For weeks now our conversations on Slack have involved Just Dance 2018 and who was going to review it, for 5 out of the last 6 years it’s been me and this year will be no different! It makes sense I guess, I am after all the best dancer on the team.
So, what makes Just Dance 2018 even better than Just Dance 2017? Apart from a fresh new set of tracks, there isn’t actually that much that is different this year, that’s not a bad thing though. I actually reviewed this using Kinect, which is ironic since it’s been killed off by MS. Fear not, if you don’t own the camera you can use your mobile to take over those duties.
As always, Kinect takes expects a lot of room to make sure it can see your whole body to get the best assessment of your performance, thankfully that’s not a problem in my new lounge so I was quickly up and running. Both Kinect and my iPhone produced similar results in capturing my wonderful moves, though its slightly more hit and miss using your phone, but on the whole you feel like you are achieving something and it certainly fun dancing to songs that require more than one dancer.
The UI has been refined and is very simple to use, allowing you to quickly access the different game modes and songs you want to dance to. This year there are even more songs I’ve never heard of, including Beyoncé, Shakira and Ariana Grande. The choreography to each song varies in difficulty, but are all wonderfully executed, the bright vibrant colours can’t help but draw you in, while the constant feedback helps you during each dance.
When songs are over you are treated a quick video of your performance which tends to bring the reality home that you aren’t quite as good as you think you look, you can then share that video with your friends, don’t even bother asking…
There are daily goals for you to try and reach which reward you with new songs, new dance moves and stickers that can be used to deviate your profile. The whole stickers/avatar thing feels a bit childish but children will love customising them. What they will love is the kids mode in Just Dance 2018, although all the lyrics in the game are clean versions of each song, there are still some songs you wouldn’t want your children dancing too, but in the kids mode you can choose to dance to songs from Disney classics including The Little Mermaid, Miami and Aladdin. The feedback in each song is more forgiving and uses much more encouraging language, and after watching my boys play through the mode for two hours, it clearly works.
The tracks that come with Just Dance 2018 are bolstered with the Just Dance Unlimited service, giving you access to over 300 tracks from the Just Dance catalogue, it’s free for three months before you’ll need to pay. Yet again this year you are able to create playlists of your favourite tracks and for those who want to keep fit, the sweat modes keep count if the calories burnt while dancing. It’s quite a workout generally, so playing through the exercise mode will definitely help your fitness levels, it’s certainly a fun way of keeping fit.
Those that are braver and better at the game can also take on other players around the world, it works really well and will certainly help improve your fitness levels.
Although Just Dance 2018 doesn’t make huge strides to be a whole lot different, it still a good enough game to pick up for parties or if you have never had a copy of the game before, it will take older fans a little more convincing to for out for the new version though.