DanceStar Party is the PlayStation Move’s answer to the increase in popularity of the dancing game genre. Developed exclusively for the PlayStation Move, DanceStar Party looks to take what Studio London learnt about community from Singstar and transport it into the world of dancing. Has Studio London managed to create another sensational party title or does it need dancing lessons?
Let’s find out and kick of the HOTS and NOTS.
Hot
Easy to follow moves
DanceStar Party uses the common visual prompts and on screen reflected dancer to show the player the moves they need to perform. While I have only played a handful of other dancing titles, I found that DanceStar Party has the clearest prompts allowing you to know exactly what to do and when. This allows players to follow the flow of the song as well as removing the moments of confusion, when players are unsure what to do.
Variety
So the moves are easy to follow but do they get repetitive? The quick and simple answer, not at all. Each song has its own unique move set, set over four difficulty categories. None feel like they are a copy and paste of another, resulting in DanceStar never feeling repetitive. The four difficulties take the basis of the tracks moves but add in harder elements, turning what was an easy section on Beginner into a workout on Hard.
One of the most important areas of a dancing title after the dancing and the moves themselves is the music players dance to. This is where DanceStar comes into its own. With a fantastic collection of 40 songs, DanceStar has something for everyone. The track list includes Basement Jaxx – Where’s Your Head At, Elton John – I’m Still Standing and LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem, to name a few and just from those three alone you can see the variety that is on offer.
Well loved format
With dancing game fans already loving the universally used move to points format why alter it too much? DanceStar uses the PlayStation Move to track players movements; it’s very similar to how Just Dance works on the Nintendo Wii. Studio London has then taken their adored Singstar formula and adjusted it into a dancing game.
The Singstar element is noticeable not only as tracks have lyrics but when it comes to offering a fun multiplayer party experience. Like most dancing games and even party games, DanceStar Party is truly set up to be enjoyed by multiple players.
Content
DanceStar Party is a game with plenty to entertain players. With 40 tracks on the disk as well as multiple modes players can expect to spend plenty of hours dancing their time away. As well as the standard dance routine mode where players can choose from 4 difficulties for all the 40 songs, there are also three other game modes: Dance Creator, Dance Class and Dance Workout.
Dance Creator is probably where players will have most fun out of the three Dance Studio modes. Creator allows players to make up and record their own dance routines for any of the games songs. These routines can then later on be played via the regular dance section. Class is a practise mode, where you will be able to perfect the moves of any song. For those looking to show off against friends Class could be a way of getting an easy advantage.
Finally is Workout; as it suggests this is for those looking to use dance as a way to burn some calories. Personally I found Workout to be against the flow of the game, while many will love the feature it is the only mode which focused on something that wasn’t just plain entertainment and enjoyment.
Show off your moves
Not only will you be able to bust some moves on the game but you are then able to upload highlights onto the internet. As an extension of the community feel on DanceStar, the game allows players put their highlight videos onto the official DanceStar website but more importantly onto Facebook or Twitter. Whether uploading videos will result in embarrassment or some serious bragging rights does however depend on your dancing. Not everything has to be uploaded of course. Players can just save screenshots to the games gallery to look at later.
Not
Cheating
While I don’t believe cheating will be a big part of DanceStar it is unfortunately possible. As DanceStar only tracks the PlayStation Move and not the player themselves there is the opportunity for the player to simply just move the Move controller without actually doing the dance moves. DanceStar does go some way to counter this by adding in sections where the player has to move but where there’s a will there’s a way. This being said the typical DanceStar player will have no wish to cheat as they will be too busy enjoying the game.
Verdict
Coming from the makers of Singstar, Studio London, entering into an otherwise busy genre I didn’t expect to enjoy DanceStar Party as much as I did. With easy to follow moves and non repetitive routines DanceStar Party will provide plenty of hours of satisfying entertainment for all players. If you’re a fan of dancing games it would be a bad decision to overlook DanceStar Party.
[Editor’s Note: DanceStar Party was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 hardware. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
