If you are one of the early adopters of the Kinect for Xbox One you may be able to dust off the cobwebs and put your dancing shoes back on as it's another year and another update to the Just Dance series in the form of Just Dance 2016 (JD 2016 for short).
I have to admit that I was a secret fan of the series when I reviewed JD 2015 last year, so I was interested to see what has changed in the latest version...
For a start the one area that has improved is the presentation, lush would be a better term to describe it, as the interface sports a range of large attractive thumbnail options that are awash with bright/inviting colours.
The layout and selecting each option is also more intuitive, so before long you can be dancing to a range of single, duet and quartet songs, before you know it!
Songs On Offer
Before I mention the different dance modes I have to admit that the devs have also done a great job of arranging the music.
For example, whether you are dancing solo or not all of the songs are grouped into categories so you know instantly what you are able to tap into and these songs are clearly laid out with attractive thumbnails. Hovering over a song will also start to preview the music.
Similar to 2015 you can unlock songs using Mojo; which is earned by dancing and singing along to the tracks. Alternatively you can use Ubisoft Club points to access a few bonus songs. What's cool this time around is that the Ubisoft songs are also listed in the system I spoke of above; thus you can listen to them before spending any of your hard earned points.
Subscription Service
Mind you, while there is a range of music to choose from, the game still offers a subscription based service which it calls 'Dance Unlimited'. This grants you access to over 150 of Just Dance's greatest hits. You do get a one month pass in the box or you can purchase a subscription afterwards with one, three or twelve months subscriptions on offer. However what's annoying is one of these songs from last years game 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams is now part of the Dance Unlimited subscription where as it was free before. I suppose at least you have extra songs that you can tap into, if you are say having a dance party and needed a quick fix.
Either way it's something to note as you are having to pay on top of the original game's asking price.
I have to admit that a lot of the Mojo songs are either mashsups of existing songs or alternative visions i.e. ones that allow you to dance to as a duet. So a bit of recycling is evident in this title.
Song choices for me were also not as good as last years; I had trouble recognising most of them which is probably one of the reasons (you do get 43 Top hit songs, plus many more). However I have to admit once I got dancing a lot of the songs started to grow on me. The Full Track List can be found here.
Modes
To help spice things up JD 2016 now contains multiple modes of play.
For a start you can choose 'Dance Party' which provides classic solo or coop dancing. With the latter modes you also have an extra goal to collect gems that can boost your Mojo score.
It helps that the Kinect and Smartphone control methods support up to 6 players, so as long as you have a big enough lounge you can have a real laugh with some of the songs on offer this year. One of which is a cover to the Angry Birds theme music - its' blomin nuts - ed.
I haven't tried the Smartphone controller yet, but the Kinect seemed to track me and my partner's dance moves as accurate as these dance games can get.
In-Game
As per the previous JD games you are treated to an on-screen representation of the dancers performing the moves (in various fancy dress) and then a row of upcoming moves appears at the base, which gives you a heads up on what's coming up next.
Most of the backgrounds and dance costumes are pretty colourful I have to admit or particularly off the charts in terms of craziness!
However the key is to replicate the moves as best as you can. Get it spot on and you are rewarded with on-screen visual prompts saying if you are OK, Good or Perfect. Additionally there are showcase moves that if you get right will grant you extra score.
If you like to sing along to the music you also have a Karaoke option where it lists the lyrics to the side; so if you utilise the Kinect mic you can get extra kudos for doing so.
The aim is to get a maximum 5 stars and dancing with a partner when trying to achieve this goal is hilarious, especially as the Kinect can record snippets of your dancing which it loves to showcase to your afterwards!
JD TV Player
It does take some balls to then upload these videos to the new JD TV Player (or Facebook) which is a show-piece for all of the dancers uploaded clips. However to help avoid embarrassment it speeds up the recorded dance moves and you can tag on a Avatar to your face or change the background to reduce your redness even further. Uploading videos does earn you Xbox Achievements so it's worth a go (achievement hoarders will also love this game, especially with the amount it throws at you in the opening few hours).
Speaking of videos you also have a new Showtime feature which allows you to select from a few, let's just say, cheesy themed backdrops/tracks. You are then able to dance, mime, act or sing along to the track and afterwards the recorded Show Reel is played back in all its hilarious glory! Believe me I have nearly wet myself with laughter with some of the results. I can see this being a great hit with XMas parties coming up. You can then save the video to the console, plus share them with the aforementioned JD TV/Facebook option. My only disappointment is that the whole song is not recorded, it only does what it thinks are the best bits.
Take on Quests
For more added fun you can also tackle quests with three difficulty levels. The simple aim is to beat your competition to either 3rd or 1st place. Thus each quest, such as the 'Palm Tree' quest, will comprise of a series of songs all played one after the other and you need to dance better than the opposition. You can go coop here so your team score counts, but afterwards if you are victorious you can earn avatars that can be attached to your profile to give it some added customisation. There are 17 Quests in total, so plenty to do.
Fitness Program
Another feature I like and it sort of makes perfect sense, is the inclusion of a Sweat Fitness workout program.
Here you can choose from pre-set playlists or create your own from a range of dance tracks. Unlike the standard dance tracks it will give you an indication afterwards of how many calories you have burned. Small playlists range from three songs or 10 for a large playlist. Each song is then played out and the next one continues after a short interval. Alternatively you create your own unlimited program. On the whole it's a great way to keep fit!
Finally you have what I would call a more competitive dance mode, where you can compete against others. One of these modes involves trying to beat another player's dance score. It's a challenge match, so you dance to the same song and then see if you can dance better (you earn Mojo for a win).
Alternatively you can compete in community driven mashups where you dance to songs collated from the community videos.
Summary
On the whole the 2016 edition of Just Dance has the potential to offer plenty of laughs for a group of mates. I have to admit I wasn't overly keen with the JD Unlimited subscription or the quality of the songs on offer this year, but give it time and some of them do grow on you! With the new JD TV and fitness/quest programs there's certainly plenty of extra content to get your teeth stuck into and it's a great way to keep fit. However most of the modes do tap into the same pool of songs, so my only concern is that things may get tedious going forwards; thus forcing you to the subscription service to jazz things up. Sadly even the Mojo and Ubisoft Club un-lockables are not as good. Bring back the 2014 classic Nitro Bot please Ubisoft and things could be different! :-)