Just Dance 2022 Review

"Another Groove"

Campaign

November 30, 2021 at 5:33am
By Jason Stettner

It’s that time of the year to once again get grooving, with the latest release in the Just Dance series. It gains another year number, and continues to purely show a selection of tracks for you to choose from in order to dance about.

There really isn’t much new here aside from a fresh selection of songs and a slightly revamped option for quick play. It’s never been easier to jump in for something fast to play whether you want to do so in a casual or sweat type of capacity. There’s also a suggestions tab that appears after songs you’ve chosen in the regular open dance library, I turned it off immediately as I like to pick my own musical choices to dance to.

That aside, there’s the traditional World Dance Floor where it’s more of a global dance situation. You also have sweat mode if you want to get a better calorie burn going. On top of that you have playlists which either help you find music from different eras or allow you to create your own playlist selections for music.

If you’re looking at this from the perspective of buying it for the younger ones it even has a curated “kids” section with a decent selection of songs being present within that area. Past that, an in-game candy type machine that gives you unlocks constantly while playing for profile decoration which is nice. Just something extra to work towards while enjoying the overall experience.

Gameplay

If you’re not familiar with the dancing games you have the choice to either use the Kinect (Xbox One only, not Xbox Series X/S) for motion input, or to just use a free to download app on your phone. I use the latter nowadays as my console no longer supports Kinect which is something I’ve come to accept. That aside, the phone app works surprisingly fine. It’s also how you control the menus of the game, and it’s very good in that regard with about the same setup as last year.

While playing you get to see the dance of the particular song you’ve selected on the screen and you’re trying to match the moves being presented. The difficulty of the routines varies based on what you’re playing, and each song has a unique style to it. They do a good job with the imagery, always a highlight of this franchise. They present very neat visual backdrops for the music. That backdrop element has been taken a bit further this year which I appreciated. The environments have a much more, 3D like sort of dynamic to them which was awesome to see in action.

You’re able to dance alone, or with others. Some songs are setup for larger groups, some are for smaller group quantities. The song list here is generally fine, there are some alright inclusions and a number of the bigger hits from recent memory that I’m sure many will enjoy. I also found it to continue with the global theme of musical options, so I didn’t know a whole pile of the songs but it seems to be varied with most of the tunes being familiar in sound.

Just Dance Unlimited
This is an area of the game that provides over six hundred extra songs. You get a free month of it, or more depending on your game tier and from there it is subscription based. This game really does feel like more of a launching pad for that service.

It expands the library greatly with songs from the past entries in the series and more, with additional tracks being added over time. It’s something I’d highly suggest for fans of the game, as it adds incredible value to the overall package bringing in so many classic tunes and also popular hits of the day.

The Conclusion

Just Dance 2022 is more or less the same as the previous year, presenting a selection of the latest hits while innovating slightly in regards to their visual presentation. It’s always hard to really dig deep into the features and what not since it really doesn’t change all that much.

I still have fun checking it out every year, grooving around for awhile and taking in what’s fresh with it. I know that there’s a particular audience that loves this sort of title and once again it delivers exactly what you would expect it to. You get a selection of forty hit tracks which are largely new. Some of them are classics, others from artists around the globe and you just groove around. It can definitely be an enjoyable time, it’s simple to connect and just start playing.

It’s a great way to get some exercise in, I always build up a sweat while playing. I think with the younger audience, it hits the mark and for the really young ones the kids section is a perfect offering. The modes are fairly much the same, and it continues to feel like a launch pad to get people into the Just Dance Unlimited service. That in itself is a great offering for sure, and I highly suggest it. I think this is a good way to get some fitness in and have fun at home.

I do wish that they would at some point offer a camera option with Kinect being gone now and other platforms also moving a tad away from their platform equivalents. The phone app does get the job done, but it also doesn’t necessary feel the same to me. It’s a decently fine entry in the series I suppose, just not one that really steps up in any areas to provide something new. Still, excellent choreography set against stunning backdrops that have really been given quite a dynamic uplift this time around. I hope that continues going forward.

Read our Let's Sing Queen Review
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Just Dance 2022 Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by Ubisoft

Rating Overall: 6.8