Picture, if you will, a grown man in his early thirties, swaying with minimal effort and grace, alone in his flat, to the infectious beat of Cher Lloyd’sI Wish. Dance Central Spotlight, however, is having none of that. It doesn't do ‘minimal’ though it’s never demanding, more strenuously encouraging, like a pushy mother who’s not angry, just disappointed that you didn't try harder.
I could’ve gone with an Avicii track, or indeed any of the other songs from the ten-track line up, but it’s me and the only woman in the world called Cher who’s not actually Cher.
The setup’s pretty simple. After picking a track all you have is a ‘beginner’ version of it, and from there it’s a case of perfecting the moves in the song to ‘collect’ them. Collect enough and you’ll unlock the next difficulty level for that song and also for some of the other tracks in your collection. As the difficulty increases, so does the complexity and the speed. So far, so Dance Central.
If you’re looking for more variety, you could go for one of the challenges unrelated to the routines,vaguely labelled as ‘strength’, or ‘cardio’, and another one called ‘diva’. I could’ve asked a friend to join in as we try to match the moves on screen, swearing blind that we were actually doing it so why the hell doesn't the damn thing recognise it ? We might also wonder why, for a game about dancing, it’s not that joyful. It’s colourful and friendly but sterile, like a robot has deduced by logic what fun might be.
While the base game seems anaemic with only 10 songs, it is dirt cheap and acts as a hub so you can buy more songs. Honestly, though, I don’t think I’d bother. Sorry, Cher.
6/10
I could’ve gone with an Avicii track, or indeed any of the other songs from the ten-track line up, but it’s me and the only woman in the world called Cher who’s not actually Cher.
The setup’s pretty simple. After picking a track all you have is a ‘beginner’ version of it, and from there it’s a case of perfecting the moves in the song to ‘collect’ them. Collect enough and you’ll unlock the next difficulty level for that song and also for some of the other tracks in your collection. As the difficulty increases, so does the complexity and the speed. So far, so Dance Central.
If you’re looking for more variety, you could go for one of the challenges unrelated to the routines,vaguely labelled as ‘strength’, or ‘cardio’, and another one called ‘diva’. I could’ve asked a friend to join in as we try to match the moves on screen, swearing blind that we were actually doing it so why the hell doesn't the damn thing recognise it ? We might also wonder why, for a game about dancing, it’s not that joyful. It’s colourful and friendly but sterile, like a robot has deduced by logic what fun might be.
While the base game seems anaemic with only 10 songs, it is dirt cheap and acts as a hub so you can buy more songs. Honestly, though, I don’t think I’d bother. Sorry, Cher.
6/10