Script:
Next month, the Just Dance 2023 edition will release with an all-new menu design! Finally, I can stop bitching about that in Just Dance 2020 and Just Dance 2022… actually… now that I think about it I never did review Just Dance 2021. Finally, I got a reason to complain some more, guys! What’s going on, everybody! My name is Jack Jenkins, and welcome to my channel. I do videos on the topic of self-improvement. Todays video is part of my series Fitness Games Review, where I look at a fitness or dancing game to see if it’s worth revisiting it. Today I am hitting up Just Dance 2021 which spoilers, is consediered one of the worst versions of Just Dance. Let’s break a leg y’all.
[Intro]
For those unaware, Just Dance is Ubisoft’s long-running video game series about… well, dancing. This and DDR are like the OG dancing game series when I was a kid. This puppy was released on the Nintendo Wii back in 2009. Since the inagral release a new version has been coming out every year. Sometimes you get spin-offs like the recently reviewed Black eyed Peas Experience or the Smurfs dance party. The game itself is incredibly simple. You just grab your phone or video game controller. Hold it in your hand and follow along with the on-screen character. The game then ranks your movements and gives you a score. Get a high enough score, and then you will get a star. Your goal is to five-star all songs in the game to become the next Shakira.
With more than eighty million copies sold, the Just Dance series is up there with Halo and Tomb Raider in the gaming halls of fame. Seriously this series is in the top thirty best selling game series of all time. It past Super Smash Bros. and Dragon Ball games. Best of all it did so without any respect from gamers. Yeah… Unfortunately, the series tend to become incredibly stagnant due to the yearly release schedule and how little change is done between the games. The 2021 version is no exception. It reuses the exact same menu design, layout, and more from the 2020 version of the game. It is also reused in the 2022 version, which angered me a lot. Don’t forget to watch those reviews as well. In fact, I will link my Just Dance series playlist below so you can all balk at how I rank Smurfs Dance Party as one of my favorite dance games.
So with the layout and menu being the same… what’s new with this edition? Well, the big new thing other than the songs is the quick play option. You hit it, and the song you are dancing to is already chosen for you, and you are ready to hop in. It literally takes a few seconds, and you are already dancing. Other than that… nothing really. They removed the story mode from 2020, which sucks, but it was only ten songs you play through. The songs are the only things that changed between these editions, so let’s get to those.
Just Dance 2021 has the honor of having the worst playlist out of all the Just Dance games I have played. That includes Smurf Dance Party. There are about five songs that I actually like in this 2021 version of the series. The songs include “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd, “Juice” by Lizzo, “You got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman, “Temperature” by Sean Paul, and “In the Navy” by the Village People. The rest of the songs are some straight trash. Here is the full list of songs, and yes, it’s a screenshot from Wikipedia. In my opinion, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I is the worst popular song of the 2010s. Fun fact, she never made a good song in her career. “Without Me” by Eminem is a great song… one of Eminem’s best. However, since the game is E10+, it’s overly censored to the point of being unlistenable. The game should at least allow a purchasable DLC to unlock the unsensored version of these songs for us adults.
I’ve never heard of many of the songs on here and probably won’t ever again. I’m a big fat white American boy, so things like “Yo Le Diego” by J Balvin and Bad Bunny or “Yameen Yasar” by DJ Absi mean nothing. I love some foreign music, but these just don’t have a hot enough beat to make it on the list of my favorites. It just blends in with a lot of the other foreign songs in this series. Also, there is an incredible lack of older songs in this version. Usually, they pop out at least one fifties or sixties classic along with some eighty’s jams. This one has two songs from the seventies and has most of it’s focus on the two thousands. It’s a problem that luckily the 2022 version fixed with just some amazing hit songs. I should also say that you get Just Dance Unlimited by purchasing this version which gives you access to almost all of Just Dance previous songs and routines.
When I look at this song list, I feel absolutely nothing. I get that I am now twenty-eight and am no longer hip and cool with the youth. Still, the lack of nostalgia for me, over-reliance on cheaper foreign songs, and lack of good modern hits really put a damper on this version. I understand it came out and was developed in that weird time in the pandemic where humanity felt like it was going to end but still. I have to come out and say that Just Dance 2021 is the worst version of the series I have played. Granted, I still have the Kids spin-off series I have to get to, so the opinion will change.
I would skip this one and go to Just Dance 2022. You get Just Dance unlimited by purchasing, so you at least get to dance to the few good ones and skip the rest. I am so glad that 2023 is shaking things up with a redesign and the eighteen songs announced so far are pretty decent. I am excited for this to come out since I finally have something new to complain about. To break the fourth wall a bit, writing the script for this video was hard. I basically complained about the game three times now due to the similarities with the other yearly versions. What else is there for me to say… the series is stale and the songs aren’t that good? I said it in a few different reviews… at least Just Dance 2023 is going to be a breath of fresh air. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into that review.
So, guys, that’s it for today’s video on Just Dance 2021. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to see the review of Just Dance 2023 about three months after it drops. Don’t forget to video this, and give each of my videos a big thumbs up. If you have any ideas for videos you would like me to do, then please leave them below. I will do any challenge provided as long as it relates to the theme of self-improvement and is legal. The theme encompasses these video game reviews, fitness challenges, product reviews, and more. Follow me on Twitter @truejackjenk. Visit my website at jack-jenkins.com. I put the full scripts to all my videos, and… that’s it. Lastly, have a fantastic day, everyone! All of you guys watching are just so incredibly amazing.