Just Dance 2015 Review

Unlike most video games, the joy from Just Dance 2015 doesn’t come from being any good at it. Making a complete fool of yourself is something that everyone should experience at some point in their life, and Just Dance 2015 is selflessly allows you to become a complete prat for the entertainment of yourself and others.

The concept is simple, follow the movements of the dancer on screen, mirroring them as best as possible. The difference between concept and practice is less simple however, as most people are not professional dancers able to pick up some fairly complicated choreography in a few seconds. The more you play, the better you’ll become at anticipating certain moves, but that doesn’t mean you’ll do much better at scoring all five stars.

It’s not to say this game is hard, and you can catch-all five stars with a little effort, but the colourful joy of flinging your arms around to loud music is more than enough to keep you satisfied with needing to be ‘good’. This makes Just Dance 2015 feel more like a party game than anything else, despite its ‘sweat mode’. Playing with friends is a must. However embarrassing it might be at first, you’ll all have the opportunity to laugh at each other when the time comes.

Some songs have one dancer on-screen, so you can play by yourself or with multiple people performing the same moves, but other songs have multiple on-screen dancers which makes your living room in more chaotically hilarious. A highlight of these crew dances is the Tetris song, which tasks each player with moving like block piece before reaching the crescendo where one dancer is picked up and carried by the rest. Just Dance 2015 does a lot more unorthodox moves than its predecessors, with a much bigger emphasise on having fun then looking good, which makes it so much funnier to play with friends.

This is a game series where graphics have never really mattered, with all eyes on the real dancers then there virtual counterparts. Just Dance has always used this clever yet simple minimalist style, with big shapes and bright colours along with the silhouetted dancer, making up most of the content. The powers of the next generation have pushed this to the next level with each dance having a unique essence visible on-screen. Whether it ‘Holding Out for a Hero’s laser attacks, ‘Happy’s shifting locations or ‘Burn’s colour changing silhouette, every level has a buzzing, eye-popping draw to it. Rather this is still mainly for the active participants, observers will probably still have more fun watching everyone make a fool of themselves.

There is quite a variety of songs to choose from, with new songs to buy or unlock the more you play. On top of that, Just Dance 2015 offers collections of remixed songs that complete change-up the original routine. Some you’ll undoubtly know, while others are far more obscure, but they’re an impressive collection and always a joy to player, whether you know the rhythm or not (and either way it won’t matter much, trust me).

On top of the standard single player and multiplayer both on and offline, Just Dance 2015 now has use of smart phone technology to take the party with you. Unfortunately, not every living room can be as big as necessary to have the crazy Just Dance party you’ve been dreaming off, especially in the little cramped country that is Britain. But with the new app ‘Just Dance Now’ you can sync your phone and boogie away, even from another room. It’s not without its faults but nevertheless its a nice touch that helps people stay connected to the fun.

Its shame  that it’s not just the app that has a few bugs, with the visual from the game occasionally freezing leaving you and the other players unsure with what to do. On the whole its only a minor annoyance, but when you’re neck and neck with a rival you’ll lose a few precious points trying to guess the dance no longer on-screen.

Just Dance 2015 will make you laugh and cringe a lot, with its amusing videos of your routine at the end of each dance, but the fun you can with some friends is undeniable. With a huge focus of the game being to be silly and not take yourself or the situation to seriously its hard not to laugh at yourself as you flail incoherently. Winning is always fun, but you might want to do yourself a favour and not brag about it too much, or your ‘winning’ video might be uploaded onto Facebook for the world to see. If you don’t like dancing games, Just Dance 2015 won’t change your mind, but if you’re happy to watch yourself and others jump about and attempt the splits, it might be worth finding a copy of Just Dance 2015.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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