Just Dance 4 review (Kinect)

Just Dance 4 represents the fourth instalment in the series from Ubisoft, although only the second to make an appearance on the Xbox 360. It features an excellent playlist of songs that range from 1950’s classics to more recent dance and pop hits, but is Just Dance 4 worth sweating over?

With such an array of songs it is sure to appeal to a wide audience, and ultimately this is a title that you do not want to enjoy alone. While fun as a single-player experience, real satisfaction is derived when playing with up to 3 other people. Whilst 4 people can perform the dance routines to any song, certain songs are specifically meant to be danced by 2 or 4 people. What this means is that each player has a special or unique part to the routine. Ever wanted to perform “The time of my life” from Dirty Dancing with your loved one? Just Dance 4 gives you that opportunity and it does so with spectacular success. Your performance of a routine may be hilarious to others, but it always feels good to do them.

Compared to its predecessor, Just Dance 4 may be considered stripped down in terms of game modes, but what you will find is a title that is more focused and polished as a result. Having said that, a few extra modes would have greatly helped to increase longevity of this title, as even a track list of over 40 songs can only be fun for so long.

Just Dance 4 has 2 main game modes. Just Dance is where you will spend the most of your time trying to mimic the sometimes complex dance routines. It also has a Just Sweat mode if you would like to improve your level of fitness; but let’s face it – this is not really why you would purchase this title, especially considering that there are other games specialised in exercise and fitness training.

Regardless of this, the Just Sweat mode is punishing and surprisingly effective in getting the heart pumping and your sweat pouring. It only has a few cardio fitness programs with variations in duration of 10, 25, and 45 minute workouts each. Basically, a workout is a series of songs from the Just Dance mode strung together with very little time for rest in between. These workouts are relentless and I can’t quite see myself surviving a 45 minute session.

The Just Dance mode is where the party happens. Songs are displayed on a carousal, each with a different difficulty level. To be honest, initially I could not make a distinction between an easy song and what the game considers a difficult one, as I found them all fast, frantic and very challenging to master.Songs are accompanied by lyrics if you wish to sing along. Thankfully,singing does not impact your performance in any way.

Songs also include pictograms, which are visual aids signalling the next move to be performed. Initially, I did not find these useful at all as the speed at which they are displayed and the visual cue did not provide enough assistance for me to determine how to perform the move. Only after repeated attempts at a song, as you begin to memorise moves, did these begin to become of value.

The tracking of your movement through Kinect is not perfect, but is certainly not even close to the worst that I have experienced either. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is lenient enough for you not to become frustrated, allowing for greater enjoyment while still being accurate enough to let you know when you are not performing a move correctly.

Quite frankly, for once I welcome it, because as silly, frenetic and complicated as a routine can get, the slight lack of accuracy allowed for a little improvisation. Overly accurate and punishing tracking controls no doubt may have hampered the experience in this instance, as I may never be able to nail some of those moves, but the game still makes me feel like a star for trying.

At the completion of a song, the Auto Dance feature gives you the option of generating a short video clip of some of the moves that you have performed. Whilst generating this clip can take a bit long for the few seconds it produces, the results are often hilarious. You can share these clips on Facebook, with your Xbox friends list or the Just Dance community via the Just Dance TV feature. Just Dance TV gives you access to all dance clips uploaded by the community where you will be able to view some truly hilarious clips.

Completing songs earns you Mojo, much like experience points. Completing dance quests or specific objectives within a song earns you additional Mojo, which once you have earned enough, you to level up. Each level requires more Mojo than the last and increasing in level rewards you with spinning a carousal of gifts, which alternates between new songs, different versions of songs or new game modes. Each reward adding a bit more longevity to the title.

My biggest gripe with Just Dance 4 is the navigation controls via Kinect. For instance to browse through available songs, you are required to first select a song by pushing forward with your hand. This is much like pushing an invisible button and then rotating the carousal left or right by moving your hand in the desired direction. This is highly inaccurate and leads to a lot of frustration. Luckily, you can easily avoid all this frustration by using the Xbox 360 controller to navigate.

Just Dance 4 is by no means perfect and it may be not be the best and most feature-rich dance title available, but when shared with friends and family, it makes a pretty good case for being the most fun.