Disclaimer; I’m not a dancer – so when this title came up in our mailbox, I was a little skeptical about picking it up. On the other hand, I have a daughter who loves music, dancing, and adores watching her father do stupid stuff. So, this was a no-brainer. Oh, and my wife could laugh at my expense, which she loves to do – so everyone wins? Well, almost everybody.
Just Dance 2021
According to our friends over at Ubisoft, Just Dance2021 is the ultimate dance game, with 40 hot new tracks from chart-topping hits like “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa, “Feel Special” by TWICE, and “Señorita” by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello. Time to start a dance party with your friends and family while keeping social distancing in mind since we’re still in the middle of a pandemic.
And for those wondering, it’s not only Top 40 from the Billboard this time around; there are a lot of songs from different countries, which is not that strange with the rise of K-Pop. So you can dance to old-time classics from Lady Gaga and Blackpink, Doja Cat, and DJ Absi. Since I played the European version (Benelux), I also got K3 with ‘Dans van de Farao. And yes, you can also dance to the Village People & Sean Paul; I did skip on Daddy Yankee though, I’m not that … comfortable with my hip movements. And if you want meme-music, Just Dance got you covered – time to break out with Tõno Rosario.
Wide inclusion of songs
Personally, I’m happy with the wide inclusion of songs, since there’s always something for everyone. Even Eminem was included, followed by Bailando, so today was a good day (as we call that in music land). And you don’t have to worry about your little ones dancing to Uno from Little Big either; just boot up the ‘Kids mode,’ and you get an assortment of child-friendly songs with movements even this stiff almost-30-year old can follow.
Just Dance 2021 can be played with either a Joy-Con or your phone, which makes it possible to play with up to six people simultaneously. The feature of using your phone is not new, but a real nifty one. You can personalize your gameplay by dressing up your avatar, changing your title, and duking it out on the internet to become the best there ever was (did they include the Pokémon theme song?). To make it even more challenging, the team behind Just Dance included daily challenges, ranging from dancing to a certain song or scoring a perfect score on one of the 40 included songs (which is easier than you think!).
Just Dance Unlimited
The biggest selling point of Just Dance is nor me talking about it, nor the inclusion of new songs and avatars. It’s the Just Dance Unlimited feature. But this is a double-edged blade. Let’s explain the feature a little bit more:
With Just Dance Unlimited, dance to over +600 songs! A free 1-month trial of Just Dance Unlimited is included with every copy of Just Dance 2021 on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox 5 Series, Xbox One, and Stadia.
So, by ‘buying’ an extra subscription, you get access to 600+ songs, of which new ones are added every so often. If you don’t opt-in for JDU, you can try out a few of the ‘Extra’ songs every week since they are free to play. But in return, you are bombarded with in-game commercials for JDU. And yes, it makes the game better since you dance to a wide range of Disney Songs, the 80s and 90s songs, and many, many more. But since the option is so hardcoded into the base game, you can’t access most of the automatically generated playlists since they are created out of JDU songs. See where I’m going with this?
Just Dance offers you different packages, ranging from 24 hours (2.99), 1 month (3.99), 3 months (9.99), or a year (24.99). Since the base game was at sale for around 30-35 bucks during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale, parents thinking they scored a bargain might return with a feeling Ubisoft has had them. So do keep this in mind when picking up this title.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! Just Dance 2021 is a very inclusive dance game that offers fun for all ages and is even doable for the stiffest rakes out there (yes, I’m talking about myself). The base game offers enough gameplay and options to enjoy for a few evenings or weekends, but the inclusion of Just Dance Unlimited makes the game a much more ‘whole’. However, the aggressive targeting and forceful way of ‘you need to get this package’ is not Ubisoft’s best way to market in-game DLC, which also refrained me from giving this game the mark I had initially planned.
