LifeisXbox’s Just Dance 2023 review | Just Dance needs no introduction: if you feel like dropping some sweet dance moves on the few square feet in front of your TV, then this is the best game to do so. And it has been for many years. Our regular readers and the people who follow me on social media know that I’m a returning player and will always give the latest edition a go, especially around the holidays when it doesn’t hurt to burn some additional calories.
But it has become somewhat of a running joke that I copy a large part of the review every year because Just Dance itself also doesn’t reinvent the formula and just adds a batch of new songs to what is basically an entry ticket to a subscription model.
But to my surprise, Just Dance 2023 went above and beyond and actually looked at some of the criticisms of the past few editions and this year’s release feels like a major step up. Also important to mention is that next to the numbered release, there is a free version of Just Dance available now that players can get, so my yearly “just buy an old version of the game and get the (cheap) subscription” no longer applies.
Most Memorable Moment
Whenever the new Just Dance arrives, my daughter is always over the moon because it means I have renewed motivation to join her on the dance floor and try out the new songs. Especially now that there is always a K3 song included (a Belgian girl-band aimed at young kids), but to both of our surprise, there was also We Don’t Talk About Bruno, from Disney’s Encanto!
ℹ️ Reviewed on Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X | Nintendo Switch review code provided by Ubisoft, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- No more visual issues at the start of each song | I never quite understood how this was an issue on the offline songs included on the cartridge, but the past 4 years of Just Dance on Nintendo Switch always had this weird issue where the first ~5-10 seconds of each song were blurry. It looks like they’ve finally managed to get to the bottom of the issue as I haven’t seen it happen in Just Dance 2023.
- The clips & choreos look amazing | The production values of the music clips that run in the background have gone up every year and this time it feels like their best offering yet. The stop-motion video from last year makes a return, there is a choreo on Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive that basically feels like you’re performing one of those hand-dances from TikTok and the overall wow-factor of the songs just makes me smile from ear to ear. Paired with a difficult choreography that truly feels epic when you pull it off, doing a pirouette only to catch the screen shake at the end of a ground pound just feels awesome.
- Little to no ads | The subscription advertisement no longer runs every 2-3 songs and that is a welcome relief. It was one of my biggest complaints every year that the game made you sit through a small commercial for its paid subscription model. You still have some menu-space dedicated to it, but it no longer slaps you around the ears with it any chance it gets.
- Better song sorting | I used to have trouble finding the songs that were included with the version of Just Dance I had installed, with too many subscription-required titles mixed into the lists. In Just Dance 2023, they are listed first and the Just Dance + titles are listed below in an orderly fashion, just the way I like it.
- Some REALLY great songs | I was pretty excited with this year’s list. Here are a few of my favourite songs from this year:
- Evanescence | Bring Me to Life
- Imagine Dragons | Radioactive (hand choreography is AWESOME)
- Disney’s Encanto | We Don’t Talk About Bruno
- Apashe | Witch
- The Sunlight Shakers | Wouldn’t it be nice (stop-motion video)
- Better interface & levelling system | Browsing through songs, changing your character, levelling up… It’s all smoother than before and requires less time spent in the menus. Gone are the days of having to spend your earned currency in a slot machine, you just earn rewards by gaining experience.
Mixed Feelings
- There is a story mode again | While only half an hour long, there is a nice story mode to play through with a handful of dancers facing off against an evil crow queen. There is even a grand finale where you can turn the crows back into colourful dancers if you hit the moves right. We both loved it!
- Phone motion sensors aren’t accurate | I really recommend playing Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch because the JoyCons are way better at tracking your movement than the gyros in a mobile phone. The best possible option on Xbox was using the Xbox Kinect, but that is no longer supported.
- Just Dance + is kind of a necessity | While the offering has never been better and 40 songs certainly is nothing to sneeze at, eventually you’ll tire of the included songs and you’ll be forced to subscribe to Just Dance +, which replaces Just Dance Unlimited. Unlimited had 700+ songs and JD+ is limited to around 150 at the time of writing, but more will be added later. It even looks like this might be the last “yearly” release of the game ever and we’ll just see DLC in the future.
What we Disliked
- Where is the World Dancefloor? | One of the best features from the previous titles is now sadly missing. You can no longer play versus international opponents and make your country proud. This was a laid-back competitive offering that motivated me and my wife to play together and see how high we could score globally, but for no good reason: it’s stripped from this version. The only multiplayer option I saw was inviting friends to join your dance.
How long to beat the story | ~30 minutes
How long to achieve 1000G | ~10 hours
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Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
