Victorious: Time to Shine
By Erin Bell,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
TV-based Kinect game lets kids stage their own music videos.
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Victorious: Time to Shine
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What’s It About?
As a student at Hollywood Arts, a prestigious arts school, players cooperate with the other students to produce music videos based on songs from the show. Players rehearse each part of the video by clearing four modes: Acting, Music, Dancing, and Singing. The first three modes involve mimicking the movements they see on-screen, while the fourth mode requires singing along with the music, Karaoke-style (no microphone peripheral required since the Kinect sensor has one built-in). In the final sequence, players stage the music video itself, which involves performing sections from each of the modes on the fly. There's also a multiplayer mode where friends can either cooperate or compete with each other. By achieving high star ratings, players unlock new clothing and hairstyles for their avatar, which can be male or female with numerous skin tones to choose from.
Is It Any Good?
Victorious: Time to Shine maintains the positive vibe of the TV show (you won't find any raunchy lyrics or racy outfits here), so fans of the show should enjoy the familiar songs, setting, and characters. In terms of gameplay, Time to Shine is a middling effort that lacks the depth of titles like Dance Central and The Black Eyed Peas Experience. The biggest thing missing is that players have no way of isolating and slowing down the more complex dance moves to practice them before incorporating them into the routines themselves. This lack of ability to practice could easily prove frustrating to players, despite the game's forgiving nature of mistakes. Time to Shine is a fun game for fans of the show, but it is unlikely to win over players who take their music games a little more seriously.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about which of the activities kids enjoyed doing the most. How does this game stack up to other music and/or rhythm games you have played?
Families can also talk about whether kids think it would be fun to go to an arts-based high school.
Game Details
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: D3Publisher of America
- Release date: November 15, 2011
- Genre: Music & Dance
- Topics: Arts and Dance, Music and Sing-Along
- ESRB rating: E
- Last updated: August 29, 2016
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