Does anyone remember Popstars? The now oft-forgotten precursor to Pop Idol and Britain's Got Talent, Popstars was the show we have to thank for introducing us to talents such as Hear'Say, Girls Aloud, and, er, the Cheeky Girls. But while the show disappeared from our screens way back in 2002, the series has found a loving home with the Germans, where the series is now into its 9th season. And while we had the likes of Simon Cowell haranguing the contestants with cruel jibes, the Germans instead have had a "top street dancer and choreographer" since day one, known as Detlef D! Soost. It's easy to see who'll win the best name contest.
And, in a rather tenuous link, it's Detlef D! who'll be your guide in the world of Dance! It's Your Stage - a new rhythm action game, that aims to tide you over until the release of Dance Central, with a selection of 20 songs you can have to strut your stuff to, using either the controller, or a dance mat, if you happen to be one of the few people who own one for the 360.
Fantastic isn't the way we'd describe his dress sense
Judging by the sparsely populated leaderboards, it's clear a lot of people may have overlooked Dance! It's Your Stage - but it's them who'll be missing out, as it's actually a surprisingly fun little game. While it may not be able to rely on the motion sensing capabilities of Kinect, and doesn't sport a fully licensed setlist, packed to the brim with names and tunes you'll know, Dance! It's Your Stage may actually be all the better for it. With its cheesy mix of German pop forming the soundtrack to your stick waggling, it never actually harms the experience - and actually, some of the songs are surprisingly good, and will be stuck in your head for hours to come.
As a selection of coloured arrows drop down the screen, all you have to do is push the relevant analogue stick in the direction the arrow shows as it passes through a circle at the bottom of the screen. If the arrow's on the left, you move the left analogue stick - if it's on the right, you move the right. It all sounds fairly simple - until, that is, you get onto some of the later songs, and end up with thumbs that are knotted together tighter than a pretzel. Having to push one stick in a different direction to the other is a lot harder than it sounds, and will have your head spinning the first few times you attempt it. Be still, our aching thumbs.
But while each of the songs is ranked with a number of stars according to its difficulty, it is a little disappointing that the game doesn't feature an adjustable difficulty. Choosing an appropriate level (Easy/Medium/Hard) has become almost second nature with rhythm action games, and as there's comparatively so few songs, that get quite hard, quite fast, the game's steep learning curve may put novices off. But luckily, while it is possible to fail a song, in our experience, it seems rather hard to, as even on our worst runs through a song, we still have yet to fail - and with a handy practice mode on offer for polishing up your, er, thumb-work, it shouldn't be long before you can conquer even the toughest tracks.
Push the stick at exactly the right time to get a Perfect rating - and you'll need plenty of them if you want to get a gold medal!
In terms of replayability, Dance! It's Your Stage is a bit disappointing. The career mode only consists of playing each song once, being mostly criticised by the harsh Detlef as you go, and once you've danced your way through them all, you'll have effectively finished the game. The only real single player replay value comes from trying to increase your score on each song, in the hope of being awarded a gold medal - with an achievement waiting for you if you manage it for every song. And with that being the only single player replay value, it's easy to see why the required points for the gold medals are so unforgiving, because you'll have to pretty much perfect every song if you want to get the top rating.
Outside of the single player mode, there's a choice of competitive and co-operative multiplayer modes, that let a friend pick up a controller (or a dance mat) and dance along with you, that's sure to give the game a bit of extra life - especially if your friend happens to have a thing for cheesy German pop.
But as a downloadable game, for 800 Microsoft Points, or £6.80, Dance! It's Your Stage ticks most of the boxes. While a more expansive single player would have been nice, along with a reason to keep playing in co-op, there's still enough here that it doesn't feel like terrible value for money - even if 400 points would probably have been more reasonable for a game that you can finish in just over two hours.
If you're counting down the days to Dance Central, or, like us, you were a big fan of Dance Dance Revolution, Dance! It's Your Stage is well worth a flutter, with a great selection of tunes to boogie along to - especially if you have the dance mat to go along with it.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
