Are you ready to bust a move? The sequel to last year’s breakout Kinect hit is out now, and my brother picked up a copy of it late last week. At this point, I have not shaken my booty enough to write a full review but rest assured it’s on the way.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to prove to the haters why this Jett is so Fly Like A G6. Yes, that was a terrible pun and yes, I’m sorry.
I was sold on Dance Central the moment I saw the first E3 live demo of it in action. I always trust in Harmonix to make a quality game, but watching this girl break it down to one of my favourite songs took it over the top for me. Video games based on real dancing aren’t necessarily new, but up until this point, no one had made a dancing game where every body movement mattered. I’ve been waiting for this type of game for quite some time, and I was ready to pay anything for it.
Well, almost anything. I wasn’t ready to buy a Kinect at $150 just for this game, and I anxiously awaited for the day when I could get a Kinect for less than full price. That day happened, and I’ve since cranked that Soulja Boy and contorted my body in ways I never thought were possible. Is this the new dancing queen? Or nothing but two left feet?
😦
While I’m by no means a life-long Harmonix fan, I’ve loved them ever since they rocked my world with Guitar Hero II. They’ve consistently made quality music games and supported them with great downloadable content, which puts them head and shoulders above anybody else in the music/rhythm genre. As far as downloadable content goes, no game ever has had better support than the Rock Band franchise. I have easily spent hundreds of hours (and dollars) on their products, and don’t regret any of it.
It looks like my money wasn’t enough to keep their operation going. Viacom, parent company of MTV and Harmonix, has announced that they’re going to sell off the creators of Rock Band and Dance Central.
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Earlier this week, my brother and I picked up a copy of Rock Band 3 alongside a Rock Band 3 keyboard. In the past, Rock Band launches have been monumental to us. For the first game, we pre-ordered our bundle four months in advance and were at the store just as the courier dropped of the shipment of Rock Band bundles. For the sequel, we lined up at a Walmart before midnight to get the game as soon as possible.
For the third? I kind of just went to the store and picked stuff up. I can’t speak for my brother, but my interest has waned dramatically in the genre. However, Harmonix is one of my favourite developers, Rock Band is one of my favourite game series and I get the impression that they’re trying to make this the ultimate music game.
I am not a fan of motion controls. I’ve made it very clear on this very blog. In particular, I have a number of doubts surrounding Microsoft’s motion controlled solution. While I think the idea behind Kinect is cool, I have concerns about how the technology works, the price (rumored to be $149.99) and the types of experiences being made available for it. So far, Microsoft is marketing this squarely at the casual audience, providing no shortage of Wii-inspired and Wii-ripoff games, such as Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures and Kinectimals. As Darth Vader once said, “Do not want!”
After watching Microsoft’s e3 presentation, I was ready to avoid the Kinect completely. But if I told you I didn’t want to play anything the Kinect has to offer, I would be lying. I want to play Dance Central really bad.
