Just Dance Kids 2014 (Xbox360) Review

DAAAAAAAAAANCE the night away!

Ubisoft boogies its way into your holiday celebrations with the release of a dance game that’s truly fun for the whole family. With a list of songs ranging from the latest pop hits to your favorite nursery rhymes, there’s bound to be something for everyone to get down to. Just Dance Kids 2014 uses Kinect technology to ensure that your every dip and flourish is translated to your score on screen. Photos and videos are optional, but you can use the Kinect to record your every move if you so desire, giving budding dance queens a chance to cheer on their own performances.

The mechanics in Just Dance Kids are about as simple as you can get – and that’s a real plus for kids’ games. Simply use your hand to select a song, and then follow the moves of the dancer on screen. The Kinect picks up the motions of up to four dancers, scoring them on how closely they match the dance moves on screen. You can play on your own, or team up with friends to try for a high score. There’s even a Freeze ’n Shake mode that older kids will enjoy – there, you have to follow along with the dance moves as before, but also pay attention to the icons at the top of screen, which select freeze or shake at random. For the very young young, parents can set it on nonstop shuffle, where songs will keep popping up for as long as they play, without any further need for setup.

If you want even more from your game, you can use it as a fitness tracker of sorts. Under the “parents”, you’ll find a progress tracker that keeps track of how long you (or your kids) have played, and how many calories were burned with their dancing. You can even set up playlists for a certain length of time, if you want to get a certain amount of physical activity in at a time. And it is a workout. Although the dance moves are fairly simplified to make them both appropriate and attainable for players of all ages, you’ll still be shaking your groove thing all over your living room, for an aerobic workout that good exercise and great fun.

All that’s great, but everyone knows that the true test of a dance game is in the tunes. Just Dance Kids 2014 is designed to be appealing to all ages, and it has a pretty good mix of tunes that are fast paced and appealing, without any inappropriate lyrics. For the younger set, there are tunes from Yo Gabba Gabba and the Wiggles, nursery rhymes, and kid friendly tunes like Party in the Kitchen. For your older kiddos, there are plenty of favorites from popular artists like One Direction, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato. There’s nothing like hearing your favorite song to get you up and moving, no matter your age. There are also some songs thrown in for the adults, and they tend to lean towards oldies but goodies like The Hustle, Shout, and Magic Carpet Ride.

Each of the songs features one or more dancers getting their groove on in a variety of colorful environments that are meant to complement both the song and the dance moves on stage. In one song, dancers will frolic in outer space, shooting colorful stars from their hands mid-dance. In many, dancers wear somewhat ridiculous animal costumes that made the kids giggle every time they saw them. If you are expecting high tech graphics, you’ll likely be disappointed, as this is for the most part pretty basic – but it’s appealing to kids in a simple and colorful way. There were a few songs where the background was almost too busy though, which was distracting enough to make it harder to keep track of and follow the dancers on screen.

Just Dance Kids 2014 is an active and fun way to get your kids moving this holiday season. Dancing along with their favorite songs is so much fun, they won’t even know they’re exercising. It’s a great way to burn off those holiday meals for the rest of the family too – kids aren’t likely to ever forget the Thanksgiving that Grandma busted a move to One Direction. With a variety of songs available and simplified dance moves, even the youngest (and least tech savvy) players will have no problem getting in the game.