While I didn’t follow BBC’s Dancing With The Stars, I did watch the Portuguese version while I was spending the holidays with my parents. Pretty interesting concept, pairing a celebrity with a professional dancer. Not to mention I am a sucker for ballroom dancing…
Dancing With The Stars for the Wii seemed like another good excuse to get up from the couch and move around. Plus, it also seemed to have similar mechanics to the dancing bunnies mini-game in Rayman Raving Rabbids (which I loved). No screaming bunnies this time around, but the rhythm component was there, with a twist. Or tango. Whichever you prefer!
Before picking your first pair of celebrities, I suggest you stop by the Practice mode just to get the hang of things. Basically, you need to flick your Wii-mote or Nunchuk while pressing B or Z in the direction that appears on screen. Wii-mote movements will appear from the right while Nunchuk movements will come from the left. As they reach the center of the screen you must do the indicated move with the respective controller.
Much like in DDR, there are single moves and “lasting” moves. So if in DDR you keep your foot pressed down on the dance mat arrow, here you keep pressing the button on the controller.
Every now and again you will have some Special Moves appear on screen as well. They appear in color-coded circles with a silhouette of a dancer showing what the motion is. If you see one of these, get ready to get up and shake it!
Although some of the move descriptions confused the heck out of me (Mashed Potato and Locomotion), eventually I got them by experimenting. My favorites are the Maracas, the Twist and the Hand Jive. The controls for the Wave (waving your arms above your head from side to side) didn’t seem to respond as well, neither did the “cabbage patch”, here called Stir It Up (like stirring in Cooking Mama, but using both Wii-mote and Nunchuk).
So that’s the gameplay. The actual game takes place through a series of stages. You pick one of the available pairs and dance as either person. The moves are different depending if you lead or follow. Each pair has a series of songs that they must pass (score 20 or higher). At the end of each song, you get some comments by the judges and a grade from each.
The judges (Carrie Ann, Len and Bruno) are actually modelled after those from the shows and very realistic. Unfortunately, you don’t see the same happening with the dancing stars, and their faces don’t show the likeness of the celebrities they should be representing.
However, the graphics are pretty good, especially in high-definition. I was pretty impressed by the way the dancers and their outfits moved, everything was very fluid. The movements are fantastic and the couples animate so well, why don’t more Wii games look like this?
It was lacking a little in the way the pair responds to the judges comments, I think they could use a little more facial expression and a larger variety of reactions, since many times it wouldn’t match what the judges were saying. I mean, if you’re being criticized, you would expect to show a somewhat upset expression.
While the single-player mode is fun to play, there is no competition against an AI couple. But the game also offers a multiplayer option (versus or co-op), and if you do play with a friend, make sure there is enough room for both of you to make the moves without bumping into each others’ controllers.
Overall, Dancing With The Stars became a fun game the more I got used to it. I laughed at myself on many occasions when the moves became to quick to coordinate hands properly, and whipped my own thigh many times with the Wii-mote/Nunchuk connector cable while doing Stirring it Up. And no, I don’t play with a wrist strap, but not once did a controller fly off my hand.
Pick your own stars from your family or friends and host your own competition at home. Dancing With The Stars is sure to keep everyone entertained, young and old, gamer or not. And having two left feet is no longer an excuse, since here you won’t really need them.
Special thanks to John Kopp and Activision for providing a copy of this title.