Just Dance 2022

Genre: Music-Rhythm / Sports (Exercise)

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES A PAID SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Just Dance is a long-running series of games that use motion control (either a Joy-Con or your own mobile phone) to detect dance movements in time with licensed songs while playing videos of wacky yet generic characters for players to mimic. 2022 is the yearly installment of the series released in… er… 2021.

Before getting to the gameplay, let’s go over the tracklist, because that’s what’s going to differentiate this game the most from other yearly installments in the franchise. That tracklist is as follows:

“Baianá” by Bakermat

“Believer” by Imagine Dragons

“Black Mamba” by Aespa

“Boombayah” by Blackpink

“Boss Witch” by Skarlett Klaw (Cover by DEVMO)

“Build a B****” by Bella Poarch

“Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls featuring Snoop Dogg

“Chacarron” by El Chombo

“Chandelier” by Sia

“China” by Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Ozuna and J Balvin

“Don’t Go Yet” by Camila Cabello

“Flash Pose” by Pabllo Vittar featuring Charli XCX

“Freed from Desire” by Gala

“Funk” by Meghan Trainor

“Girl Like Me” by Black Eyed Peas and Shakira

“Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo

“Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish

“Human” by Sevdaliza

“I’m Outta Love” by Anastacia

“Jerusalema” by Master KG featuring Nomcebo Zikode

“Jopping” by SuperM

“Judas” by Lady Gaga

“Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” by Katy Perry

“Level Up” by Ciara

“Levitating” by Dua Lipa

“Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift

“Mood” by 24kGoldn featuring Iann Dior

“Mr. Blue Sky” by The Sunlight Shakers (as made famous by Electric Light Orchestra)

“My Way” by Domino Saints

“Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels” by Todrick Hall

“Pop/Stars” by K/DA featuring Madison Beer, (G)I-dle and Jaira Burns

“Poster Girl” by Zara Larsson

“Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake

“Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé

“Save Your Tears (Remix)” by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande

“Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat

“Stop Drop Roll” by Ayo & Teo

“Sua Cara” by Major Lazer featuring Anitta and Pabllo Vitta

“Think About Things” by Daði Freyr

“You Can Dance” by Chilly Gonzales

“You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” by Sylvester

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In addition, there are multiple songs available in a “Kids Mode” for those who want their youngsters to be able to play with music more age-appropriate. They are as follows:

“Dance of the Mirlitons” by The Just Dance Orchestra (as made famous by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

“Fearless Pirate” Marine Band (as made famous by The Yetties)

“Funky Robot” by Dancing Bros (as made famous by Tom Haines & Christopher Branch)

“Get on the Fire Truck” by The Step Brigade (as made famous by Terry Devine-King)

“Jungle Dances” by The Sunlight Shakers

“Kitchen Kittens” by Cooking Meow Meow

“Monsters of Jazz” by Groove Century (as made famous by Jacky Arthur, Harold Geller)

“My Friend the Dragon” by The Just Dance Orchestra

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For players wanting more songs to dance to, Just Dance 2022 will make sure you know about its Just Dance Unlimited service, a subscription service offering access to hundreds of additional songs. This additional content is listed in the song listing menus, and players sorting their songs by anything other than the default setting will be forced to rifle through dozens of these at a time before getting to one they can play without plunking down more cash ($4/month or $24/year, something they don’t make clear until you’ve gone through the free trial and they’ve done their best to “hook” you… gross, I know).

Anyway, getting back to the song list itself, the “Kids” section is so negligible that it may as well be dismissed outright, and as for the main song list, you have two songs from the 1970s, 1 song each from the 1980s and 1990s, 4 songs from the 2000s, 11 songs from 2010-2018, 7 songs from 2011 through 2018, 6 songs from 2019, and then everything else is from 2020-2021. I suppose fans of more modern music may prefer the more current tracklist, but older fans will doubtless feel left out by the slim selection of older tunes.

This game seems to be getting further away from the series’ traditional aesthetic of songs all featuring dancers in white bodysuits (though they’re still around), with more songs now featuring actual recognizable people, albeit with odd colorful adornments like their bodysuited counterparts. So… progress? I guess it depends what you think of this aesthetic, but in any case, the jumble of different styles gives this game’s presentation a more scattered motif.

Each of the videos is made specifically for the song in question, usually with references to that song within it – For example, Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy heavily features commuter trains, which were a major part of the original music video, and Dua Lipa’s Starlight features a pastel color scheme that calls to mind the Sailor Moon-inspired animated music video for the song.

As for the gameplay, players will be mimicking the on-screen dancers’ movements while holding a single Joy-Con controller or your mobile phone. The game rates you on your dancing, though it’s not quite clear exactly how it’s judging that. Position? Timing? Both? The game doesn’t give you feedback on what you did wrong when you get a poor score, so you can only speculate. However, I suspect that it’s not terribly accurate in its detection – sometimes I felt like I mimicked the dance moves perfectly, only to get a poor rating, and other times I was miserably lagging behind and still got a “perfect”.

In addition to this, there’s not much more to the game beyond picking a song and dancing to it. You can sort via a few different methods (though Just Dance Unlimited messes this up, as I already noted), create playlists, or just have the game toss you right into the dancing from the main menu… but that’s about it. There’s nothing here about perfecting your moves or to help you memorize a specific dance routine, and no minigames or anything like that.

At the very least I can say that Just Dance 2022 does provide a good workout, it’s genuinely fun to dance to the game’s music, and while the dances the game features are generally pretty silly, they are nevertheless fun to imitate. If you’re a dance enthusiast and you like this game’s tracklist, I can certainly see how you could find this game enjoyable. But for me, the lack of accuracy in the game’s motion detection, the lack of options, and the disgusting way the game pushes its subscription service make me hesitate to recommend it to anyone who isn’t a die-hard dancing enthusiast.

tl;dr – Just Dance 2022 is a game that uses the Joy-Con’s gyroscopic motion-sensing controls (or your own phone’s gyroscopic motion-sensor) to have players imitate dance moves. The motion detection is not great, the options are lacking, and the way the game tries to shove its paid Just Dance Unlimited service down players’ throats is really disgusting. Dancing enthusiasts who like this game’s tracklist may find it enjoyable, but with these flaws it’s not a game I can give a high recommendation.

Grade: C

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