Home Review Just Dance 2017 Review—it’ll have you shaking your hips and waving your...

Just Dance 2017 Review—it’ll have you shaking your hips and waving your hands

November 30, 2016

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top boxart Each year Ubisoft releases a new version of Just Dance that improves upon the previous year’s edition, and this year is no different. Just Dance 2017 is packed with 40 hot tracks like “Sorry” by Justin Bieber and “Worth It” by Fifth Harmony Ft. Kid Ink. With such a wide range of genres, Just Dance 2017 has music that appeals to all music tastes—old and young alike. Compete against online dancers or battle your friends in Just Dance mode. Are you ready for the ultimate party game?

Game Details

Platform: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Dance/Music
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer (2-6 players)
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)

A game that’s fun for the whole family

Just Dance 2017 brings together 40 different songs that make you want to snap your fingers and tap your toes. It includes songs from all genres and tastes that makes Just Dance 2017 appealing to so many people. Just Dance 2017 is not limited to the 40 songs that ship with the game, you can subscribe to Just Dance Unlimited for thirty dollars per year. This subscription allows you to play and to access the songs of previous games from the Just Dance franchise—growing your song collection to over 250 hits.

Like its predecessors, Just Dance 2017 is a party game that is geared toward having fun with family and friends. There are not a lot of extras or complex special moves that you have to memorize, it’s just plan simple fun that anyone can pick up on and play. If you are playing with six other people, you are going to want to clear the furniture in your living room. Each dancer must be identified on the screen before starting the game, and the ability to use your smartphone as a controller makes getting a large group like this together easier to do.

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Boogie woogie with the Just Dance Controller app

Last year’s release introduced the ability to use your smart phone as a controller to the Just Dance franchise. Just Dance 2017 gives you this same ability with a more stable gameplay experience. The smartphone app serves as a control center for selecting upcoming dances, changing the settings of your player profile and watching other players’ videos on Just Dance TV.

Your smart phone can also be used as a motion sensor for dancing, by playing with your phone in your hand the sensors communicate with the game to determine if you successfully pulled off the moves. Of course, it goes without saying that if you are going to use your expensive smartphone be careful. You don’t want to send your $700 phone flying through the air.

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Although the ability to use your smartphone as a controller is nice and defiantly opens up the pool of potential players, I prefer gameplay using the Kinect on the Xbox One. Each performance is graded based upon your accuracy of movements in relation to what is being shown on the screen. With the Kinect, I don’t have to worry about holding anything in my hands, and can see my silhouette on the screen in real-time.

Motivating game modes

The Just Dance franchise is well known for its variety of motivating game modes that keep you coming back time and time again. For example, when Ubisoft integrated Just Sweat, which added the amount of calorie you burned per performance, it kept me motivated to exercise.

In Just Dance 2017, Ubisoft have introduced Dance Quest challenges. Three songs are selected based upon a common theme, and you must finish within the top three to unlock the next quest. While playing, you will be competing with eight other computer-controlled players that accumulate points throughout the performance. Luckily, you can see your ranking against the other competitors in real-time so you know when to step it up, or when you can cool down.

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In keeping with a family friendly party game, playing Just Dance 2017 on the default difficulty setting is your best bet. It’s very forgiving, and ensures that everyone will have fun. On the other hand, if you are looking for a challenge, Just Dance 2017 has a difficulty mode that will give you a run for your money.

A franchise that just gets better each year

Though It’s true that the Just Dance franchise has never really been visually demanding on the hardware it runs on, each year that has been improvements to the 3D models and animations. Even with the amount of bright colours on screen, Ubisoft has managed to make the movements that you have to mimic very clear and easy to see.

This year Ubisoft has added the Just Dance Machine mode to Just Dance 2017. In this strangely bizarre mode, you have been abducted by Aliens and they need your dance energy to refill their spaceship’s batteries to go back home. Each Dance Machine session is composed of five short exclusive and unique dance experiences that span different types of dance: Flamenco, Charleston, Ballet, Haka, and French Cancan. As you provide the Aliens with enough energy, they will unlock new dance segments for you to try and help them out.

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Final Thoughts

Just Dance 2017 is one of the top party games of 2016 and a casual gamers dream come true. Although there is not a whole lot of new options or modes over the previous installments, Just Dance 2017 is a complete blast to play with family and friends. Even if you have previous iterations of Just Dance, it is definitely worthwhile to pick up Just Dance 2017.

+ Great selection of songs to chose from
+ Bright and colourful graphics
+ Easy to use menus
+ Just Dance Unlimited subscription adds hundreds of song (optional – only available Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U)

– Not a lot of new features
– The initial 40 songs that come with the game can become old after several hours of play