By Katrina Metty
Assistant Editor

This last Christmas, the gift to get was definitely the Xbox Kinect. One of the better games to come out so far for it has been Microsoft’s Dance Central, a game quite comparable to Ubisoft’s Just Dance for the Nintendo Wii.

Both Dance Central and Just Dance have a decent playlist with just over thirty songs on each game.  Many of the songs are well-known, but come from different genres.  Dance Central has more recent pop songs such as Cascada’s “Evacuate the Dance Floor”, Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance”, and Soulja Boy’s “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”.  Just Dance on the other hand has older, lesser-known songs like “I Get Around” by The Beach Boys, “Who Let the Dogs Out” by Baja Men, and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper.  The Kinect playlist allows for a better workout with its quicker tempos.

Wii games are confined to whatever a remote can pick up, so as long as the dancer moves their arm in the proper directions, Just Dance doesn’t care what they do with their feet.  The dancer could remain stationary and get a perfect score even if they only move their one hand with the controller in it.  This means the Wii game is mostly a workout for the dancer’s one arm.  The screen shows full body actions, but only the one hand is accounted for.  For an example of what’s seen on the TV while playing, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rBFtCJ255w.

The Kinect, however, uses a heat sensor.  Dance Central requires all four limbs to move in the right positions for each move.  This makes the game more difficult and more tiring as play goes on because just moving one hand is unacceptable, making the workout involve the whole body.  For a video of what’s seen on the tv for Dance Central, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yHHiVtUEM4.

Both screens have a dancer doing the moves with you, but Just Dance also includes song lyrics.  This can be distracting to the dancer, but it may also be for the enjoyment of their audience.

Just Dance characters are mute, but Dance Central’s characters tend to be cocky.  Many are heard to say they are too good for people to watch or that they need a challenge, but can also later make excuses if the player danced badly enough.

Overall, Dance Central was a more enjoyable game to play that leaves the dancer feeling more tired at its conclusion than Just Dance.