screen markers" - whatever that means. In slightly simpler terms, it's a bit like Just Dance, with a little silhouette of the position you need to adopt appearing on screen, which you then need to copy. As another hidden advantage of using the camera, DanceEvolution also takes the opportunity to record and show a video of you dancing alongside it - so now you too can enjoy how stupid you look whilst trying to dance, and not just your spectators.
Your dancing skills. We salute them.
With three main modes on offer, DanceEvolution is going to be anything but a short ride. Making up the pack alongside a standard quick play mode, and competitive versus mode, 'Dance' mode sets you (and a friend, if you like) on the path of professional dancer, dancing along to the 30 in-game songs, which you'll unlock as you progress through the career.
For those of us who have two left feet (and for further proof of that fact, feel free to check out our Just Dance 2 Preview, otherwise known as "How I embarrassed myself at Gamescom"), DanceEvolution looks set to do its best to bring out any hidden talent that we have, buried away, deep inside, with a 'Lesson' mode, which talks you through the basics and sets you on the right track. Even better for those of us who aren't gifted at dance, there are four difficulty settings available to let you tailor the challenge to suit you - Light, Standard, Extreme and Stealth - which seems like a bit of an odd name for a difficulty to us. Maybe it involves trying to sneak up on the camera, or lots of shifty glances.
A rather interesting addition to DanceEvolution is the ability to set the dance routine your backing dancers perform, by recording two of your own routines - which sounds incredibly technical, and rather fancy to us. There's also the ability to save photos of you in your favourite dance poses to show off online. And, if that wasn't enough, you can even take part in a four player dance-offs online, over Xbox Live, in addition to the two player offline mode.
DanceEvolution has an RRP of £40, and is due in stores on 10th November, alongside Microsoft's Kinect camera. Until then, we're running a 'Countdown to Kinect' feature, with an article on one of the launch games every day, as well as a Kinect FAQ to answer all the Kinect questions you might have. We'll leave you with a trailer for DanceEvolution:
