Goatmoose

My wife has a degree in dance.  She teaches dance to preschoolers through high school students.  She’s been doing ballet since she was 5.  Add all that up and my purchase of Dance Central is justified.

I’m terrible at this game.  After perfecting the finger disco during middle school, my dancing aptitude was tapped out.  I took some pas de deux (definition found here) classes with my wife during college due to a lack of ample male presence in their classes, much to my own dismay.  I did this leotard-free.

Miss Aubrey, my personal favorite dance leader.

None of that has any bearing on the quality of this game, however.  Dance Central has quickly rendered Dance Dance Revolution pads useless.  In my experience, this game is on par with Your Shape as being the most responsive, accurate use of the Kinect sensor of all the launch titles.

So here’s the idea – the fancy-looking on-screen character teaches you moves, and you mirror them.  A silhouette version of your body can be seen in a small box on-screen, but the focus is on your instructor.  Match their movements accurately, keep the rhythm, and you’ll build your score.  Difficulty comes in three levels for each song with the complexity of the choreography reflected in each.

Dance Central was created by Harmonix, the makers of Rock Band and Guitar Hero (you may have heard of those), which for some is enough of a statement to indicate a well-made music sim.   This is another success in their lineup of great moneymaking games.  From Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” to Tag Team’s “Whoomp! There it Is” (DLC), you can jam out to some pretty rad hits.

As mentioned, the Kinect sensor works like a charm with this game.  If you’re supposed to move your arms in a certain way level with your head and are six inches too low, it’ll know.  It maps your feet, legs, elbows, body, bum, head, hands, everything.  Unlike DDR and other now-relic dance games of the past where you only had to worry about your feet shuffling around like some cracked-out Michael Flatley nightmare, Dance Central is concerned with every part of your body.  In short, it’s a dance game where you’ll actually be dancing.  Some of the choreography is pretty complicated and looks quite serious when being performed.

At least, when I watch my wife do it.  I’m lucky to get through a song on easy.  Keeping rhythm and feeling the music isn’t my problem.  It’s that whole physical movement part…

The way moves are presented is nice – “flash card” style on the right-hand side of the screen so you can see what’s coming up.  Good for people like me with no brain to remember a move for two seconds on my own.  The entire user interface is well-designed.  Even the menus in this game are fun.  You navigate them by moving your hand up and down through the options, then swiping to the side to select.  It’s very much like those nonexistent computer screens you see on NCIS.  Or so I’m told, never having watched NCIS.  Or even knowing what NCIS stands for.  Naked Calcium Ingestion Scrutiny, I’d imagine.

There is, of course, a workout mode with Dance Central as well.  And plenty of DLC will no doubt become available, being a Harmonix title, and being a music game.  Plenty is already available, from Cameo to Rihanna.  The on-disc song bank is pretty nice, spanning a couple decades with things as modern as Jay Sean’s “Down” back to Salt N Pepa’s “Push It.”

Keeping this review short, I’m not sure what else there is to say.  It is exactly what you’d expect it to be, and it lives up to those expectations.  It’s a great, well-made game perfect for party or individual play.  If you are the type of person that would be interested in a dance game, you’re going to buy it, and chances are you’re not going to be let down.  Unless you’re a real snob.  Snob.

Dance Central certainly sets a new precedent for the next generation of dance titles.  Unarguably the best of its type ever made, it’ll be interesting to see where the genre is taken from here.  There’s one thing I know for sure – even if I suck at dancing, I’m damn glad to have a Harmonix music title that doesn’t require any more plastic instruments cluttering up my house.