For a long time the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games were the hottest items in the rhythm and music genre. Yet with too many releases and not enough innovation they soon became stale, and the entire genre nearly crashed like the economy. But with the release of motion controllers like the PlayStation Move and the Xbox Kinect there is a new saviour for the music oriented games: dance games.

Before this I have played two dancing games: Dance Central, which was a lot of fun, and Dancing with Mel B, which was not so good. The Just Dance franchise caught my attention right away when I saw it at rAge this year.

Just Dance 3 is, as you know by now, a dancing game that uses the Kinect sensor to pick up your movements and then score you according to how accurately you followed the movements of a dancer on the screen. This is all done in the name of fun, and more often than not you will end up looking a little silly while trying to keep up with the instructions as they are given to you. What makes it more fun is having friends join you on the dance floor. Just Dance 3 supports up to four dancers at a time, but be warned that unless you have a lounge the size of a small sporting stadium you will end up punching someone in the lip. I still have the scars to prove it!

Your selection of songs is not only varied, but also rather good. It includes some classics out of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as well as some really hip and funky new party songs. Yes, playing this game will change your vocabulary to include such awesome words as ‘hip’ and ‘funky.’ Some of the songs are also quite unique and have a bit of a cult following. Now I am not only talking about Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me One More Time,’ but rather a song named ‘Let’s go to the mall’ sung by Robin Sparkles, and if you watch the show How I Met Your Mother you will know how awesome this song is.

The moves during each song can be quite hard and totally amazing. With arms flailing and feet kicking, you end up feeling like a real pro. But when you’ve just get a certain move down it is likely to change and you have to learn it all over again. Luckily a little icon along the bottom shows you what is coming up next, but the icons can be very deceiving. You certainly need to perform each song a few times to know what the icons actually mean.

For those of us not quite capable of shaking our hips to a beat, Just Dance 3 actually has a karaoke bit as well. I guess it is not just dancing after all. Singing along to the words on screen while performing like a rock star is great fun and it also gives spectators something to do. Special points are awarded for the crowd’s participation.

The songs have their own dancer performing each song as well as a unique background. The vibrant colours and slick dancers add to the party vibe and set the mood perfectly. Each song is also rated by both technicality and intensity. The intensity is aptly marked by little sweat drops. And you will most definitely sweat! This is not a little arm swinging toe tapping game. The moves here will make Michael Jackson seem like a kindergarten show. A mate of mine has already decided on which song we will perform at his wedding and he does not even have a girlfriend yet. But if we pull off these moves it will make YouTube lessons of us both.

When you feel you need some more practice before you take on the harder songs you can always run through them in the coaching mode. And for a bit of a laugh you can have those sessions recorded. These recordings are then played back as the main onscreen instructions when a friend is playing the song. This can cause quite a bit of distraction as you can never get the moves as accurate as the original dancers.

As much fun as the game is, it is always aimed at the casual dancer. When starting to learn a song and knowing what moves are coming, it becomes clear that the game lacks accuracy. Often you can mimic a move identically and yet it only registers as a ‘good’ move rather than a ‘perfect’ move.

Just Dance 3 is still a whole lot of fun with great song diversity, including a South African song. It lacks some accuracy and is only really fun when played with lots of willing people. Even then with the karaoke you can get everyone involved, making this the perfect game for big noisy parties.

The Good: Awesome song selection and variety; four player boogie; karaoke to keep the crowds involved.
The Bad: Lacks a bit of accuracy; only really for parties.
The Ugly: Singing means it’s not Just Dance after all.

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