Dance Central 3 Review!

Posted October 20, 2012 by Brie in XBOX 360

Rating

Graphics

Gameplay

Sound

Replayability

Total Score

Overview:

Systems: XBOX 360

Pros:

Interactive, new music, Port older music from previous installations, Great fun with friends.

Cons:

Imperfect tutorials, Not as fun dancing alone.

Harmonix brings on a whole new list of amazing tracks from over the years, while also created new routines and adding special features making the fans of the first two, crazed dancers in the third. Dance Central 3 is more interactive and better to get the party goin’.

by Brie

Full Article

Many of us out there fell in love with the Dance Central craze. When the first installment was released November of 2010, many purchased and jumped on board over the holiday season. As more people purchased, the craze spread like wild fire, and it flourished with Dance Central 2. With a few days after release, the buzz has been all about Dance Central 3. With so many improvements and innovative content, be ready living room dancers to pop and lock for joy.

Story:

There never was a story mode for the first two, but in Dance Central 3, part of the new content is the story mode. You are able to take part as one of the Dance Central Intelligence members dancing through time solving the dance crazes of each decade starting at the 70′s and working our way through the 80′s, 90′s, and 00′s. The end goal is to take over and make sure the evil doctor does not take over dance. The story line seems a little absurd and unfunny, but the dancing is fun. Mastering the steps in the 1970s seems simple and as you travel through time, the steps become progressively harder.

Gameplay:

Along with the original content added such as the story mode, fitness mode is still here for those people wanting to get their cardio workout. Dance straight for a period of time and burn those calories. Dance Battles is a feature where up to 8 friends can divide into two teams. This is where it gets dirty so to speak. Each team works on performances, battles and mini games to take the dancing crown.
You get to experience not only new genres of music, but dance as well. It’s a lot of work to put forth and look like a pro, but it will be all worth it when you look like the dance master. Hit up the tutorial section and it will walk you through the steps. Although, tutorial does seem to need a little improvement.
Another new feature is voice activation. Call out “Xbox” and you have entered BlackLight mode. Anything that is highlighted, is able to be picked up with voice activation. A definite cool feature and I hope to see more of this in future iterations.

Graphics:

Graphically everything looks the same as past Dance Central games except with a few adjustments. Color seems to be one of them, hence all the time periods you will travel. Also, the characters look more lifelike than the previous games. Characters dance moves look more real and more fluid. Bottom line, it’s still a great looking game.

Sound:

Music always changes in each game, so you can always expect great music to come with each installment. Some of the songs include: “Scream” by Usher, “Ice, Ice, Baby” by Vanilla Ice, “Moves like Jagger” by Maroon 5 Ft. Christina Aguilera, “Teach Me How to Dougie” by Cali Swagg District, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor and more.
Another plus to those dreading spending more money on tunes, you can port over previously bought music and bring them to Dance Central 3. Even bringing in music from the previous two, brings in even more diversity in this list of over 40 songs spread from several genres.

Verdict:

Overall, I still enjoy dancing and turning my home into its own house party. Bringing a friend or two always helps and the music in Dance Central 3, in my opinion is the best it’s ever been! Of course, you need to have an appreciation for older music and 90′s pop boy bands to tolerate it. As the previous two only had newer music with a few older songs sprinkled in. This installment gives better balance and a wider variety ultimately creating a wider demographic. Seeing as the music is all new, combined with the new and upbeat dance moves, I’d definitely suggest hitting tutorial before shaking your grove thang!