Should you dance to this latest rhythm game?
DanceStar Party is the latest dancing game, but with so many out like Dance Central and Just Dance, can the team who brought you SingStar compete with the divas of the dancing genre?
Well, before I get into the good, the bad and the ugly, here’s the tracklist that you’ll be dancing to:
• Amerie – 1 Thing
• Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything
• Basement Jaxx – Where’s Your Head At?
• Billy Idol With Generation X – Dancing with Myself
• Bodyrockers – I Like The Way You Move
• Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
• CeCe Peniston – Finally
• Chemical Bros – Hey Boy Hey Girl
• Chromeo – Night By Night
• Deadmau5 ft. Rob Swire – Ghosts ‘N’ Stuff
• Diana Ross – Upside Down
• Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand
• Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed
• Elton John – I’m Still Standing
• Example – Kickstarts
• Groove Armada (Fatboy Slim remix) – I See You Baby
• Ida Corr vs Fedde Le Grand – Let Me Think About It
• Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
• Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne – Down
• Jessie J – Do It Like A Dude
• Kool & the Gang – Get Down On It
• Lady Gaga – Born This Way
• LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
• Los Del Rio – Macarena
• Miami Sound Machine – Dr Beat
• New Kids On The Block – You’ve Got The Right Stuff
• Nicole Scherzinger – Don’t Hold Your Breath
• Ok Go – Here It Goes Again
• Outkast – The Way You Move
• Republica – Ready To Go
• Rihanna – Rude Boy
• Snap! – The Power
• Tavares – Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
• Tiesto vs Diplo ft Busta – C’Mon (Catch Them By Surprise)
• Tinie Tempah – Pass Out
• Usher ft. Pitbull – DJ Got Us Falling In Love
• Usher ft. will.i.am – OMG
• Venga Boys – We like to Party
• Willow Smith – Whip My Hair
• Yolanda Be Cool – We No Speak Americano
Now as most of you will know, I cannot dance to save my life. I have no rhythm at all, so playing DanceStar Party is as awkward as it has been with any previous dancing game I’ve had to review. The problem with this one is that it’s just broken and it’s down to the restrictions of the PS Eye. Basically if you move out of range, then it won’t detect the Move controller and will render your moves null and void, even if you nail it.
As you would imagine, this is quite a problem. Even the Wii doesn’t have this issue, so why the problem with Move, which is meant to be more accurate? Now as I’ve pointed out in previous Move reviews, I don’t have that much room to manoeuvre in, so it makes playing all the harder with a dance game that almost demands you fit within the confines of the lens of the PS Eye. If you can manage to do so, it’s not terrible and the list of songs is decent, plus there are obviously more to download from PSN.
The videos aren’t in full screen, but a small window while the dancer takes up the rest and you follow their moves and/or keep an eye on the upcoming moves on the right-hand side, which isn’t anything new, but it’s good to see most of the videos for the songs.
The Verdict
DanceStar Party has a lot to learn about motion control dancing, but it’s more likely a problem with the hardware itself that lets it down. Despite a decent tracklist, I would recommend sticking to the likes of Just Dance until the team manage to perfect the inaccurate controls for the inevitable sequels that await…
