Dance games eh, can anyone remember a
time when they weren’t around? Ok so anyone who can remember a time
before the Wii probably can, but now they’re a regular feature across
all three main consoles and it’s getting increasingly difficult to
ignore them. But with so many now on the market it takes something
special to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, and with Get Up and
Dance O Games have tried to inject something new into a busy market.
It’s a shame it isn’t really enough to wow you.
Leaning
firmly towards entertaining a few friends at once Get Up and Dance
allows you to boogie along to any of the 30 songs provided either alone
or with a few mates. While the options are there to dance alone, it’s
the group dance modes that shine the brightest, giving you options to
either do one off dances or starting a short career in front of a set of
talent judges. It’s easy enough to settle on a lead dancer and assign
others as backing dancers, giving a slightly more authentic feel to
other “everyone do the same” type games. The odd thing is the choice of
songs on offer, where the mixed bag is hoping to please everyone. In
reality, in the same way a radio station that’s a mix of Radio 2, XFM
and Kerrang would only please the most eclectic of music fans, the
selection of songs in Get Up and Dance won’t please everyone all of the
time, and you’ll probably only find a couple that you actually genuinely
like. It’s not every day you find Pulp, Dusty Springfield and Jessie J
on the same menu. As a result it’s probable there’ll be a small argument
about song choice, resulting in your little sister sulking when you
refuse to dance to Taio Cruz.
Other
game modes include an interesting fitness option, which gives you a
month-long set of dance exercises with the intention of knocking a few
pounds off, but each dance is so lightweight it won’t really do much to
anyone except the most doughnut-quaffing fatster, so it’s really an
option for someone looking for a longer term game mode to keep them
interested. Sadly, with the other game modes being fairly standard fare
you’re unlikely to find any real longevity anywhere other than this, and
you get the feeling this will find a spot near the back of the game
shelf next to the other “party” games that only come out at Christmas,
birthdays or any other time where Nan has had an extra sherry and wants
to shake her stuff.
This dance is accompanied by the winners of The Gormless Factor 2011
Technically
it’s sound enough; the Move integration is tight and responsive, and
goes some way to show me just how bad I am at dancing. The idea of
playing the music video in the background to make you feel like you’re
really dancing in a show doesn’t really work when you end up looking
like Mr Bean at a disco, although the younger gamers might find this a
nice touch. It also doesn’t help that the little icons telling you what
to do come a little later than would be helpful, and falling over is
more of a certainty than a worry. It goes well with the Mr Bean look.
So,
it’s another dancing game. Another dancing game that does its best to
be something new, but all things considered just… isn’t. It works, and
isn’t a bad game as such, but when there’s so much else on the market
that does the same thing it’s just very hard to give a firm
recommendation. If you can pick it up cheap, have a few friends to play
with (who each need their own Move controller) and enjoy dancing to
every style of music this side of opera, then you might just click with
it and have a ball. Otherwise it’s difficult to see where Get Up and
Dance fits into a market busier than your average Pussycat Dolls gig.
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