Common Sense Media Review
By Chris Morris
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dancing done light for Kinect; rhythm not required.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
DanceMasters
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
DANCEMASTERS is a new type of game designed to work with the Kinect motion sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360. The camera tracks your movements as you mimic certain actions of the dancers on screen. Unlike other Kinect dance games, like Dance Central, the point of this game isn't to learn dance moves, but to strike poses on command and wave around your arms and legs the rest of the time. Developed by the company behind Dance Dance Revolution, this is dancing done light for Kinect -- and doesn't require you to have rhythm to have fun.
Is It Any Good?
DanceMasters is an incredibly fun game that puts no pressure on players to learn complicated moves. The point is less about nailing routines as it is about scoring points and moving. There's plenty of flailing about, but that's half the fun. The song selection likely won't be familiar to people who don't go to dance clubs, though, so you won't be able to dance to songs you're familiar with -- and only 20 of the game's 31 songs are initially available. (You have to unlock the others and DanceMasters isn't real clear about how to go about doing that.) Downloadable digital content will seemingly broaden the catalog, but we would have liked to have seen one or two familiar songs.
Online interaction: The game encourages you to play with friends online, but does allow children to play with strangers (or people not on their friend's list) via Xbox Live. However there is no chat.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether it's more fun to move their entire body in dance games, as they do here, or to just move their feet on a mat, as they do in Dance Dance Revolution. Which is easier and which gets your blood pumping more?
What is your favorite type of music to dance to? Is it more fun to dance alone or with friends? If with friends, do you prefer them to be in the room with you -- or dance with them via the multiplayer elements of Xbox Live?
Game Details
- Platform : Xbox 360
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Konami
- Release date : November 4, 2010
- Genre : Music & Dance
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 13, 2022
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