Analysis
Analysis of Just Dance 2023 Edition – Xbox Series X | we are xbox
As we are used to, Ubisoft has brought us Just Dance 2023 Edition, which is the last numbered game in the saga, since from next year 2023 there will no longer be a new annual title, since it will be updated annually with new content. This has reached the point that the physical version of the game no longer comes with a disc to insert it into our Xbox Series X (since there will be no Old-Gen versions either).
Also, when we install the game on our Xbox Series X (or Xbox Series S as is my case) we will no longer see that tag “2023 Edition” in the game title, but once installed, we will only see the name of the game as “Just Dance” to dry, which obviously already tells us that the game will be the last and it will be updated periodically every year.
A better experience with the usual essence
Just Dance has not usually changed much as its deliveries arrived, since although it is true that graphically it has changed over time, in the end it has been left with a single visual style that suits it very well and that has been standardized since 2012 with Just Dance 4 (although in between there have been other experiences like Just Dance Kids 2014 that radically changed the visual style).
However, in the end we have been left with that aesthetic of characters with white skin or bright colors with an almost imperceptible face and with the dominant hand of a different color. Well, now and with the arrival of the Xbox Series X | S and PlayStation 5, Ubisoft has decided to go a step further and go from 2D scenarios to fully 3D and moving scenarios to give a better experience while we move to the rhythm of the music alone or in company.
This visual style suits the title really well, and I don’t see a better way to experience Just dance with that change than, although it didn’t really need it, Ubisoft wanted to make it clear that the change is thanks to the Next-Gen and for this is that it is not released for Old-Gen consoles). What I do believe is that it has been a very daring step to make this installment the last (although I do not rule out at all that in future years they will continue to launch a cover where it says “Just Dance 2024 Edition” to slightly raise the annual sales peak).
New menus, more intuitive?
I have been able to hear first-hand from some people that the Just Dance 2023 Edition menus are a bit confusing when navigating them, although from what I have been able to see on my own I can assure you that it is not like that at all. The menus have improved in terms of navigation, or at least personally I prefer them that way, since we have different sections such as Home, where we will see a menu where they will first recommend the Enter the Danceverses playlist, an original playlist by Just Dance 2023 Edition.
We can also find sections such as «Your best easy songs» where we will have the easy songs in which we have obtained the best grade or another section such as “Do you feel like exercising?” where we will have several routines such as a quick 17-minute session dancing, among other routines in the same section that will leave us breathless if what we want is to exercise our body daily.
On the other hand we will have the section of “Songs” where we will see all the original songs of Just Dance 2023 Edition, which we can download to the internal storage of the console in case we run out of Internet connection. By the way, Just Dance 2023 includes 40 new songs along with more than 150 songs if we subscribe to Just Dance+ to dance without limits. I leave you the list of the new songs added to the catalog of Just Dance 2023 Edition:
- “If You Wanna Party” by The Just Dancers
- “Anything I Do” by CLiQ Ft. Ms. Banks, Alika
- “As It Was” by Harry Styles
- “Boy With Luv” by BTS Ft. Halsey
- “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence
- “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!” Justin Timberlake
- “Danger! High Voltage” by Electric Six
- “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps
- “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo
- “Dynamite” by BTS
- “Good Ones” by Charli XCX
- “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals
- “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift
- “Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars
- “Love Me Land” by Zara Larsson
- “Magic” by Kylie Minogue
- “Majesty” by Apashe ft. Wasiu
- “Million Dollar Baby” by Ava Max
- “MORE” by K/DA Ft. Madison Beer, (G)I-DLE, Lexie Liu, Jaira Burns & Seraphine
- “Numb” by Linkin Park
- “Physical” by Dua Lipa
- “Psycho” by Red Velvet
- “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons
- “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit Ft. Jess Glynne
- “Sissy That Walk” by RuPaul
- “STAY” by The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
- “Sweet But Psycho” by Ava Max
- “Telephone” by Lady Gaga Ft. Beyoncé
- “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish
- «“Top of the World” by Shawn Mendes
- “Toxic” by Britney Spears
- “Walking On Sunshine” by Top Culture
- “WANNABE” by ITZY
- “Watch Out for This (Bumaye)” by Major Lazer, The Flexican, FS Green & Busy Signal
- “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” by Disney’s Charm
- “Welcome to the Playground” by Bea Miller
- “Witch” by Apashe Ft. Alina Pash
- “Woman” by Doja Cat
- “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Sunlight Shakers
- “Zooby Doo” by Tigermonkey
We also have a section Playlist to play various predefined lists offered to us by members of the Just Dance development team. In addition, we will also have the “Profile” section in case we want to customize how other players will see us when multiplayer is available and the last two sections.
“Just Dance+” to subscribe to the service and play the songs from the previous Just Dance titles along with the future ones that will be arriving and the “Settings” section where surely most will not play much, since the options are very limited and unnecessary to change (although the latter is for taste, of course).
And the controls?
Of course I couldn’t leave the issue of controls to myself: How does the new application dedicated to Just Dance 2023 Edition work? Is it better than the previous one? Is it even better than the old physical controls? They are very good questions, and it is that if we stop to take a look at the past, it was really easy to move only the arm so that the game would detect the Wii and Wii U remotes by moving them haphazardly (which is where I used to play these titles precisely because of the controls), which did not usually happen when we used the camera on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Shortly after, in 2016, the option of being able to play with a dedicated application for Just Dance games that worked over a WiFi connection arrived, but it was also relatively easy to detect movements if you moved them randomly, something that no longer happens with this latest application that they have created exclusively for the latest title.
I’m not saying that now it’s more difficult to detect our movements, but I do say that we will have to make an effort when dancing, since it won’t recognize movements that are made during our game sessions. That is to say, no cheating while we seem to be fooling ourselves: either we dance well or we won’t be able to leave a good score on our favorite songs.
Conclution
Probably Ubisoft has hit the nail on the head with everything to make the definitive Just Dance and that is why it has decided that there will be no more installments of the series, but instead we will have new content, but we will have to see if the content that comes year after This year also includes paid songs or they will go through the new Just Dance+ service that replaces the famous Just Dance Unlimited.
