Video Game Blog 034: SoraRabbit Dances Part V

Welcome to the fifth installment of my in-depth Just Dance coverage! I didn’t end up releasing this post last year due to several factors, so you can expect two or three this year to catch up. If you missed any of my other posts, you can find them here:

Just Dance 2023 was released in 2022 by Ubisoft for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. (Much shorter list of consoles this time around!) As usual, I played the Switch version for this post. There are 41 new tracks on this version, with some alternate choreography as always. (In this one you don’t have to unlock those alternates, which was a minor let-down. I kind of liked that feature last time.) This is the 14th game in the series and it really shakes things up.

If you recall my last few reviews, Just Dance had fallen into a bit of a groove/slump with the last few releases looking and feeling identical. They had a stripped-down, white, bare look to them. This one course-corrects to the complete opposite. They unleashed a whole new aesthetic and release method that they will keep for the foreseeable future. They have moved to a live service model, and as such you must be connected to internet to play. (It also attempts to download the songs to your system memory, which clogged up my remaining storage space before I thought to turn the option off. Ugh.)

So basically, they are still planning to have annual releases, but the core game is a free download. (No more physical media for them… it’s all digital now.) Because of this the year is no longer featured on the game icon or the start screen. (I also noticed as I was writing this that they made the “s” in “Just” into a sideways infinity sign to represent this is the permanent core game now.) The design and feel of the game now reflects a streaming service, cluttered with flashy eye-catching thumbnails, the menu items lining the left side of the screen. The free core game now serves as the main hub for play. Every year they will still have a new release with new tracks that are unlocked into the main hub by purchase. Your progression and customization are retained in the core game and carry over year after year.

This design is pretty cool. (Credit: Ubisoft)

Everything looks pretty cluttered and overwhelming here now. (Especially compared to all the white space the last few years.) But once you get the hang of what everything is that they’re throwing at you, it feels like Just Dance as usual. There are some definite improvements in this version. For one thing, there is a much improved sort option that defaults to alphabetic. (FINALLY. I’ve been complaining about that for the last several versions.) You can sort by owned songs, high or low scores, unplayed, things like that. My preferred sort turned out to be the default one, Opus. This sorts first from New to old songs, and secondary as alpha. So JD2023 songs were on top, and when I download 2024, that one goes to the top of the list. Fixing the sort instantly made me like this version, that’s how annoying it was in the last few games.

One thing I really like is the Cal Counter. Since I’ve started playing Just Dance, my main objective is to exercise, and that’s why I liked the Just Sweat mode and playlists in the previous titles. Over the years they changed it to a toggle button that keeps track of your burned calories. In JD2023, once it’s turned on, it stays on until you toggle it back off, which I appreciate. (I always forgot to turn it on each session.) It also keeps track of the number of songs you’ve played in that session and the amount of time spent dancing. This was a great improvement for me, and helped me stay motivated and pushing myself from day to day.

This game also includes a new progression system that will carry over in future releases. Gone is the old Capsule Machine you could spend your Mojo on. (In fact, Mojo itself is a thing of the past. At least I think so… it’s kind of hard to tell, the game really is overwhelming now.) Prizes are unlocked by reaching certain objectives, like specific levels and playing playlists. To level up, you earn XP after each song and by completing the goals. Goals are things like playing songs with certain tags, overall number of songs, gaining star levels on certain songs or tags, etc.

Levelling works differently in this new system. It’s called Prestige. There are three Prestige tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each tier has 50 levels. So currently the highest you can reach is Gold Prestige level 50. (Which would basically be level 150.) I’m on Bronze Level 27 as of the time of this writing.

The Dancer Card is fully customizable with your unlocked prizes. You can select your avatar, which is the coach you want to represent you. (My avatar was the Panda for this playthrough, but I recently changed to Sara.) You can change the background and borders for your card. Aliases are just like in previous releases, and are little slogans or ASCII art. (My current alias is “More Than Just Dance”.) Badges are little symbols to further decorate your card, up to a limit of 4. Your card also shows your chosen name and the level you’ve reached.

Yep, claymation is back. (Credit: Ubisoft)

New options that serve as prizes are emotes, scoring effects, and victory celebrations. Emotes are little stickers that you can send to people during online play. Scoring effects are the designs that appear when you are scored on your moves during routines. The victory celebration is the effect that shows up during the final scoring of your dance.

Going along with all this and with the new release model is the inclusion of Seasons. A Season is a themed release of earnable prizes that lasts around two months. This includes limited-time songs you can dance to. Seasons have been a part of the game for several releases, tying in to Just Dance Unlimited, providing you with free JDU songs you can play. It’s completely revamped in this edition, including its own point system and limited-time prize track. You earn points towards these prizes with each dance. Being subscribed to Just Dance+ gives you double points.

