Dancing the Summer Away
As we wrapped up the summer, we made one last trip to Chicago for some family quality time. On the way back, we stopped by the outlet mall to see if there was anything that we couldn’t live without.
As luck would have it, the state of Illinois was celebrating their back-to-school so heck with the sales tax weekend. We wandered about the clothing stores to see if there was anything that we couldn’t live without. There really wasn’t. But when we stopped in the Sony store, our wallets weren’t so lucky. No sales tax on back-to-school electronics, too.
After looking at the various iPod docking stations, we found the perfect one for the basement so the kids had something to crank up (to our limitations, of course) and dance and sing their favorite tunes. They absolutely love it and we love that they utilize their electronics in such a way that keeps them active and moving.
So when we had a chance to review Ubisoft’s Just Dance Summer Party for the Wii, we were pretty thrilled. As owners of Just Dance and Just Dance Kids, we knew we liked the product line. Just Dance Summer Party is chocked full of current pop recognizable tunes like Firework by Katy Perry, Rihanna and Pussycat Dolls but it also is peppered with some classics like Funkytown, Mambo No 5 and You Can’t Hurry Love (I’ve always loved the Supremes!)
When we fired up the game for the girls to play, I was pleasantly surprised by the interface. It’s a substantial improvement over the original Just Dance (which, like I said, we loved). The user has the option of a normal “Just Dance” mode, a Dance Battle mode or an exercise mode called “Just Sweat”.
In the Just Dance mode, participants follow along to the music – watching the cues – and working to complete the moves correctly. The cool part is that not all the players are doing the same moves! With two people, a duet has them dancing and swinging around each other. The girls loved it once they figured it out. I also like the option of the non-stop shuffle where the songs play continuously at random. You see, with two independent and very different girls, song selection takes longer than the song itself.
My girls didn’t have any interest in playing the Dance Battle mode. It offers the ability to have team challenges with up to 8 players. Game Modes provide a great selection for entertaining!
One of the coolest features is the “Just Sweat”. If this was included in prior Just Dance games, I totally missed it! The songs are rated for mild, tough and intense and tracks your progress day by day.
Both Miss M and Miss K loved the game and it’s the kind of game that I don’t mind ‘sitting’ and playing with them. If you’re looking for a great game to get your kids active (without them really knowing it) then this is worth checking out.
Thanks for the review. I'll consider making this a Christmas gift.