The idea behind Dance Central's always been something of a strange one. After making a motion sensor (known as Kinect) that was intended to break down the barriers between people and their console, welcoming in a whole new host of families and less experienced players, Microsoft decided to launch Kinect alongside Dance Central. The company's take on the Just Dance style dancing game, Dance Central was actually anything but - aimed at a more hardcore dancing audience, it was a lot trickier, with a less impressive selection of songs (plenty we didn't know, and plenty we did but just didn't want to dance too), Dance Central was simultaneously Microsoft's invitation and insult to the Just Dance crowd. Party fodder, it certainly was not.
But the game sold enough to deserve a sequel, and so this year, we're treated to Dance Central 2 - a game that brings with it several innovations that Just Dance has done for the past four years, along with a tweaked song list, and, more intriguingly, a story mode. But with competition breathing down its neck in the form of Just Dance 3, which makes its debut this year on the Kinect sensor, can Dance Central 2 shuffle its way ahead of the competition?
Sliiide. That's right.
For the most part, Dance Central 2 is rather similar to last year's game - which also means it has most of the same problems. With a similar concept to Just Dance, it's up to you to stand in front of your Xbox, and perform the moves the game asks you to do - either by watching the routine your on-screen character's performing, or attempting to decypher the boxes at the side of the screen that tell you what to do. The problem is, by having the boxes at the side of the screen, it feels a lot harder to keep an eye on them and see what's coming next than in games like Just Dance, which have silhouettes that scroll across the bottom of the screen.
Like the last game, too, the routines for each tune are a lot more complex then those found in Just Dance - and not just because they involve tracking all four limbs. Even though there are several difficulty levels on offer, even when playing on easy, with less repetition, and more elaborate dance moves, Dance Central 2 is far from just waving your arms from side to side. With each move made up of up to three or four separate sections, just as you think you're getting the hang of things, there'll be some odd extra bit thrown on at the end of the move - rather than having to wave your arms from side to side, you'll change speed, or do it twice in the same direction or something at the end of the routine, which never fails to catch new players out. Many of the routines require you to move your legs too - and some need a lot of space either side of you, too - like one that asks you to turn to the side, and wave your hands behind you as you take a few steps forward.
The problem here is that it takes Dance Central 2 out of the realms of being a pick-up-and-play party game that anyone can have fun with, into the realms of having to play through, memorise, and then practice every routine in order to get it right. Worse still, it's never all that obvious that you're doing something wrong until you get a naff score for the move - while the game ever so slightly highlights your limbs in red when you're not doing something quite right, it doesn't tell you what it is you're doing wrong, making it very hard to correct it. While you can't fail, it is a bit disheartening to play through the song feeling like you've got no idea what's coming next - some more repetition, and less complex moves would have made it a game anyone could have a decent go at - but you'll need to practice to feel at home.
Which is probably why it's a good idea the games' tutorial mode, aptly named "Break it down", has been given a much greater billing this year. Doing exactly what it says on the tin, in Break it down, you can do through the song in move by move sections, or choose your own selection of moves to attempt, with the game slowing things down until you manage several repetitions of that move. With added voice commands, you can now slow things down, speed things up, try a move again, or even record a video of yourself so you can see how you match the in game character by simply saying "Xbox" followed by the command. If you want a decent score, you'll be spending a lot of time in here.
But arguably the most important part of any music game is in its soundtrack, and again, it's here that Dance Central 2 struggles the most. Whilst it's obviously a matter of opinion, Dance Central 2 simply doesn't have the breadth and scope of music that something like Just Dance has. While it has two tracks from Lady Gaga, Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby got back, Flo Rida's "Club can't handle me", and Enrique Iglesias's "I like it", there's a definite trend towards the more urban, rap style music. With only one song from the 70s, three from the 80s, and six from the 90s, the soundtrack tends to towards more modern music - and so how much mileage you get out of the game will depend entirely on how much you enjoy today's popular, er, music. If David Guetta is your bezzie, and you end every sentence with "yo", "bro" or "dawg", then you'll probably feel right at home here.
There's a fitness mode included too, which keeps track of the (many) calories you'll burn whilst strutting your funky stuff.
Which is part of the reason the game's new single player mode poses such a problem. Playing as a new dancer around town, you'll have to face off against a number of "Crews" in dance-offs, in order to earn their "respect", before taking on and defeating a boss through... the power of dance. Asking you to choose from a selection of songs, we struggled to pick a song we'd actually heard of in several of the sections, yet alone liked. Maybe that's just us being out of touch, but again, we've never had that problem on Just Dance.
This year's game also brings with it a two player mode, which offers a nice step up from last year's take-it-in-turns mode, even if it does up the space requirements even more (you'll need around eight feet between you and the camera, plus around five to eight horizontally). Letting you dance either with or against one of your friends, it's certainly a nice touch - although with Just Dance being on Kinect this year, it's somewhat overshadowed.
With a rather limited setlist, and some awkward moves, Dance Central 2 is a game that'll appeal to the more hardcore dance fans only. Lacking the same pick up and play appeal as Just Dance, never mind having a much more limited selection of songs to strut your stuff to, it's obvious who the lord of the dance is this year - and it's not Dance Central 2.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
