I’ve never been a gaming fan. We have both a Wii and a GameCube in my home, but I’ve never enjoyed playing on either one. We have a Wii Fit board and I tried that for a little while, but I didn’t really enjoy it. It has too much nagging and the strength training was too repetitive. Also, seeing my weight every time I went on it quickly became an obsession. So, when I was sent Just Dance 2 to review, I was blase about the entire thing.
But I do love to dance – love, love LOVE to dance. I took ballet for more than 20 years and any time there is music on, I can be found shaking what my mama gave me. Happily, my kids have inherited this trait from me. We can often be seen dancing around the kitchen and generally having a good time.
When I inserted the disc I had no real expectations. The game loaded and it was pretty easy to understand. I started with Viva Las Vegas – and oh, boy, was I hooked. Sweating, panting and smiling. The dancing figure on the screen was gaily dressed with guns and the dance included shooting motions, shaking and shimmying. I moved on to the following songs:
- Soul Bosa Nova
- Call Me by Blondie
- Bollywood
- When I Grow Up by The PussyCat Dolls
- Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones
- It’s Raining Men by Donna Summer
- S.O.S. by Rihanna
- Hey ya! by Outkast
I enjoyed every single minute of the hour+ that I danced. The bottom of the screen features a character to show you how to do the moves, but I found it easier to follow the dancer on the screen. I’m a quick study and the dances had segments that repeated themselves, so by the end of each song, I felt confident.
My only beef with the entire game is that some of the songs do not feature the original artists. That’s always bugged me about karaoke-type things, because often the singer that they choose isn’t anything like the original. I really prefer to dance to the original artist.
You can select the “Just Sweat” mode, which enables you to further select a more difficult mode and play a select number of songs daily to encourage cardio. Set your calorie burn target and dance until you reach it. There’s a Team Battle (up to 8 players total on 2 teams) and Dance Battle (2 players competing against each other). I’m already thinking of ways to divide my family.
I am here to tell you that I sweat my way through an hour in the blink of an eye. I had to force myself to stop. After school, I played the game with my kids, whose responses ranged from Let’s do it again! It’s MY TURN!!! NO, now it’s MY turn! to Maybe we should buy another Wii so that we can all play it. I had a hard time getting them away from the Wii to eat dinner – and it was nacho night. I can tell this is one that we will be playing again and again.
I highly recommend this game to all of you and I challenge you to a DANCE OFF!
Especially if it’s to Viva Las Vegas. Or It’s Raining Men.
Most.fun.EVER.
While Carmen was sent a copy of Just Dance 2 for review, the views expressed here are her own.