
	Platform Wii Genre Music & Rhythm Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Paris ESRB E +10 (Everyone) Released OCtober 12, 2010

- Excellent music selection - Improved animations - Great presentation menus

- Not very deep “gameplay” - Limited replay value for some - Not that much fun played on your own

Review: Just Dance (Wii) Review: Dance on Broadway (Wii) Review: Boogie (Wii)
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Just Dance 2

Score: 7.0 / 10

The first Just Dance was a surprise hit for Ubisoft and like any smart business people, a sequel was sure to follow. The good news is that there are improvements, not just an update shoved out the door.

The first thing I must comment on for this game is the presentation. I love how the “Wii finger” has been replaced by a nice large arrow for navigating menus and there is a “magic” feel to how the menu choices animate and move. Menus are one of those things that developers tend to put into games because they are required

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but it seems like they are rarely animated or have special effects like they do in this title.

The second thing is the music mix. The games that you dance to, for me, were a great mix of songs that I knew, songs that I had at least heard once and songs that were new to me. The songs also feature great dance choreography with (where possible) a setting that relates to the song. For example, I love

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the song “Rasputin” by Boney M. If you are not familiar with this, it’s a semi-biographical song about Grigori Rasputin from Russia. The dancer looks Russian and even the moves seem like a traditional Russian dance. These added touches add to the value of the game.

The controls are simple. You and up to three other friends simply hold the Wii remote in your hand and mimic the moves of the dancer on screen. While these controls are simple, they also lead to the biggest downfall of the game itself. There’s not much more to do than dance, but then again, that’s what is promised on the front of the box.

The game is a lot more fun with more than one player. In addition to just trying to get a higher score than the other players, there is a new “Duet” mode and the “Dance Battle Mode” is pretty interesting as well.

There is a “Just Sweat” mode (I’m thinking that as a separate title it wouldn’t sell as well) where the game measures the level of activity based on how much the Wii remote is moving. I tested this out by simply sitting on the couch and not moving and sure enough, the meter was empty. When I moved around it went higher and the faster I boogied the more the meter went up. This mode allows you to set goals and records your progress daily so you can log the amount of energy you spend on dancing. This mode alone is very useful.

The game is nothing more than it pretends to be. It’s about dancing and the music selection is great. There are no unlockables but of course you can purchase new songs if you tire of the included ones, or just wait for Just Dance 3 which I understand is coming out later this year. Now, get off the couch and just dance!

- Syd Bolton

(February 22, 2011)

Syd Bolton is Canada’s top videogame collector who surrounds himself in thousands of classic video games at the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.