Topic: Dance Paradise

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here's a vid with samples of all the songs of Dance Paradise.  pretty nice setlist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5WmYkDK2dM

the game has received a number of good reviews among all the bad reviews.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/ … bj=6284215

gamespot USA released the gamespot UK review way back when (november) when the game was released in europe even though the game wasn't out in the US. I don't know if they're going to readvertise the review.

Dance Paradise offers up yet another new way of presenting routines that is more complex, but still works well. A large tracklist includes a variety of pop, dance, and rock songs, while a full career mode and a two-player versus mode make it fun on your own or with friends. Though the dance routines are sometimes a little too advanced for those with two left feet, and the lack of advanced instruction can be confusing, the well implemented scoring system means you'll be able to have a good time regardless of your ability.

As long as you've got some good dance skills, you'll rarely see the "game over" screen, thanks to the well-implemented motion controls that accurately track your movements. You'll need to bring your A-game though. Some of the routines are very complex, requiring nimble limbs and good coordination. Though the tutorial runs you through the basics, it doesn't teach you any of the moves or offer a slower practice mode, so you initially spend much of your time stumbling through songs. Novices can still have a good time, but if you want to rack up some high scores, then you need to spend some time learning the harder moves. On the flip side, if you're finding it too easy, you can switch the difficulty over to hard, which increases the frequency of moves in a track, though the routines remain the same.

In addition to the standard Free Play mode, where you can create a playlist of songs to groove to, Dance Paradise has a career mode. There are six levels to play through, each of which contains a number of challenges to complete before you can progress. These range from having to get seven perfects in a song to completing a song with at least 60 percent of your vitality bar remaining. The challenges are not only good fun, but completing some of them also unlocks new outfits and accessories for your avatar, as well as golden steps, 27 of which you need to unlock the final level, the VIP Club. Though some challenges are tricky, none are so hard that you'll find it impossible to reach the final level, and because there's a mix of them spread over different songs, they never outstay their welcome.

There are also three multiplayer modes that allow two players to battle head-to-head: Versus, Attack, and Synchro. Versus is the simplest of the three; each player must man two of the move tracks and attempt to get a better score than his or her opponent. Whoever has the most points at the end of the song wins. Attack introduces power-ups to the match, letting you hinder your opponent's dancing. By jumping with a full vitality bar, you unleash a random attack. These include track jump, which makes your opponent's dance instructions randomly skip across tracks and disappear, which gets rid of them altogether. This is easily the most fun of all the multiplayer modes, with matches getting heated as you launch streams of power-ups at each other. Sadly, the final mode, Synchro, isn't as exciting. You and your partner must perform the same moves, with the lowest of your scores counting toward the total. This mode can be particularly frustrating if you're dancing with someone less skilled, though less-competitive players may find it enjoyable.

Though the complex dances may sometimes be confusing--particularly for newcomers--Dance Paradise is still fun. The large tracklist, great use of avatars, and competitive multiplayer modes mean you'll have a good time playing with friends. And the challenging career mode, complete with unlockables, means you won't get bored on your own either. The unique lane system for presenting routines also works well, making it easy to line up moves and bust a groove. It might not offer the same levels of sophistication and graphical prowess as Dance Central, but if you fancy a different take on the genre, then it is well worth it to put on your dancing shoes for Dance Paradise.

http://www.nxtgamer.com/xbox360/dance-paradise-review/

Onto the big question with any Kinect game, how well the sensor detects and tracks your movement. I'm very happy to report that Dance Paradise does a great job of following your movements and I rarely had an issue with it not detecting me. Similarly, the menus are all well designed and are easy to navigate by moving your arm over options.

Some of the dance routines can be a little overwhelming at first and though the tutorial will run you through the basics of playing Dance Paradise, there's no option to slow dances down and practice them so you're forced to trial by fire. There's still a good time to be had for everybody though with simpler dances just being a case of waving your arms and legs around. Dance Paradise is clearly designed to be a game for everybody to play and one for parties- it doesn't take itself too seriously and is great for novices unlike the more demanding Dance Central.

