Just Dance 4 – Review
Just Dance 4 is the newest title of the Ubisoft hit series. The game is available on the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Will this game in the popular franchise prove to be a worthy successor or a party gone wrong?
Story:
Just Dance 4 does not really have a story and is simply a way to get rid of extra energy, have fun or just enjoy some of the music tracks you love. (while dancing ofcourse)
The game offers us several slots to create our own dance ‘chart’ on which our data is saved, to check our favorite songs, dance time and so on.
A game like this does not need a story part for it to be amusing and thus it will not be graded at the end.
Graphics:
The graphical style of Just Dance 4 is a basic one but a pleasant on to the eye. On screen we see a dancing character (or characters) that show us what dance moves we have to do. On the bottom side of the screen we also see simple figures of what the next dance moves will be. The on screen character looks quite appealing and ‘party-ish’ because they show us real characters but all done in bright colors. Colors that will get you in the mood to actually dance or start a party. All of this goes together with matching background action that matches the song you’re dancing to. All in all it’s no masterpiece but it suits the game perfectly.
Sound:
While for other games sound is an important part of the game, sound is a defining component to make a game like Just Dance 4 a great game. Because dancing without any music would be quite a weird sight to look at after all. In Just Dance 4 we are treated to many genres of music and a decent amount of tracks varying from recent tracks to somewhat older tracks. Overall the developers chose a very decent line-up but some songs give you the feeling they were simply added simply because they are popular choices. For example »Barry White’s : You’re the first, the last, my everything » is an awesome number but for some reason it feels quite out of place compared to other numbers. Might just be my personal opinion after all.
The variety of the tracks is great for those who don’t like all genres but sometimes it feels quite lacking because each genre has to little to represent themselves. This will probably only be a bother when playing single player because then you have the tendency to just pick out the songs you love the most.
Overall a great line-up, but some questions tend to arise.
Gameplay:
Just Dance 4 mainly consists out of the basic Just Dance mode but there is also the Just Sweat mode which will be discussed in the following order.
First of all personally I tried out the Wii version, which will be very comparable with the Playstation 3 version. This means you will have to mimic the on screen movements with only your Wii mote as a point of recognition. This leaves a lot of room for margin or ‘cheating’. Because in the end the game will mainly just recognize your right hand movements. So if you’re in a passive mood you’ll simply just wave around your hand to complete levels to get more stars on each level. Then again in the end if you’re interested in this game you will surely dance till you drop. If you’re really up to a more precise dancing experience I can imagine picking up the Kinect version for the Xbox 360 might be better for you.
The Just Dance mode is pretty straight forward you can create your own profile sheet on which you stats will be saved. This means your dance time, you favorite songs and so on. After you created your own personal file it’s simply put, pick a song and just dance the night away. The game consists out of simple single player action but you can invite up to 3 of your friends to tag along. For nearly half the songs you will see only 1 character appear on the screen which means all the players will have to perform the same dance moves at the same time to each get their respective scores. Other songs consist out of 2 or more character that appear on the screen. Each player will then get the chance to choose the character they want to mimic. This means not everyone will have to perform the same dance moves and even when playing single player this will create a fun way of ‘replay value’ when picking the same song again.
After each dance you will get rewarded with ‘Mojo’, when this mojo bar is filled you will gain a level and you will get a random pick on which extra content you want to unlock. This varies from receiving extra avatar pictures up to unlocking the battle mode. The battle mode can again be played single player or with more players. This is basically a dance of between 2 on screen characters that most of the time have their own dance set so you can pick which one you are most comfortable with. The better you dance the more you will ‘hit’ the other player the sooner you will knock him out.
The Just Sweat mode is basically all of the above but then you are able to choose specific work-outs in the genre you desire. Each having their own set of warm-ups, cooldowns and so on. All of these will be mixed with songs of the genre you picked and then again based on your intensity level. If you complete the warm-up and so on very actively you will have to play more active songs, if not you will receive a set of calmer songs. You can also choose how long your work out has to last. Again fun for 1 to 4 players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOWsdeqbVE0&feature=player_embedded Just Dance 4 - Review,
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