Kinect Dance Central 3: It’s not easy to create a game that is entertaining and makes optimal use of the Kinect sensor. Did the creators of the next gen of the very popular dance game succeed?
Some games that had information on using Kinect on the Xbox should not boast about it. Luckily, Kinect Dance Cental 3 doesn’t fall into that category.
The game makes a good impression from the very beginning, thanks to the biggest novelty, i.e. the story mode. After all, how to tell a story in a game so that it is addictive and interesting, and at the same time does not duplicate the patterns known from the big screen?
In the game, we will not be a rebellious teenager who, after changing schools, tries to prove his worth by dancing. We will also not work as a bartender, teaching children to dance in our free time, while dreaming of a great career on the dance floor. Patric Swayze will also not jump off the screen.
The team from the Harmonix studio, the makers of such hits as Guitarhero and Rockband, made us agents of Dance Central Intelligence (DCI). At the very beginning of the story mode, when visiting the DCI headquarters, we have to pass the agent exam.
We will not listen to lectures or take tests on paper. Our paper is parquet and our body is a pen. If we show that we can dance, we will be welcomed and take a trip back in time to save the world.
It turns out that the madman Tan wants to destroy Dance Central. Hence, we have to move back in time to the 70s and discover special “power steps” in the following works. The fun is great, because we start with the Boogie and Disco styles and dance to well-known songs. When we are successful, there are more decades ahead (five in total) with their characteristic steps, musical styles and songs. And there is also Macarena.
It should be emphasized that in the third part of the game, the boombox that plays music is powered by stars that we win in dance. In order to collect the right amount of them and move to a different era, we will have to fight the arrangement for the same piece many times. It gives a lot of motivation and fun. Especially when we see that we are doing better and better.
What’s more, we can go through the entire story mode in cooperation mode, where our achievements add up and help to complete individual songs. It takes 5 hours to complete the story at the easiest level. Then the challenges of each epoch are revealed.
The main basics of the game have not changed since the first part. We still need to imitate the dance moves presented by the avatars (that is, DCI agents) on the screen. To do this, we are assisted by special cards displayed on the side that show the upcoming hands.
If we cannot cope with a certain step, we can use the workshop mode and break down the entire piece into the first parts. In addition to the story and workshop part, we have a challenge mode, combat, fitness, team shows and parties. The last two are new to Kinect Dance Central 3. Producers praise that as many as eight people can play them. It should be noted that the sensor recognizes only two people at once, and the game is divided into teams. The rules of the game can be freely changed and set by the player.
There are many interesting options to choose from. For example, two people can dance to one piece in any way so that the neighbor next to it would not be able to recreate the step. If he succeeds, he will get extra points.
The option to create steps is also good. The players take turns dancing the step they invented, and the game saves it as a card. Finally, the cards are shuffled and the dancers compete for points throughout the song.
It’s a nice idea to start the game in party mode – you have to give a high five to another player.
It is a pity that there are no perfect games
The first disadvantage of Dance Central 3 is a poor Polish translation. The voices of the characters are artificial, the dialogues are written in a stiff manner, introducing youth slang here and there. It often happens that we hear an English dialogue, and after a while it miraculously turns into Polish. In Career Mode, we’ll also hear a clear and annoying translation error: when DCI agents say we have to move back to the early 20th century to tackle modern dance as well. You know – modern 1900s 🙂
There is also another problem with the Polish edition. In the United States, we get a few additional tracks for free for pre-ordering the game. It is similar in Great Britain. We will get a box with a CD and a card with information about the possibility of importing songs from previous parts of the games. If we have the previous part, to import music from it, we have to pay an additional few bucks.