Wait, Just Dance+? Yup, Unlimited is gone, replaced with JD+. It’s basically a rebranding from what I can see. I’ve never subscribed to their premium model (am stubbornly refusing to, actually) so I can’t confidently tell you all the differences. I do see that there are over 300 tracks available, for those who are interested.

Other changes that I won’t really get into detail on are online play with up to five people, updated recommendations, personalized playlists, and free content updates to release new songs, game modes, and the themed seasons mentioned above. I’ve never been interested in online play, but I’m sure there are some who love the feature.

I love the design on this one. (Credit: Ubisoft)

Lest you think it’s all good, here are the downsides. For one, I hate the new release cycle angle. I’ve been worried for years that they’re planning on discontinuing the yearly releases and just making everyone sign up for Just Dance+ and this really feels like a step in that direction. I’m afraid one of these days my review series will end because there won’t be a yearly release, just monthly releases in a mandatory premium service. Bleh. That will be the day I stop and just content myself with the previous games. As far as I’m concerned that will be the end of Just Dance.

Also the fact that the releases are all digital necessitated me getting a bigger memory card for my Switch since I was out of room and I hate deleting old games. I had to go up to 1 TB. So annoying.

Some of the dances are overly complicated, with not as much rhythm to learn. Some of them seem to be random movements whereas the other games you could learn the patterns. Or maybe I just haven’t played them as many times and learned them as well? (Sadly I’ve been too busy and recuperating from surgery to really delve into this like I did with previous releases.)

The main downside as far as I’m concerned is in the clutter and confusing layout of the newly designed hub. I’m getting the hang of it but firing the game up was a barrage of NEW… new design, new options, new game model, everything newnewnew. That’s one of the many reasons I didn’t get this post done sooner… this release just didn’t grab me like the previous ones did. It took me quite awhile to get into the spirit of things and get back into my dance routine.

I wonder if the Danceverses are anywhere near the Spiderverse? (Credit: Ubisoft)

But all that aside, once you get used to the new hub and resign yourself to the release model, this is a solid release. JD+ is a little less in your face and obnoxious as Just Dance Unlimited was. (Man, I hated those constant popups.) The progression and unlockables following you from year to year is a comforting thought. (In Just Dance 2024 I won’t be starting from level 1, I’ll stay on level 27!) I do like a lot of the innovations and after years of the same old same old, this does feel fresh and exciting. The most interesting thing is the story mode. Yes, that’s right… Just Dance 2023 has a story to it!

“Enter the Danceverses” is a story told across 7 songs in the game. There is also a playlist that you can use to play all the songs in story order and earn an overall score for the whole thing. I went through the playlist the day I finalized the writing on this post. My final score for the playlist was 71,497.

The story begins with Regular Human Female sitting in her living room, grooving along as her friends play Just Dance. Her name is Sara and she seems too shy to join in, preferring to just watch her friends play. (In her avatar text she explains that she dances like no one is watching... because she makes sure no one ever is.) A blue-tinted prince character is on the screen. His name is Wanderlust and he has a living orb named Discoball. Discoball rolls out of the screen and becomes a normal glowing orb. Sara picks it up and offers it to the prince. Wanderlust offers his hand and Sara takes it, finding herself pulled into the TV and into the realm of the Danceverses. (Which apparently are the alternate dimensions that each song takes place in.) Sara and Wanderlust dance together, meeting new coaches to join them. At the end of their song, a shadow falls over the land. An ominous witch appears and captures the other coaches. The witch’s name is Night Swan, and as she looms threateningly, Sara and Wanderlust flee into a portal.

The pair then wander into several songs, recruiting other coaches as they go. They recruit Brezziana, a strong and fit dancer and Mihaly, a Zen dancer who uses a spiritual energy known as the Flow. After this they meet the son of the evil witch, Jack Rose, who became a celebrity in an attempt to gain his distant and judgmental mother’s affections. Once the group is together they’re known as the Just Dancers and the story all culminates in an epic boss battle.

Yeah, I’m not even kidding. This dancing game has a boss battle.

Night Swan appears and turns Wanderlust and all of Jack Rose’s audience members into a tainted army in a darkening world. Turning against his mother, Jack officially joins with the others as they all use their distinctive dance styles to transform the captured coaches and Wanderlust back to normal. Night Swan faces Sara, who is able to defeat her with her own style, which is cheerful and carefree… a stark contrast to Night Swan’s vicious and regal moves. Defeated and drained of power, the evil witch escapes through a portal.

In the epilogue dance (If You Wanna Party), the Just Dancers enter Discoball and have a celebratory party with many coaches from previous Just Dance games. On the mirrored tiles play segments from previous game’s routines. Sara takes center stage here, dancing with her friends before entering a portal and going back to the real world.

So there’s actually lore in Just Dance, which we could kind of guess with the fact that some of the coaches come back and the Panda seems to be everywhere. Apparently Wanderlust is the son of two dancers featured in previous editions. (Traveler and the blue-skinned alien woman Si’Ha Nova.) I don’t know much of the lore yet, but you know I’m going to dive into this some day.

