Everybody Dance (PS3) Review

Written by Gregory Laporte on October 17, 2011
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Everybody Dance is a game that sets a party off right. Everybody Dance
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PS3
Other Platforms: None
Release Date: October 18th, 2011

Everybody dance is a title that most people wouldn’t pick up and wouldn’t play if they got it for Christmas. I have to say after writing this review, if you want to get the party started off right, you might need this game.

Single Player:

Everybody Dance is a fun dance game for your dancing fanatics. I was truly surprised at the amount of fun I had playing this game. You can pick different modes such party mode where you dance with a massive amount of people. This mode allows up to 20 people to play the game at the same time. Another thing you will notice is when choosing songs each song will have an energy level. This means that each song will require you to exert more effort than the next. This works well for workout mode.

Everybody Dance also features a workout mode for you to get your sweat on. Now if you play the game on beginner you will not build up a sweat. If its a true blood workout you are looking for, then I suggest you put the game on Intermediate which will require you to do more moves. In workout mode they provide you with a set of songs that range from about 3 to 5 per set. Each set has its own difficulty for the songs you are doing. There are tune up sets, warm up, energy sets and more. The goal in these sets are for you hit a certain amount of calories burned within a song. If you’re wondering about inputting your weight, you also have the ability to set your current weight so you can cater it to your liking.

You can put the game on professional and dance partner mode that will allow you to take it to the extreme in this dancing game. Another fun feature in the game is the ability to create your own dance routines for you to dance to. After each song you take a picture to showcase on the community site. There are 40 songs at launch and you will also be able to get DLC for the game as well. All and all the single player is a fun experience whether you’re playing by yourself or with a dance partner.

Facebook and Twitter sharing is fun and hilarious to see all of the videos that people have posted of them dancing in their house or with their kids. You can watch the videos of them here.

Gameplay:

The game uses the PlayStation move controller and PS Eye to track your movements. When you pick a song, you have the choice of doing the long version, which is the song in its entirety or a short version of the song. When you begin a song you will take a picture of yourself so the game can have a record for when you finish.

You will start the song off with a character to help you follow the movements that will be on screen. There is a marker that comes up on screen that will indicate when you have to do the movements on the screen. Its pretty helpful but, also hard to keep up and remember the movements you should be doing. You will want to have a lot of open room around you, because you’re not going to want to bang your joints on furniture in your house like I have. There will be some songs that require you to jump around but, I’ve tried that and if you just do the hand motion you will not have to do the jumping motion at all. Its a cheap way to cheat at the game but, it helps get those points at least.

I don’t know if it was the area I was in while playing the game, but I noticed that if you’re in a wide enough room, the game plays significantly better as opposed to a small area so take that as you will.

Presentation:

The developers of this game must like SingStar a whole lot because the style and gameplay reminds me a lot like the SingStar Games. You pick your songs in alphabetical order and each song has a bar system that tells you how much energy is required for each song. Energy in this game has to deal with the speed and tempo of a song.

The game looks, plays, and feels like a real life dancing game. The dancers look lifelike and you also have the music videos to enjoy while you dance to the music. You also have the ability to switch the music video off and use the PS eye to see yourself dancing. The issue here is that the PS eye is not the best quality camera and its often very blurry with all of the movements that you will be doing. Snapshots look blurry and if the lighting in the room is not good, its hard to make out the photos.

Controls:

The game requires you to use the PS move and the PlayStation eye which will basically track your movements in the game and will keep track of where you are going. There are times that the game will have you jumping up and down. Now you don’t have to jump, as it is more so a movement for raising the energy up at a party. Tracking with the PlayStation Eye and move controller is very good. The only issue I have is that when it comes to typing things in the box to add the Facebook and Twitter functionality, it really becomes a pain. It takes too long to pick letters with the move, its best to use the Dualshock 3 when this comes about.

Other than that issue I mentioned previously, there is nothing else wrong that I can complain about with regards to the controls.

Sound:

In any dancing or party game, sound is key. Everybody Dance is no different from the rest as it sports over 40 hit songs from artists such as Outkast, Willow Smith, lady Gaga and LMFAO. The songs are very popular and sound just as good as if you were listening to it on the radio. There are no comments I can give on the music aspect of the game. The quality is great and fun to get you moving.

My only gripe with the game is that in a dancing game like this I really wish they could have added in some daft punk songs for friends and family to dance to. It would have made the game twice as good than it already is.

Cons:

A game of this dancing caliber requires you to have a lot of space around so you can go through the motions and really get into it.
The 40 songs that come with the game are not the best. There good for a starting track pack but, some of the songs are just songs that were pop hits at their time.
The video recording is not the best as so much movement will cause a video to come out somewhat tacky and blurry.

Pros:

20 players in party mode is extremely fun if you can get that many people to join you and if you have a big enough room.
Depending on the difficulty you pick, you can build up a sweat and the workout mode can help you do that.
You have the abilty to upload videos and snaphots that you take and record during the gameplay session to the community site for people to watch, like, share, and vote on. Its a pretty fun experience and it leads to some hilarious footage for you and your friends.
Trophies are easy to obtain and shouldn’t pose a problem to those of you who plan on getting that pesky platinum. The replay value is there and if you can play with a friend or you can create your own routine.

Final Thoughts:

Everybody Dance is a great party dancing game. I really enjoyed dancing to Tiesto and LMFAO, This game has a few good selections out of the box. If you’re a party animal and want something to break to the ice at a party than I suggest you get this game. It is surprisingly fun and you will shocked if you take my word for it.

Final Score: I give Everybody Dance an 8 out of 10