When it comes to dancing I don’t like going out in public and dancing the night away due to thinking I suck at dancing. I do have a feeling there are others like me in that area… However, if I’m with friends and don’t have a care in the world that’s another question. I’ve had the chance to play all three Dance Central games out for the Xbox 360 and always had a great time. Now fast forward to 2014 and Harmonix is back yet again with another Dance Central game, which let me state now if you’ve yet to play the first three games you’re missing out.
This time they’re back with Dance Central: Spotlight for the Xbox One. How is it with it being a next gen release? You’ll find out soon enough!
While playing all the earlier Dance Central games I can’t help but grow to enjoy many of the tracks listed in the game. That’s not counting the huge collection of DLC as well. Have you not seen the track record of Harmonix when it comes to DLC?! With the new release Dance Central: Spotlight you’ve made it back into the spotlight of dancing the night away. In past games you did have a story as you unlocked new areas, dance crews and songs. Is it the same within Spolight? Sadly, no story this time since the game is all about the songs. What do I mean? All the songs are playable from the start and they already have a good amount of DLC available. However, there are some new features that will make sure you or I come back to play more.
You may be wondering what I mean by that, right? Within Dance Central: Spotlight you’ll need to do really good with your dance moves. To sum up what I mean by this is simply getting a perfect on a dance move. If you land a perfect enough on it the card will turn gold. After so many gold cards at the end of the song, it will tell you if you happen to unlock enough cards to progress to the next difficulty. This will in turn add new dance moves for you to perfect, which will have you repeat the process, This may seem great, but after some time it does get a bit grind heavy since you may have played one song over and over due to once dance move. (This may or may not have happened to me.) The gameplay itself hasn’t changed, which is good since no need to re-learn how to play. If this is your first time playing Dance Central no worries you’ll learn very quickly and can shout, Hey DJ Practice. Even though I haven’t used the Hey DJ kinect feature and friends have it’s useful in it’s own way. While playing you’ll also see new modes that are featured for those who love to work out. The modes include what has been featured in the picture below as well as different routines for you to play. Personally, I enjoy doing the Cardio since I love a good workout after a long day.
Even though a lot of people still go on about how they hate Kinect it’s hard not to enjoy a game that uses almost all the features it was created for. Don’t lie about enjoying to dance at home where no one is watching! To me a lot of games including Dance Central really push the Kinect to the limits and it’s always fun, Now I’ve come to the part to list things I’ve loved to have added in the game and small changes. What are they you ask? For starters, I would love more DLC that isn’t pop songs or over played titles on the radio. While the new songs from artists are great some songs are just annoying as all get out once you hear them for the billionth time. Another thing I would’ve loved is a story as you progress. At least have it seem like a story while going to new places and having a dance battle would’ve made me happy. As for the small changes it would’ve been cool to see another set or routines for those who have others joining them and not the normal game-play mechanics.
Overall, Harmonix did a great job with this release and both my girl and I play it at least once a day. Ranging from unlocking new modes for working out, to the extent on how it’s played it’s hard not to say no. Isn’t having fun what gaming is about anyways? While the game is great I do miss the story of the game and I’ve noticed some of these dance moves are very tricky to land. Whether you’re a new owner of a Xbox One or have owned one and looking for game Dance Central: Spotlight is a game to check out. You’ll have fun and if you have a family, they will as well.
(Dance Central: Spolight code was provided by the developer for review purposes.)
