Just Dance 2014 Review (Wii)

It may not be 2014 yet, but Just Dance delivers a fat-burning boogie session with more leg twists and shimmy shakes than its predecessors.

With its fifth entry into the series, Just Dance 2014 gives us groovier routines, crazier characters, and plenty of new features to get our limbs moving in a tumultuous frenzy. But what’s most thrilling is the ability to dance your way to victory in online multiplayer, unlocking new dances or content for the world community – perfect for the game’s longevity.

At first glance, Just Dance 2014 is different from the onset. The game’s menu system isn’t as smooth as previous games, feeling slightly clunky to scroll through the various songs, and at times there can be a small amount of lag when loading up the next screen. The front screen displays the track which will give you bonus ‘mojo’, as well as the additional features. The mojo metre and unlockable content have both had a small revamp, where you can choose which track to unlock instead of a randomly selected avatar or song with your collected mojo. Plus, there’s a neat reward you can unlock from the beginning if you’ve played any number of the previous Just Dance games, as well as monthly gifts you can download wirelessly.

Like every dance game, song selection is crucial. And this time Ubisoft have got it spot on for all ages. There’s the popular hits we all know and love such as Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and two Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj songs. But there’s also some classic tunes mixed in too, including 80s hit movie Ghostbusters theme song and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. What Just Dance 4 lacked in great group dances, Just Dance 2014 makes up for threefold, and brings the franchise back to the amusing group tracks from Just Dance 3. Mungo Jerry’s In The Summertime will get you to dance in style dressed as fruit, bunny hopping your way to a perfect score, while Disney’s Prince Ali will get the kids – and the parents – up and moving to the beat of one of Agrabah’s very best. And of course, there’s the Y.M.C.A to strut your stuff on for some giddy fun.

Additional features to the fifth instalment brings On Stage mode, where you can choose to be the star singer or one of the backing dancers with a fancy stage backdrop. Instead of set playlists in sweat mode, you can select which songs you’d prefer, upping the difficulty level if you fancy burning off that sneaky biscuit, piece of cake, or packet of crisps you had with lunch. But the real challenge comes in online multiplayer mode, named the World Dance Floor. Here, players across the world work together to unlock content based on the number of stars they’ve collected as a whole. You can also see how you fare between different countries and, depending on how great a mover you are, basking in glorious victory in the top spot or wallowing in misery at the bottom of the pack.

Although Just Dance 2014 is largely a game you would play in short spurts, Ubisoft keeps the formula fresh by adding in an online multiplayer mode, keeping players dancing for hours on end and giving those achievement hunters more bang for their buck – just keep the 80s lycra hidden behind closed doors.

8/10