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WryGuy2
December 3, 2014 at 2:35 pm
Fun for the whole family,
So how does this year’s version compare to the earlier two? Well, to start, this year’s version has 31 songs (by my count) vice the 40+ in the earlier two Just Dance Kid DVDs. I’m not sure why there are fewer in this iteration. Gameplay changes from earlier versions appear to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, at least to me when I played the game. So if you’ve played those earlier versions without any problems, you’ll be able to play the 2014 version, too.
In general, the game offers a lot of choices as to how you play and how you can customize your play, if you want to tweak things. You start out by either entering the “Dance” or “Parental” menus. From the “Dance” menu, you can choose between one of several gameplay menus … “Songs”, where you just pick a song and start dancing, “Playlists”, where you can select one of 7 preset playlists or build up to 10 playlists of your own to dance to, and “Non-Stop Shuffle”, where you set a length of time to dance and the game plays songs for that length. You can pick from different game modes (such as teaming up with another player to try for a high score, and balloon-pop, where you dance to inflate a balloon and shake the remote to grab stars after it pops).
If you pick the “Parental” Menu, you can track game stats, to include calories burned and the number of times a given song has been played, the medals that your kids have earned, and choose between some options such as turning lyrics on/off and selecting a language for the game’s menus.
There is a good mix of songs here, from one nursery rhymes/kiddie show songs that my four year old knows, to some current songs on the radio that my more sophisticated 8 year old listens to, to oldies that my wife and I enjoy. And you can really get a decent workout by dancing along with the on-screen dancers. The first time we ever played, I watched my kids do four dances, and then I decided to do one, too. At the end of it, I was panting and wheezing, while my little girl danced three more tunes. Ah to be young again.
Unlike a lot of the Wii kids’ games, both my wife and I find this one fun to both watch and to participate in. Five stars
0
Nutwiisystem.Com
December 3, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Good family-friendly alternative to Just Dance 2014, but still in its shadow,
Just Dance 2014, as all of its predecessors, is a great video game, but it can be a bit of a dilemma for parents. On the one hand, it’s a great way to have fun as a family and to get some great exercise. But on the other hand, some parents may feel uncomfortable having to explain songs like “Get Lucky”, “Blurred Lines” and “I Kissed a Girl” to their very young kids.
Ubisoft’s answer to these parents is Just Dance Kids 2014. The gameplay is essentially the same as Just Dance 2014, with a few differences that make it more kid friendly. While it’s not without its flaws, Ubisoft did a pretty good job of making it a game that the whole family can enjoy.
The first difference is that a lot of the extras you see in Just Dance 2014 aren’t there. There are no “Sweat Mode” and no “Mojo Points” to earn. The tracks have one set of dance steps, unlike Just Dance 2014 that has multiple routines per song. And of course, there’s no “JDTV” nor online play options. You also can’t create dancer cards nor track individual dancers’ performances (everyone plays as “Player 1”, “Player 2”, and so on).
The next difference is in the track list. It’s not the typical fingerboards-on-the-chalkboard-please-put-me-out-of-my-misery collection of kiddie songs sung by someone who’s breathed in too much helium. It actually has a soundtrack which, dare I say, is pretty “cool”. You have pop songs from stars who got their starts on the Disney Channel like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Bridget Mendler, as well as popular songs from groups like One Direction and Owl City that tweens in the family will enjoy. You also have oldies like “Magic Carpet Ride”, “Footloose” and “The Hustle” that Mom and Dad will appreciate; a few kid-friendly songs from the likes of the cast of Fraggle Rock and The Wiggles; and even “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Hickory Dickory Dock” for the toddlers in the family (the former which inexplicably has a difficulty rating of 2/3 stars).
Here’s a complete track list:
789
Day O
Do You Love Me
Fireflies
Footloose
Fraggle Rock
The Freeze Game – Yo Gabba Gabba
Get Down On It
Get Ready to Wiggle – The Wiggles
Give Your Heart a Break – Demi Lovato
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Hit the Lights – Selena Gomez and The Scene
The Hustle
I Like to Move It
Interstellar Simon
Magic Carpet Ride
Make It Shine – Victoria Justice
Mary Had a Little Lamb
One Thing – One Direction
Party in the Kitchen
A Pirate You Shall Be
Power Ups
Problem (The Monster Remix) – Becky G feat. will.i.am
Put Your Hearts Up – Ariana Grande
Ready or Not – Bridget Mendler
Shout
Skip To My Lou
The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
Walking on Sunshine
We Go Well Together – Goldheart
Each song is marked with 1-3 stars for difficulty and 1-3 sweat drops for energy level, something which has been in all the versions of Just Dance but which some reason was taken away from Just Dance 2014.
The other big difference is in the graphics. Instead of a faceless silhouette as your dance guide, your dance guide is a video image of actual kids dancing to the songs. My guess is that they decided to use real animated figures instead of abstract ones because they’re easier for kids to follow–there’s even a glowing trail on the dancer’s right hand that makes it extremely easy to follow. The animations are also whimsical and again, have a bit more realism and a bit less abstraction than the grown-up game.
I’m not sure if I was having a bad night, but motion tracking wasn’t working as well for me as it did on Just Dance 2014, which can always be a bit frustrating. Interestingly, Just Dance 2014 for Kids uses the Wii Remote, while the grown-up version uses the Wii Remote Plus, so that might account for some of the difference.
There are three dance modes. The first is “Just Dance”, where just like the grown-up version 1-4 players can dance to the song and are scored on accuracy.
The second is “Freeze and Shake”, which is kind of a cross between “Red Light, Green Light” and “Simon Says” where in the middle of the song you’ll see icons next to your avatar telling you to shake your Wii remote or to freeze, and you’ll get points for following the instructions correctly. While I assume this mode was meant to appeal to younger players who are frustrated because they can’t do the dance moves, but want to get points for following instructions, this feature kind of fell flat for me. Even as an adult, it was hard for me to focus on the dance moves and constantly be looking in the upper left-hand corner to see whether I should shake the remote or move it.
The third mode is “Team High Score”, where all the players will dance, and while a “spotlight” shines on a certain player’s avatar, that player will dance while the other players…
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