Dance Fest (PlayStation 2)

Dance Fest takes the standard ‘bemani’ formula – arrows appear rhythmically on screen and the player must hit the corresponding button (on either a dance mat peripheral or the standard controller) in time with these arrows and the music. Points are awarded for accuracy with bonus multipliers awarded for making certain ‘combos’ (mini-routines within a song which are deemed especially difficult or long).

This is a game for one or two players with three difficulty settings, easy, hard and medium. The player selects their difficulty level and their track and then attempts to score points by hitting the correct buttons in sequence. During the song the player is treated to an distant view of an animated disco dancer on a stage and illuminated with coloured lights. Once the track is over the player can enter their name, assuming they have achieved a high score. The game holds eight scores for each of the three difficulty levels but no scores are recorded for Workout and Recorder modes.

The game has a workout mode in which the player first enters their weight, in kilograms, and then selects a track. Gameplay here is basically the same as the main game but instead of points the game calculates the number of calories burned. There is no difficulty setting for this game mode and the arrows come thick and fast.

The Recorder option allows the player to create and save their own dance, there is no high score for this and while the dance moves are preserved from one game to the next only one routine can be saved.

Songs included in this game are:* Merry Christmas Everyone: Shakin’ Stevens

• Don’t Cha: Pussycat Dolls
• The Grid: Diablo
• Movin’ On Up: M People
• Atlantic Ocean: Waterfall
• Killin’ Time: Tina Cousins
• Push the Button: Sugarbabes
• Dancin: Aaron Smith feat. Luvli
• Flowers: Sweet Female Attitude
• Pink is the Colour: K&M feat. Joy
• Last Goodbye: Attic feat. Julie Thompson
• Stomp: Steps
• U R The Future: Busface
• Merry Christmas Everybody: Steps