PAX Prime 2010 – Dance Central: Hands-on Impressions

Dance Central debuted quizzically at E3 this year, but as time and more hands on (dance on?) impressions have come out, it’s become the showcase game for Microsoft’s new Kinect. It’s the only game in the entire lineup that I want to play, and being able to finally get some time with it was great. Did it hold up to my expectations?

I was able to get some play time in with the game at the Harmonix booth, the game overshadowed (incorrectly, in my mind) by Rock Band 3. The first thing I noticed is how well the Kinect worked in relation to the game. Nothing seemed to lag, the menus for the game were very responsive, and playing the game wasn’t hindered in any way because of the new peripheral. Kinect as a whole has failed to impress me, due mainly to the games, but if it continues to showcase things like Dance Central then I may have to invest.

There were only a few songs available in the demo so I chose Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison.” I played it on Medium to get a decent challenge out of it. Plus I’m at a convention, why not make a fool out of myself in front of a bunch of people I’ll never see again? As the song plays, the avatars on screen do specific dance moves. Your job is to mirror what they do. A small window near the right side of the screen shows your silhouette so you can see what you’re doing in the game. There’s another menu on the side that shows what moves are coming up next. You are scored based on how accurate your moves are to what the avatar is doing. If you’re not doing well, the character on screen will glow red in the area where you’re doing it wrong. Just like all music games, there’s a learning curve just to learning what everything means, but once you have it down, it’s merely a matter of learning how to dance.

Despite my probable foolish appearance to spectators, I had a lot of fun with the game. I played alone at the show, but the game supports up to 3 players. I can definitely see this game being incredibly fun in a house party as people jump in and take turns dancing. It’ll be another addition to the growing family of music-based video games that Harmonix is leading the charge in.

Dance Central was a lot of fun with my limited time playing it. I know in the comfort of your own home and away from the prying eyes of strangers, the game will be less embarrassing and more fun. I can’t wait to play more of it with friends who don’t mind being fools when the game releases this November with the launch of Microsoft’s Kinect.

Dance Central releases on the Xbox 360 on November 4th, published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix.