Just Dance 2018 (Nintendo Switch) Review

During the short period of time in gaming history in which both motion controls and rhythm based games were the big talk on the lips of nearly everyone, a lovechild between the two was born in the form of Just Dance. It took elements both from rhythm games such as Guitar Hero and motion control titles focused on making people physically active, such as the Wii Sports games. Eight years have passed since that time, and while the parents of Just Dance have taken the back seat for years and became sort of an apostrophe in the history of gaming, Just Dance releases just keep dancing and it is now back with another main series release - Just Dance 2018.

It might to some sound weird at first that a game about dancing can become a huge franchise, but after trying it out for a couple of songs it is difficult to stop. The formula adds the addictive and responsive rewarding systems found in rhythm games to the already biological one that physical movement provides, in order to give players a hefty tonic of feel-good-hormones to keep them going and returning.

The gameplay is solid fun and offers very exploratory descriptions of what is up to help players not get too surprised by the moves, while still forcing them to keep track on the screen. This is a slight problem when the game requires the player to spin around, thankfully these are rare and often followed by a break whenever they occur to not disturb the gameplay too much.

Just Dance 2018 offers players more of what they are used to in the series; there are, however, very few new elements this year. Among the most outstanding ones are a new ranking of Megastar that players can gain on a song at 12,000 points, and also the usage of mojo coins is for gashapon to cash in the rewards, which are pretty good this time around involving even new songs.

While innovation is often a good thing, it is not required in some franchises as they do what they do, just with new content, and Just Dance 2018 comes with 40+ new songs to dance to. The mixture of songs is, sadly, a little too safe. While there is some K-Pop, a Hatsune Miku song, and even on the Switch version a Mario song and some interesting dual controller stages, most of the list is made up of radio pop and R&B tunes, while some genres are completely unrepresented.

This can easily be fixed through a subscription to Just Dance Unlimited, three months of which is included with the purchase of the game for those looking for more variety or just want to conquer new stages and hunt more high scores. It is hard to argue, Just Dance 2018 is the most solid game of its kind. While Stepmania and Dance Dance Revolution have been out for ages, those franchises have never captured the full body dance experience in the way that Just Dance 2018 and its predecessors do.

Ubisoft got it right from the very start and has a solid foundation to build its franchise on and has added features to create what is now Just Dance 2018. While there are only a few new features, those that are there, while seemingly minor, actually add the exact touches they are meant to. The gashapon adds the addictive reward system that is the gatcha to it keeping people hooked, and a new star rank will keep veterans on their toes. While the improvements are minor, they, plus the bunch of new songs, make this entry worthwhile both for veteran dancers and newcomers alike.