When starting up a game of Let's Dance for the first time, you'll have to create a profile and take a snapshot of yourself to use as an in-game avatar while playing the game. You'll then head into your choice of songs to begin learning the respective dance moves and choreography for the specific song. You'll have professional dancers come on screen alongside you to help you learn the moves, and the upcoming moves will also scroll across the top of the screen to ensure you always know what to do next. The game doesn't offer up any difficulty selections, and there is no way to train or slow down time to practice the dance moves, so prepare to receive many harsh criticisms from the game's dance instructor until you've stuck with a routine for a few decent attempts. Luckily, the game isn't too difficult and will read your moves well enough to allow you to progressively improve your steps.
In addition to playing and practicing the game by yourself, Let's Dance also offers up a couple of ways to play with friends. Normal Mode is your traditional dance off where multiple players can compete to see who can follow along to the on-screen instructions more precisely. Then there is Survival Mode where players compete until they make too many mistakes. These matches seem to be the most fun and can last only a few short moments for beginners and up to hours for experienced players until one person makes too many mistakes or simply gives out from all of the dancing. The game supports up to 8 players on two teams, and watching yourself and a buddy square off in a dance contest on screen at the same time is a blast that few games can replicate.
Of course, great gameplay means nothing without a list of great tracks to dance to, but luckily Let's Dance outdoes itself in this department. The game features 28 songs on disc from a great variety of genres including Rap and R&B with artists like 50 Cent and Rihanna, Pop with artists like Lady Gaga and Pussy Cat Dolls, Rock with artists like Maroon 5 and Chumbawumba and even classics from Culture Club and Gloria Gaynor. The game also looks great and sets you in a colorful environment in which you're sure to have fun. Controls seem to work well across all platforms and having an in-game coach feels relieving for when you're playing solo.
All in all, Let's Dance is a fun game that does what it sets out to do. The game provides a fun and friendly atmosphere that is great for parties with friends or even learning a few steps in private to take with you to the club. The game is far from perfect with a small selection of game modes and other minor flaws, but it's easy to look past these hiccups for the rest of the game's presentation. Dancing alongside a friend in real time is incredibly fun and easy to do and perform even with limited space. If you're looking for your next dance game fix, look no further than Let's Dance.
Let's Dance is now available for Xbox 360 with Kinect and Nintendo Wii. Let's Dance is rated T by the ESRB for Lyrics. For more information on Let's Dance, check out the official Maximum Games website.
Game Features:
Game Information:
Developer: Lightning Fish Games
Publisher: Maximum Games
Platforms: Xbox 360(reviewed) & Nintendo Wii
Release Date: April 24, 2012
