Dance Central 3: The Review

SAMBA, EVERYBODY!

 

I think I might have died a little holding our copy of Dance Central 3 in my hands. This is gonna be an unabashed love letter to everyone who has worked DA BUTTs off in making this gem.

So I’m writing this after playing DC3 and gosh, do all of our thighs hurt over here at HBG. Gather up your friends for a dance party! You’re gonna need them! We finally got to try Party Mode and it’s all sorts of fun. There are two new modes you can go into – Party Time and Crew Throwdown – the only difference is that in one of them your points don’t matter and in the other, they do. We had the most laughs with Strike A Pose; even while completely sober we were flailing all over the place. Make your move was fun too, if not a little longer and harder to get into. I foresee permanently moving our couch for more room to dance. Hmm.

Right, since we’re really hardcore (our motto: ‘THERE IS ONLY HARD IN THIS HOUSE.’) we hit the Story first because we wanted to start unlocking stuff. AND THERE’S SO MUCH TO UNLOCK! New crews, new songs, all the DCI outfits (Aubrey gets a fricking catsuitttt) … it’s been two whole days and we aren’t even done with all the achievements yet. I’m especially excited about the unlockable crews – I have been hoping for D-Coy for so long! It was especially cute when we made them do AROUND THE WORLD and unlocked the achievement called ‘Where Have You Been?’ It’s these nuggets of fan service that make me squeal. :DDD

Gosh the moment you start on the story, they throw you into BASS DOWN LOW followed by the hilarity of SEXY AND I KNOW IT which just kills your knees and abs because you’re ON THE FLOOR with all that bending and laughing really hard. Wigglewigglewigglewiggle!

You can feel each song TAKE OVER CONTROL and it’s so easy to immerse yourself; the steps just come to you and everything flows! The fluidity of the moves was not something just one or two of us felt, but we all felt that way! While some of us were dancing, even the bystanders kept going ‘wow, did you see that?!’ and ‘crap, that move’s awesome.’. Choreographers, you have done it again and are such a great team of everything. YOU MAKE ME FEEL like grinding every song! 😀

You can’t just hold yourself back when dancing in DC3, the moves really require you to give everything you’ve got. Note: in STARSHIPS there’s a move called the Liftoff which is amazeballs if you really Whip Back properly, because you just land naturally and swing your arms. I think I might have cried a little. There’s also a lot of movement – turning, sliding everywhere, turning to the back then looking backwards at the tv and slapping that ass?! I love that our living area is so maximized now! (note to self: we really need to move the couch!!!)

Also, the variety of songs – they range from eurodance (which I secretly love), hip hop, 70s (this is seriously fun; we couldn’t stop laughing while doing the YMCA), Bollywood, rave (I feel like I should start storing some Glowsticks), crunk (skeetskeetskeetskeet), and that one Korean song which makes all the difference to me because I really dig 2NE1… and there’s even some dubstep when it comes to Dr Tan (wubwubwub)! I had no idea how Kelly Clarkson’s STRONGER could be danced to but by golly, they did it. And it’s really good too; I’m pretty astounded. Plus, it’s really hard.

Of course when it comes to the difficulty level of DC3 I’ve spoken about it in the early preview. But being able to go through every song on Hard reminds me how it is mind-blowingly difficult. Back in DC2 when we hit the Story, we got an average of 4-5 stars for each song; for DC3 we were averaging 3-4 stars and we really needed help because we were exhausted after each song. Most of them are full-length songs which means there’s now choreo for the bridge! And I really adore that because it really completes the routine!

Remember to do your stretches!!

The characters look even more fluid from DC2, and their movements, whether they’re talking or dancing, is really great! Except for Bodie’s head… there were a few instances where his head looked disconnected. And Glitch’s hands are HUGE. I had a lot of fun watching their expressions though, they’ve put so much work into them that it feels like they have specific looks for each song whether it’s attitude, cutesy, cheeky… You name it! Dance Central 3 is just so friggin’ pretty.

[Oh speaking of Glitch, we were watching the credits (the credits are super adorable) and apparently @euthanasian (David Nguyen) designed it! @euthanasian is also known as that guy who cosplays as Glitch and reaaally looks like him IRL!]

Watch out for Angel and Aubrey, their on- (and mostly) off flirting is so cute. And I am totally reveling in the fact that we guessed who Dr Tan’s relative was back in DC1. Booyah!

This DC3 is all about Usher and his choreographed moves are killers! But I’ll gladly Rehearse both of them slowly because it’s Usher doing the voiceover and encouraging you to dance. That’s a huge wow point in my books, coz really, Usher is the bomb. I still remember lamenting that I really wanted more Usher… And then DC3 happened. HELLO! *squeeee!*

Certain songs I need to give props for (that I haven’t yet): You Make Me Feel is excellent; Moves Like Jagger with that Tummyache move, hahaha and of course, Ice Ice Baby has to be my absolute favorite, I lurvvvve the DJ move!!!!

OMG the urge to dance is kicking in again. /goes start up the Xbox

Dance Central 3 is out in stores 19th October, but if you can’t wait there seem to be some copies over at Gamescore… (Shhh)

For some STEREO LOVE, you can listen to the full DC3 playlist here on youtube:

P.S. We need some Justin Timberlake! *plead*