Review: Dance Central for XBox 360 and Microsoft Kinect

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Dance Central is one of the most surprising games we've experienced in a long time. The wizards  at Harmonix Music Studios. MTV Games and Microsoft Game Studios have created a game that most people will think they are not interested in, that is until they spend a little time with it. Deploying the Kinect's uncanny ability to scan and track a player's movement, Dance Central doesn't just teach you to dance but it makes the whole experience fun for players and observers.

Using the Kinect's camera and sensor to track and measure player's movements against what the on-screen avatars are doing. Aside from the great graphics and engaging gameplay and scoring system, the 36 included music tracks are the big draw with this title as there is something for everyone. There's classic Disco, some old skool Hip Hop, New Jack Swing and hearty helpings of Gaga, Rihanna and Kylie to get almost anyone moving. 

If you've mastered dancing to all the songs or need more variety,  20 additional songs (with their respective dance moves) can be downloaded from XBox Live for $2.99 each

Players need to learn the moves and are guided by the avatar who checks whether your movements and timing are up to par. You can slow down these instructions and learn the movements at reduced speed if they are more challenging. Once you "get it, if you got it!" you do the whole song step-by-step. 

Each song is attached to a degree of difficulty that's either Simple, Warmup, Tough, Legit,  Moderate, Tough, Hardcore or Off the Hook. Aside from this, there are levels of difficulty within each songs so there's a lot of dancing to be done.

Dance Central is a well designed game and the choice of dance moves (over 600 of them, apparently) really suits  the music and anyone who puts in enough effort will be dancing like an expert with enough practice.

The best thing about Dance Central is that while players are dancing, they are also exercising and getting a thorough cardio workout. Anyone who has a Kinect, an XBox, some friends, a few hours to kill or calories to lose with likely enjoy what this clever, engaging and genre-defining game has to offer.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5