You can play any track on any difficult via the free play mode at will but for more invested players, the game features a six stage career mode to work through. The main difference with career mode is that every track you play has a set challenge, whether it's to score a certain amount of points or to land four consecutive perfect moves. The challenges not only provide an extra challenge but completing them awards you with golden steps which are required to progress through the levels of the career. You'll unlock various bits of funky avatar clothing along the way too!

To match the game's casual dance gameplay, there's a 40 track set list full of chart music that ranges from pop songs from the likes of Lady Gaga to rock tunes from Fall Out Boy. I actually feel that the set list is probably one of the strongest points of the game and is something I enjoyed over Dance Central, dancing to Daft Punk's "Around the World" never gets old.

The game does a great job of incorporating your avatar into the gameplay and animates your avatar to the dance you're currently doing, it's probably the best use of avatars in a game since Guitar Hero 5. The colourful and cartoon style environments also fit in great with the game and add to that party vibe Dance Paradise boasts.

Dance Paradise doesn't claim to be perfect and it's not without its flaws, but if you can ignore the sometimes overcomplicated dance routines you'll find yourself having a great time dancing in front of your television. If you're looking for a family-friendly dance title this Christmas, Dance Paradise is the right choice.

http://www.gamepeople.co.uk/family_360_ … radise.htm

Dance Paradise simplifies Kinect's dancing, but loses a little of the excitement along the way. However, for families with kids over 12 this is the best Kinect dance game so far.

The dancing here is quite novel and imports a trick from Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Rather than one set of moves to copy you are presented with four coloured lanes. Down each lane travels a little dancing silhouette man. When he reaches the spotlight at the end of the lane you need to start pulling off his particular move - mirroring his motions in your arms, legs and body.

But as well as matching his moves you also have to orient yourself in front of his lane. This is achieved by moving left and right in front of the Kinect camera. It's a novel way to differentiate the different moves and makes it easier to keep track of what's coming next.

The downside though is that this makes Dance Paradise feel a little more complicated than other Kinect dance games. Also, because you are moving your feet left and right to be in the correct lane, moves that ask you to work your legs seem almost counter-intuitive - and if you're not careful you slip out of position while dancing.

Once you have acclimatised to this different approach, it does get a lot easier. In fact after an hour I could cope with songs on the hard difficulty - something I struggled with on both Dance Evolution and Dance Central. But although the difficulty is dialled down, the game still includes music videos in the background which makes it a little less family friendly for younger players.

In broad terms, Dance Paradise gives good feedback on your dancing. If you hit a move spot-on you can see your avatar on screen copying the move precisely. If you miss a move they wobble off beat. I had hoped that the avatar would use Kinect to exactly mirror your movements - like in Kinect Sports - but the movement here is pre-rendered. I'm sure this makes the avatar's dancing look much better but the loss of instant feedback is a big price to pay.

Other than that, the use of the 360 avatars really makes sense. It gave me an instant connection to my on-screen dancer, and the ability to win new outfits and accessories for him was a big incentive to keep dancing.

The multiplayer modes are also well thought through. There's simultaneous Head to Head, Dance Off and Synchronise modes that gets two players dancing with or against each other. There's also a jump in, jump out ten player co-operative mode that is great for parties - although setting up all the 360 avatars takes a little time.

Dance Paradise comes very close to being my definitive family dance game on the 360. But if I could take Dance Central's progression and feedback, inject Paradise's avatars and add a little bit of Dance Evolution's difficulty I think we'd have the perfect mix.

As it stands Dance Paradise is a strong family friendly dance game on Kinect. Unfortunately though, the slightly complex dance system along with the PEGI 12 music videos make it suited for older family members. It's strange to say it, but for families, all three Kinect dance games have a lot to learn from Just Dance 2 (Wii). The time is still ripe for The Michael Jackson Experience (from the makers of Just Dance 2) to capitalise on all this when it is released for Kinect next year.