Dance Central 2

Dance Central 2 is a 2011 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 Kinect. It is the sequel to Dance Central (2010) and the second installment in the Dance Central series. It was released on October 21, 2011, in PAL regions and on October 25 in North America. A sequel to the game, titled Dance Central 3, was released for the Xbox 360 Kinect in October 2012.

Description

The core gameplay in Dance Central 2 is similar to its predecessor, where players mimic the characters’ dances with on-screen Flashcards for guidance. The game has been largely revamped compared to its predecessors, including adding multiplayer, adding voice commands, and enhancing the Break It Down feature. The Freestyle section, while still available, can also be disabled within the game. If done, additional moves will appear in the game as a replacement, creating one uninterrupted routine depending on the mode used. A story campaign has been added via Crew Challenge, in which players can unlock new content. 

There are five modes available in Dance Central 2. The game features six venues for the player to dance in: High Tide, Set Adrift, Tee Off, Lowdown, Penthaüs, and The Airship. All of them are available from the start except for Penthaüs, which is unlocked by clearing The Glitterati’s campaign in Crew Challenge, and The Airship, which is unlocked by completing Crew Challenge once. Venues can be changed before the player starts a routine. The player encounters several different dance crews throughout the game’s story campaign, starting with Riptide Crew at High Tide, Flash4wrd at Tee Off, Lu$h Crew at Set Adrift, and Hi-Def at Lowdown.

They are given a chance to join the crew after someone in the crew has heard of their potential, with more people talking about them the further along they are in the story. After the player impresses them with their dancing skills, they are welcomed into the crew and given a crew card. As they are collecting crew cards, members of the various crews warn them about The Glitterati, another dance crew that is seen unfavorably by the others. When the player encounters The Glitterati, their talent is doubted at first, but after they impress the crew with their dancing, they are given The Glitterati’s crew card as well. 

After meeting and joining all five previous crews, the player is taken to The Airship, where they meet Dr. Tan. He reveals that he has been monitoring their every move and introduces them to D-Cypher, a crew of robots he has created himself. The goal of their creation is to battle the player and defeat them so Dr. Tan can conquer the dancing world. Once D-Cypher is defeated, both members of the crew shut off and The Airship begins to fall apart. Enraged, Dr. Tan gives a lengthy monologue about how he will not give up before escaping with a hysterical laugh. 

Dance Central 2 features eighteen playable characters, each divided up into pairs as a crew, with six of them being returning playable characters from Dance Central. Upon release, ten characters were available from the start and six could be unlocked. After release, four more unlockable characters were added following a Facebook campaign. Most characters feature alternative outfits separate from their main outfits (known as their “Crew Look”) to wear during gameplay. These alternative outfits are labeled as “Street Style”, and are unlocked by earning 36 Stars collectively on songs associated with the character’s crew.

Additionally, all returning player characters from Dance Central have a third outfit labeled “DC Classic”. These outfits are ones they wore in the previous game, and they are unlocked by entering cheat codes in the “Redeem Code” section (excluding Mo, whose DC Classic outfit is unlocked by importing songs from Dance Central). There are 44 songs featured in Dance Central 2. A light blue background indicates that the song must be unlocked by completing the final challenge song of the associated crew in the Crew Challenge.