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Just Dance Kids
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Graphics & Sound:
Just Dance Kids isn't a bad looking game by any means, but it's not something I want to praise for its graphics. All the dancing in the game is performed by live actors who've been placed on some sort of cartoon-like background. The backgrounds are relatively static, save for a few bouncing flowers here or a disco ball there, but of course, the actors are constantly moving. At least it looks like the actors have been filmed for a continuous performance and noone cut corners by filming single dance moves and replaying them over and over. But if that happened, you could give your kids a history lesson on those great games you used to play on the Sega CD, the 3DO, the Phillips CD-I, and even the Atari Jaguar (you could say this in a really big, deep voice for extra excitement)!
Ok, before I go on, I'm going with a spirit of full disclosure. I have been playing Dance Central for the Xbox 360 Kinect. I have been having tons of fun with it. I'll try not to make unfair comparisons, so I'm going to start with a point for Just Dance Kids: Dance Central does NOT have "Get the Sillies Out" by Yo Gabba Gabba! and I have not seen it even rumored in any of the upcoming DLC.
Even with the rather "unique" track list, you need to know these aren't the original tracks, they're those kid-friendly re-recorded ones that you see advertised on TV sometimes. So basically C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" is being sung by a cheery kid's choir and, well, you can imagine the eye-rolling you might get from anyone over 12. If you can get past the fact that everything has been re-sung by kids, there's also a bit of an age problem with the game's soundtrack. I mean, I'd throw this game a bone if it were titled "Kid's Best of the 70's, 80's and 90's Just Dance." But hey, I'll confess that I don't have kids, and I am not the authority on what is "cool" (I mean, in case you had to ask). Maybe kids do really want to hear "MmmBop" since they weren't subjected to it 20 times a day on the radio back in the day. Eh.
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Gameplay:
Just Dance Kids is intended for really, really young kids. You can filter out the songs so your older tween doesn't have to dance to the "Alphabet Song" and "Ants Go Marching" but you're never going to be able to deny the fact that they're in there. Beyond the track list, it's also a very simple game, hardly even goal-oriented. There are no songs to unlock, no achievements, and really not even much in the way of negative feedback. These are all great things when you're trying to motivate an easily dejected 4 year old to keep going, I suppose.
Just Dance Kids also seems to be oriented toward being an exercise game. Parents can go in to check their kids progress under the Parents section in the Main Menu. But the intent of this is not to keep gameplay time in check, but rather to be able to praise kids for playing more because it qualifies as exercise. I suppose that's fair enough, but then, we've never seen anyone "cheat" at that have we?
There's an option to dance with up to 4 players at a time, and, of course, any time you can goof off with friends, that just makes things more fun. Several other gameplay options make this a good party game choice, including a continuous play option that will simply keep playing songs randomly.
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Difficulty:
Just Dance Kids is by no means a difficult game. In fact, it's one of those "everybody wins" games, so there's no really need to worry about doing well. There is feedback to show you whether you missed a move or not, but it's pretty tiny, and located above your personal icon in one little corner of the screen. Chances are, however, you're watching the dancers to see what you're supposed to be doing, or you may be watching the movement icons at the bottom right hand side of the screen. There's no buzzer sound or any huge emphasis placed at all on whether you're doing well or not.
Technically, things could be more difficult on the songs that are rated as higher difficulty, but in reality, it doesn't have to be. As will be explained later in the review, you don't really have to do everything the dancer does, just what their hands do. So while your dancer is doing some fancy footwork and spins, you really only need to worry about the hands to do well.
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Game Mechanics:
Just Dance Kids had the perfect opportunity to employ the 2 Wii-mote control scheme we've seen in other physically active Wii titles, but sadly it didn't use it. I suppose that it might get a little complex for very young kids, but it seems like you could give the option to go with a 1 Wii-mote scheme if you needed to. So as it is, there is only one Wii-mote to keep track of, and really no button pressing or anything that could even remotely complicate things.
So, as it is, Just Dance Kids is a very simple, very easy to pick up and play game. Simply follow the dancer on screen and move your hands accordingly. Technically, you only have to follow the dancer's hands, and only one hand at that. Possibly to encourage kids to move around more, this point isn't really explained anywhere. You're just told to "follow the center dancer's movements." Again, I think if mom and dad are actually "making" a kid play this game as part of an exercise routine, kids will catch on fairly quick.
I didn't have a kid to test this out on, so unfortunately, I can't be the ultimate critic of this game. Just Dance Kids does look like it could be a lot of fun for younger kids that don't get caught up in the finer technical points of a game. But then again, since the game is so simple, they might have just as much fun with a dance DVD.
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-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville |
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