Just Dance 2014 (Xbox One)

Just Dance 2014 is the fifth main game in the dancing series where players are rated for their ability to mimic dance routines to popular songs. For Xbox 360 and Xbox One the whole body movement is analyzed through the Kinect peripheral. The PS3 and PS4 track movement through the PlayStation Eye (optional) and PlayStation Camera respectively along with the Move peripheral, which is optional for the PS4 version. For the Wii and Wii U the Wii Remote is used to track movement and for Wii U the GamePad can be used as a karaoke mike or to direct the scenes with a free-roaming camera. Up to four players dancing simultaneously are supported with up to six for Xbox One. For consoles supporting a microphone, a karaoke mode is supported. There the game does not rate the player’s words, but the notes and pitch.

Returning from the previous games is the classic free-dance mode. A new on-stage mode has one player doing a lead role while two other players do backup routines. Another mode introduces ghost recordings of routines from prior games to compete. The party master mode is exclusive to Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One and builds on the pupper master mode from the Wii U version of Just Dance 4. It allows one player to change the moves, songs and rules for up to four players on the fly. On the Wii U this is done on the GamePad, for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One with the regular controller and for Xbox One also optionally through Xbox Smartglass. Non-stop shuffle and the dance quests from the previous game are no longer available. The online multiplayer mode for all consoles is called the world dance floor mode. It keeps global leaderboards. Players can exchange clips, also on social networks.

Exclusive to the Xbox One and PS4 version is the Just Dance DJ mode where a player can manipulate the beats between songs and in the endless mode this can be used to transform one song into another. By progressing through the game new mash-up battles modes and alternate versions of songs and for more players simultaneously are unlocked. These variations also offer extreme and sweat (tracks the calories burned) versions. The game’s difficulty levels have been reorganized from numbers to easy, medium, hard and hardest.

The base game contains around 50 tracks with variations based on regions and consoles. Some of the included artists are Lady Gaga, Robin Thicke, Ke$ha, Robbie Williams, Pitbull, PSY, ABBA, Daft Punk, Katy Perry, One Direction, Nicki Minaj, David Guetta, will.i.am, Jason Derulo, Rihanna and Jessie J. DLC is supported for alternative routines and additional songs. Certain features can be unlocked through the in-game mojo points currency.