Dance Factory Cranked Out to Stores
Because dancing to someone else's music is for chumps!
Published: August 29, 2006
Way back in December of last year, we mentioned the impending release of Dance Factory, and here we are, a good eight-plus months later, and the game's finally here. The hubbub, y'see, was all about the fact that rather than relying on something like Dance Dance Revolution's pre-selected track listing, Dance Factory built steps for your songs by analyzing your own music CDs, effectively making the game -- in developer Broadsword's eyes anyway -- a game with infinite replayability.
We can't be sure of all that, but we'll admit it's a novel approach to dance music games, and now that the game has officially shipped to stores, you can check things out for yourself. Or you can read another paragraph to learn more! Choices!
Though the DDR influence is obvious (stepping to match arrows is a pretty simple concept to grasp), the developers also added in the ability to use the EyeToy's optical recognition to detect hand movements as well, allowing disco points as the player dances to really maximize that embarrassment factor. A Creature Mode allows you to whip up a dancing monster and then pour points earned from dancing into customizing the look and moves of the monster. And, of course, a Fitness Mode tracks calories burned and distance traveled.
It's an interesting take on dancing games, to be sure, though we haven't yet had the chance to deliver our own verdict on the game. That should be forthcoming in the next few days, so check back then. We may just have a few surprises on the whole site to go along with it...
We can't be sure of all that, but we'll admit it's a novel approach to dance music games, and now that the game has officially shipped to stores, you can check things out for yourself. Or you can read another paragraph to learn more! Choices!
Though the DDR influence is obvious (stepping to match arrows is a pretty simple concept to grasp), the developers also added in the ability to use the EyeToy's optical recognition to detect hand movements as well, allowing disco points as the player dances to really maximize that embarrassment factor. A Creature Mode allows you to whip up a dancing monster and then pour points earned from dancing into customizing the look and moves of the monster. And, of course, a Fitness Mode tracks calories burned and distance traveled.
It's an interesting take on dancing games, to be sure, though we haven't yet had the chance to deliver our own verdict on the game. That should be forthcoming in the next few days, so check back then. We may just have a few surprises on the whole site to go along with it...
