The Hip Hop Dance Experience

Review

Common Sense Media says

Fun, vigorous movement, with sexy lyrics and dance moves.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Learning4
Best: Really engaging, great learning approach.
Very Good: Engaging, very good learning approach.
Good: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
Fair: Somewhat engaging, okay learning approach.
Not for Learning : Not recommended for learning.
Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

AGE
13
QUALITY
 

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that The Hip Hop Dance Experience is a dance rhythm game requiring the Kinect controller for the 360. It features song lyrics with sexual themes and videos that may be inappropriate for younger children because of partial nudity. The dance moves can have players gyrating their hips in a provocative manner. The game attempts to mimic the hip-hop lifestyle with clothing within the game, so female dancers may be seen in halter tops or short shorts, skirts, or dresses. The game does allow for head-to-head battles on the same machine between two players.

  • Positive messages1
    The Hip Hop Dance Experience attempts to capture the lifestyle of the hip hop scene through music, wardrobe, and rated dance moves. While the music and wardrobe can contain messages that aren't positive, the dance portion has pop-up messages that will judge the moves the player performs in a way that makes the feedback not only instantaneous, but also encouraging.
  • Positive role models0
    Through the music and costuming, The Hip Hop Dance Experience espouses an edgy lifestyle.
  • Ease of play3
    There are three difficulty levels in The Hip Hop Dance Experience, but the challenging moves within the dances and within the difficulty settings are tied to the songs themselves. For example, at the newbie level, a song like "Airplanes" (by B.o.B. Featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore) might be easy to dance to but Run-DMC's "It's Tricky" might have dancers sweating a bit more as they try to bounce up and down while also performing the same motions as the B.o.B. tune.
  • Violence0
    Not applicable.
  • Sex4
    The Hip Hop Dance Experience not only requires the players, who are mimicking the dance moves, to gyrate hips and breasts, but it also contains clips from music videos. Those videos have images of bare female breasts with the nipples covered by a pasty, as well as a male shaking his crotch at the camera and female dancers gyrating their hips in a suggestive way.
  • Language3
    While the lyrics of the 40 songs featured in The Hip Hop Dance Experience do not use profanity, they do feature other language that some may find offensive. For example, in the song "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO, there is the line that "got the passion in my pants and I'm not afraid to show it." The song also contains the lyrics "big-ass 'fro" and the word "damn" at one point. The song "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major has the lyrics "Shawty wanna hump, You know I like to touch ya lovely lady lumps." And "Bad Girls" by MIA has lyrics that state "Don’t go screaming if I blow you with a bang," and "Boy if I go to bed baby can I take you?"
  • Consumerism1
    There are some graffito tags but nothing that really pops out and is blatant advertising.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking3
    Some of the videos to the music show actors and dancers drinking champagne or beer, or smoking a cigar.
  • Privacy & safety5
    Minor privacy and safety concerns: The Hip Hop Dance Experience does have online leaderboards but there is no interaction between players.
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What kids can learn

4

Kids can learn about dance and how to learn a routine by playing The Hip Hop Dance Experience. As the match movements demonstrated onscreen, they will also learn to look at upcoming moves featured in the dance cards and prepare for what will happen next in the dance sequence. Kids learning to dance in The Hip Hop Dance Experience can practice how to coordinate movements and match dance patterns shown on the screen.

Subjects
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Arts
    choreography, dance
  • Hobbies
Skills
  • Emotional Development
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Responsibility & Ethics
  • Tech Skills
  • Health & Fitness
    exercise, gross motor skills, movement
See more details

What's it about?

THE HIP HOP DANCE EXPERIENCE is a dance rhythm game that challenges players to mirror the movements displayed on the screen to score points by using the Xbox 360 running Kinect. Those points, if high enough, can be displayed next to the user name on online leaderboards. There are three difficulty settings and 40 songs, as well as four game modes and a wardrobe selection screen. Players can select a song for each level and compete against one another on the same system.

Is it any good?

 

The Hip Hop Dance Experience features bright and colorful graphics, and a pulsating beat that invites players to get up and move. Some of the dance moves involve a lot of hip gyrations. And the wardrobe choices of in-game computer-generated characters are edgy with short skirts and halter tops. The Hip Hop Dance Experience delivers the whole package in a fun and challenging way. This is not only a solid dance game, but it can also provide a pretty good workout as well.

Explore, discuss, enjoy

  • Families can talk about song lyrics. How does your family handle songs with inappropriate content?

  • Discuss the importance of being fit and warming up muscles before attempting anything strenuous, like dancing.

  • Parents can have a chat with their teens about appropriate clothing in public and why some clothing styles are frowned upon in different settings, like school.

This review of The Hip Hop Dance Experience was written by

What kids can learn

4

Kids can learn about dance and how to learn a routine by playing The Hip Hop Dance Experience. As the match movements demonstrated onscreen, they will also learn to look at upcoming moves featured in the dance cards and prepare for what will happen next in the dance sequence. Kids learning to dance in The Hip Hop Dance Experience can practice how to coordinate movements and match dance patterns shown on the screen.

Subjects
  • Language & Reading: following directions
  • Math:
  • Science:
  • Social Studies:
  • Arts: choreography, dance
  • Hobbies:
Skills
  • Thinking & Reasoning: part-whole relationships
  • Creativity:
  • Self-Direction: identifying strengths and weaknesses
  • Emotional Development:
  • Communication:
  • Collaboration:
  • Responsibility & Ethics:
  • Tech Skills:
  • Health & Fitness: exercise, gross motor skills, movement

What's it about?

THE HIP HOP DANCE EXPERIENCE is a dance rhythm game that challenges players to mirror the movements displayed on the screen to score points by using the Xbox 360 running Kinect. Those points, if high enough, can be displayed next to the user name on online leaderboards. There are three difficulty settings and 40 songs, as well as four game modes and a wardrobe selection screen. Players can select a song for each level and compete against one another on the same system.

How kids will learn

Kids will learn by mimicking the dance moves onscreen, identifying strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the moves, and then use the Power Skooling mode to practice certain moves over and over until they are able to perform them. Because this is a matching-style dance rhythm game, kids will be able to increase identification and reaction time as well.

How parents can help

  • Join your kids and play the game with them. If nothing else, it will give them something to laugh about.
  • If the child in interested in dance, find a local dance class that they might find appealing and enroll them.
  • Talk about the importance of exercise and fitness, and how it integrates with things such as dance.
This review of The Hip Hop Dance Experience was written by
Kid, 12 years old
April 8, 2013
AGE
11
 
Enjoy the best hip hop dance game EVA!
The Hip Hop Dance Experience game is really fun or the WHOLE family. Thee lyrics are mild though but the family can still have fun with some of the most freshest hip hop music, and i know cause I'm black and I love hip hop. The game teaches kids how to dance and how to follow along with dance coordinates. The lyrics don't really influence being in gangs, drinking, and smoking, at all.
What other families should know:
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Teen, 15 years old
April 1, 2013
AGE
15
 
Dance
It's a pretty fun game to play some of the songs may have some bad language in them but over all the game is still fun.
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This review of The Hip Hop Dance Experience was written by
Topics:arts and dance
Platforms:Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360
Available online?Not available online
Genre:Music
Developer:UbiSoft
Release date:November 13, 2012
Price:$39.99
ESRB rating:T for Lyrics, partial nudity, suggestive themes, use of alcohol and tobacco (Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360)
This review of The Hip Hop Dance Experience was written by

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