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Dance Central 3 review

Game: Dance Central 3
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Music (Dancing)
Developer: Harmonix

Reader review by Dice

February 23, 2013

Dance Central 3 is yet again another successful sequel to Harmonix's Kinect dance series, but does it live up to the past games history and expand upon an already great franchise...yes, yes it does.

If you are familiar with this title then you should know by now that it is a Kinect required game. And that it's probably the reason why you would pay a 150$ to own one in the first place.

So throughout the course of these games much has been added and improved upon, whether it be the song list, body tracking ability's, or even the moves themselves. A lot of detail has gone into this third installment so let’s get to boogieing.

The first thing we should look at is the dancing, obviously. If you think you're going to be able to wave your hand in a couple direction and get a good score, Then you are horribly wrong, I'm looking at you Just Dance. You'll really have to Hustle shake and jig your way to the top of those leader boards. But it's even better if you have the courage to play with friends by your side and just leaving your pride behind.

Now what about the moves, are they any better? yes.

Dance central 3 comprises songs from decades past ranging from the 70, 80, 90, and to the present, giving you a wide assortment of moves that everyone has heard of or done once in their life. Like the renowned YMCA or Macarena, to others like the previously stated Hustle. The great thing about having such a variety of songs is the gradual difficulty curve it provides. You won't just be thrown in and fed to the dogs; you’ll slowly pick up speed as you progress through the difficulty tiers. Though Dance Central veterans need not to worry. As you won’t have to play all the beginner songs when you boot up the game, because entire song list is available from the start. And also don’t worry about if there are only a limited number of hard routines, there are still plenty of challenging songs, actually there happens to be more than ever before. And if you're hardcore then you are most definitely going want to try the top tier song, OMG by Usher.

But what are the actual moves like?

Well you can definitely see the skill improvements Harmonix has made over the course of the three games. Were once you were taking a step side to side or just repeating the same moves several times during a song. Now you will be doing 360 degree turnarounds and immediately dropping to the floor quickly in one smooth motion.

But you’re probably wondering if there’s anything to this game to settle your appetite for new game modes. Luckily they have brought back past modes like story mode and 2-player battle. They have also added new modes like 8-player crew battles were you switch members on your team and try to beat the other crew. And another called Make your move, were your goal is to create a move to the beat of a song and the second player has to copy it, turning it into a game of dance horse.

And surprisingly the story mode would you know it, has a story this time. Unlike past installments were you just tried to earn street cred with the local crews, you are now fighting for the world as a DCI agent (Dance Central Intelligence) against the evil Dr. Tan and his Dancing army yet again. Oh but it gets even better because of these two words, time travel. This is primarily the reason why Harmonix was able to put in such a diverse set list of music. Because as a DCI agent your mission is to retrieve the dance craze of each decade and return to the present in order to defeat Dr. Tans army.

The story is cheesy and laughably good, and that’s exactly what it needs to be. Harmonix realized that there’s no place for a serious story in a game about shaking your groove thing so they decided to go with the most outrageous plot they could muster, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The graphics haven’t had an update, and although that would have been nice, the games art style fits in well with the vibrant colors and characters. So I’m glad they put their main focus on developing better gameplay and Dance choreography. Hopefully the visuals will be improved in Dance Central 4.

The only downside to this game is the only complaint that comes from anyone that has a Kinect, which is space. You won’t need a vast field or anything but you don’t want to be knocking lamps off the shelf while you’re tripping over yourself. But this isn’t really something to fret over about the game as you should already know that the Kinect requires a decent amount of space in order to function.

One of the great things that I have not talked about yet is the importing of songs from the past two installments. If you have a copy of Dance Central 1 or 2 with an unused code on the manual, then you can redeem the license to play all the past songs on Dance Central 3 for a small fee.

So out of everything this game has to offer I can’t really find a purpose as to why you wouldn’t buy this game if you have a Kinect. It’s got fun single and multiplayer game types. It’s the perfect hangout party game. And best of all you’ll actually be getting a good working. So why are you sitting on the couch, get Dancing.

Rating: 10/10

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