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Harmonix has hit the top of the dance game charts with Dance Central 2. It's a must buy for the dance enthusiast surrounded by his eager party entourage raring to join in and the solo chick who can hardly manage the dexterity to chew gum and walk at the same time. Simply put this is the best dance game I have ever played. DC2 has something for everyone; exceptional training routines for the perpetually uncoordinated, awesome dance competitions for the professional, heart-pumpin' calorie burn routines for those who cleverly disguise game-play as "exercise", and a great party mode for a little competition between friends. Every time I played I laughed like crazy and broke a sweat. There isn't anything that DC2 failed to deliver; visually, interactively, musically, or sheer enjoyment. After firing it up I quickly realized that I have come to expect far too little from dance game graphics; DC2 blows all others away. Visually this game is vibrant and exciting; with exceptional HD quality sets and dancers. The processing speed required to deliver this level of visual richness can have an unfortunate consequence on game interactivity; causing a lag between the gamers motions and movement registration, not in the hands of Harmonix. DC2 features the most seamless integration of these two I have seen to date. DC2 developers haven't neglected the other features of the Kinect platform either; the game designers uniquely integrate the embedded camera into the experience. In single-player mode, you get the chance to shake-your-thang with freestyle solo. During this section of the song you're on screen silhouette reflects your funky gyrations. The Kinect takes rapid succession snapshots of you and plays it back to you in a musical photo montage. If you didn't think you were an idiot before, you soon will. The only Kinect/DC2 game experience that requires improvement is the use of voice recognition; granted when you've cranked the music it is difficult to bark out commands that the Xbox can discern. After shouting "Play Song" to no avail I surrendered to using hand motions. It doesn't matter how great the party is if the music sucks. DC2 features 44 highly danceable tracks all choreographed to deliver maximum enjoyment. There isn't a huge range of musical genres or eras; with only one song from the 70's, and four songs from the 80's, a majority of the music would appeal to the twenty-something or younger crowd. All DC content is available for use on DC2; with the addition of 15 tracks for download. Again, these are mainly songs from the 2000-2010 eras. The creators know their target audience; I don't see a lot of folks above 25 running out to play DC, with the exception of yours truly. Now's the time where I should hone in on that one thing that unravels the rave but I seriously struggle to find anything worthy of harping on; voice commands and musical variety are minor infractions hardly worth striking major points against a solid piece of entertainment. DC2 is the unquestionable chart-topper to the general mediocrity of the dance game genre.   Mass Effect 3 Format: XBOX 360 Publisher: Harmonix Music Systems Developer: Harmonix Music Systems ESRB Rating: T Official Site: http://www.dancecentral.com/ Rating: 9 / 10

 

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