I absolutely loved story mode. This is something that I didn’t know I wanted in this series. The recurring coaches, the unfolding story that you stumble upon as you play the game normally, and then playing through it all in one session in the playlist, it was all very well done. This was my favorite part of the game, and it really helped that each song and routine included were top-notch. I also liked the designs and distinctive dance styles of the Just Dancers and Night Swan.

Anyway, the awesome story mode aside, this is at its core just another Just Dance game. Which means the songs are up and down in difficulty and quality, varying in genre. Some of the songs were meh, some were good. Every song included in the story mode were great, but there were a few other gems to be found in the unconnected songs.

They had a lot of weird songs, as usual. Coaches include a CGI crocodile, neon stick figures, claymation animals, a robot, a 16-bit sprite, and inflatable wavy arm guys. They had some creative, artsy videos. One that deserves a mention is for Numb, by Linkin Park. It starts in black and white, stark and dull then flashes to bright, vibrant colors. It was very eye-catching.

Continuing with their trend of inclusion, JD2023 has the first confirmed non-binary coach in Mihaly, one of the members of the Just Dancers. They also have two songs of their own, training under Master Panda (yeah, I guess Panda is a Zen Master now?) and briefly transforming into a panda in one song.

Songs in this game include Can’t Stop the Feeling, by Justin Timberlake, Disco Inferno by the Trammps, I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars, Sissy That Walk by RuPaul, Walking On Sunshine by Top Culture, Woman by Doja Cat, and many more.

Best Song: Danger! High Voltage- 16-Bit Version, by Electric Six. Score: 12,641 points. This is one of the four I got Megastar on and features cool video game graphics.

Worst Song: Therefore I Am, Billy Eilish. Score: 4,485 points. I hated this one. I mean, the song itself was okay, kinda mellow. But the dance incorporated a lot of leg movement and that’s the part I really need improvement on. (I have terrible balance and poor coordination.)

Most Fun Songs: There were a lot of them. Can’t Stop the Feeling was a lot of fun. Even though the routine includes two of my biggest pet peeves of the series— long unskippable cinematic intros and obnoxious panning/wipes that interfere with the dance— the dance itself was fun and I like the visuals. We Don’t Talk About Bruno was a fun dance. Disco Inferno was great and had a lot of classic disco moves… you know how much I love disco. (How did it take them so long to do this one?) All the Danceverses tracks could be included here, but I think my favorite one overall was If You Wanna Party. It’s basically the new theme song to Just Dance. (“If you wanna party, just dance! Just dance!”) I loved seeing all the returning coaches and scenes from previous games in this one.

Oddest Choices: You might think I would go with Walking on Sunshine or Wouldn’t It Be Nice, but nah. The series has a precedent for choosing older songs to serve as variety and palate cleansers between the recent ones. No, I think the oddest choice was not one but two versions of Toxic by Britney Spears. (A straight version and an extreme version.) Not because you wouldn’t expect to see that song on Just Dance, but because they already did it in Just Dance 2. Of course, this was the actual song, not a cover like it was in JD2, so maybe that’s okay. Also, Zooby Doo was weird. I think it may have been a kid’s song, but I have no idea. The coaches were named Zoozoo ad Doodoo. (Of course I chose Doodoo because who wouldn’t?)

Just Dance 2023 was an interesting release as it signified the change in how the game works from the ground up. They’ve built something new from the foundations laid in the past 13 games. The quality of the songs and routines were up and down, so without story mode, I really think this would have been a subpar edition. But story mode and the new progression system saved it for me, pushing it beyond my expectations and showing me Just Dance could still do new things.

So yeah, this one was both more and less than the previous installment. And by design, the 2024 version will be just like this one. I already have that one ready to download and as I mentioned before, I will be covering it this year. In fact, I’m going to start playing it once this post is up. (That post will likely be a bit shorter since I covered all the sweeping changes in this one.)

Despite my complaints, I grew to really like Just Dance 2023 and I look forward to seeing exactly how it works when merged with Just Dance 2024. I’m also really excited to see what the next story mode is going to be, since there is a new one in JD2024, continuing the story of Night Swan. Also, now that I know there’s actual lore in Just Dance, I’ll most likely go back through each game taking notes for my inevitable and lengthy “The Lore of Just Dance“ post.

Thank you for joining me in my ongoing quest to play and review every Just Dance game. I still have fun with this series, regardless of how critical I get of it and how bad I am at it. It’s fun and it’s good exercise, so that’s what really matters. I appreciate you all reading. I’ll see you soon and until then, keep dancing!

Hi.

Jan 30 Video Game Blog 034: SoraRabbit Dances Part V

Hi.

Jan 30 Video Game Blog 034: SoraRabbit Dances Part V

Jan 31 Video Game Blog 035: Retro Corner #1

Jan 29 Video Game Blog 033: A Playable Horror Movie