REVIEW | Just Dance 2022 |

LifeisXbox’s Just Dance 2022 review | It’s that time of the year again: Ubisoft has released their yearly ultimate party game Just Dance! With the Just Dance 2022 edition, we get more of the same, just as is the case every year, but somehow, we can never get enough of dancing to the sweet beats of this game. Now, I’m familiar with playing Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch or the Wii Console, but I have actually never experienced it on the Xbox. Seeing as I don’t own any special Xbox assets to dance around in my living room, it was my first time using the Just Dance Controller app as well. Ready, set, dance!

Ubisoft doesn’t change their winning formula, and why should they.

ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion from the writer.

What we liked!

Don’t change a winning formula | The very first Just Dance game was released back in 2009, and even though the game has undergone some changes, the core concept has stayed the same. You select a song, see someone on your screen performing a dance to said song, and you mirror their movements. Just Dance is a game that most of us have played at least once in our lives, and it just never gets old. It’s the perfect party game and if you want, it can be a bit of a workout too. As usual, we are presented with easy, medium and harder songs. And the difference between the difficulty levels is quite steep, so these tags are definitely justified. Ubisoft doesn’t change their winning formula, and why should they.
Kids mode and sweat mode | The kids mode is always greatly appreciated in Just Dance, and this is no different this year. Not just for kids, but also for adults that want to take things down a notch, like my 28 year old boyfriend who seemed to love doing the easy kid dances. The kids dances are way easier and there is a simplified menu and grading system as well in place. If you want to work out a little, you can always switch to the sweat mode for a couple of songs. The score disappears and make space for a calorie counter and session duration. A good alternative for people (like me) who don’t enjoy going to the gym or going for the run. Although the easy dances are probably not the best choice here, and we all know that calorie counter will be way off. Still, it’s a fun addition that many will appreciate, including me!
Unlockable customisation | The options to optimize your chacacter are scarce at the start. You can pick a nickname, avatar, skin, and alias. However, the more you play, the more customization options will become available. Unlocking these extras happens randomly. You earn coins during the dances, and with these coins you can go to the gift machine and get random customizations. These skins and avatars don’t really have much use as the person you see dancing on the screen are pre-made by the game, but it’s a fun feature (primarly for kids) to create their own character on the side nonetheless. Besides this, you can also create custom playlists. When you just have the base game, this won’t be very necessary, but if you have over 700 songs available, it’s quite nice to create a playlist where you can store all your favorite songs.
JD mobile controller | As I mentioned in the intro, this was my first time using the Just Dance mobile app controller as well. So the perfect opportunity to talk a little about this as well for those of you not familiar with it yet either. Since nowadays we have an app for everything, a Just Dance app is the logical choice for those who don’t own any special Xbox equipment. I have to say, the app can be very easily and quickly connected to your Xbox. It works perfectly, and the only downside is that your phone is often not attached to your arm, unlike a special device or a Switch/Wii controller. This was really only the downside to it, but was to be expected. I’m just really glad Just Dance offers an app so you’re not forced to buy extra items to play the game.

Somewhere between

GET ULTIMATE | As per usual, you get 40 songs in Just Dance 2022. You can dance to songs like Believer by Imagine Dragons, Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo, Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish, or Think About Things by Daði Freyr. And again, as usual, you will probably get pretty bored of these songs quickly. 40 may sound like a lot, but it’s really not. Definitely when you see the endless possibilities that the Ultimate subscription has to offer, which is over 700 songs from all the past Just Dance games. Oh, and don’t worry, the game will shove the Ultimate subscription in your face plenty of times if you don’t have it (yet). Every year, I feel like it gets put out there way too much and even starts distracting from what the base game offers, which is nothing compared to the extra subscription. In all fairness, the Ultimate pack is not that expensive. For about € 30 a year, you get Ultimate for a year so it’s not that bad, but please, if you sell a game for € 50 – € 60, don’t go forcing people to spend even more money so hard. If you’re curious but unsure about the Ultimate pack, you can try it out for 30 days without further commitment.

What we disliked

Absolutely nothing!

How long to beat the story | There is no story in Just Dance 2022
How long to achieve 1000G | 50+ hours

VERDICT
75 out of 100%

Just Dance 2022 holds true to its predecessors and does what it does best: giving people a fun party game. The base came is, again, very limited, and the throwing of the ultimate subscription in your face is really annoying, but if you can see past this or are willing to buy the ultimate pass, you’re good to go.

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