Country Dance for the Wii Review

by Lori Cunningham

My daughter came home from her friend’s 8th birthday party raving about the fun game they played on the Wii, perhaps you’ve heard of it, Just Dance 2?  All the girls danced together in sequence with the “woman” on the screen.  They had a blast.  My daughter loves dancing and is always picking up new moves.  So when I had the opportunity to review Country Dance by GameMill Entertainment, I jumped on it.

My husband and I have enjoyed country music for years now, ever since we visited the Grand ‘Ol Opry in 1995…and Garth Brooks was the surprise guest!  For whatever reason, since our kids were born, we haven’t listened to country music as much.  I saw the Wii Country Dance as a great way to introduce our children to country music and learn how to move to its beat.   See what the game looks like:

Country Dance features music from today and yesterday’s top country artists.  Here’s a listing of some of the game’s top songs:

• Boot Scootin’ Boogie – Brooks & Dunn
• Just to See You Smile – Tim McGraw
• Chattahoochee – Alan Jackson
• I Feel Lucky – Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Stuck Like Glue – Sugarland
• Honky Tonk Badonkadonk – Trace Adkins
• Forever and Ever – Randy Travis
• Redneck Woman – Gretchen Wilson
• Hoedown Throwdown – Miley Cyrus
• Life is a Highway – Rascal Flatts
• Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus
• A Little Less Talk – Toby Keith

All the songs in Country Dance are original, so you can’t help but sing along to your favorite artists as you dance.  Similar to Just Dance 2, you are graded on how well you mimic the moves of the country dancer on your TV.  If you keep to the beat and move nearly identically to the country dancer, you are graded a “Great.”  Miss a step or move and you are graded “Good.”  Miss a few more steps and you get an “OK” or if you’re really off, you get a red upside down horseshoe (which I’m fairly certain really means “Bad.”)  At the end of the song, you are shown your percentages of “Great,” “Good,” “OK,” and “Bad.”

There are four modes:

1. Practice – gives you the layout of the game and how to anticipate upcoming moves
2. Normal – mirror each dance move on the screen to gain the highest points
3. Stop ‘N Go – while mimicking the onscreen dancer, a “STOP” appears.  You need to stop.  When “GO” appears, you can go.  If you dance when it stays “STOP” or stop when it says “GO,” you lose points.
4. Perfection – the hardest mode – you only earn points when you have “Great” moves.

I tried dancing to Country Dance by myself and I thought I was doing pretty well.  If I do say so myself, I was pretty fly. UNTIL, my daughter got home.  She made the moves seem so natural.  It was then that I started noticing that I was dancing more like a chicken than being fly.  Oh well.

Country Dance uses the remote control, no dance pad is needed.  To make it easier for your to mimic the on screen dancer, the next move is shown at the bottom of the screen so you can prepare yourself to be in sync with the dancer.  I noticed that the game is somewhat forgiving, so your moves don’t have to be exact.  This is very helpful with children, as they can still score pretty well.

Up to four players can play Country Dance.  The more the merrier.  I’m not sure which I enjoy more, being one of the four dancing or watching the four dance together synchronized.  The person with the top score wins.  If you love country music, you’ll love dancing along to some of your favorite artists.

CONS

There is one big downfall of the game, unfortunately.   I thought for sure we’d learn line dances to Boot Scootin’ Boogie or Achy Breaky Heart.  To my great dismay, no line dance steps are taught.  There are country style type moves, but no line dancing.  I have learned a couple line dances through the years, so I hoped to freshen up my steps.  When I told friends about Country Dance, they too assumed that the game would teach you line dancing.  This is a big disappointment.

Nonetheless, the game is a lot of fun.  Many of the songs are familiar and have great beats.  And let me tell you, this is a great way to get a little bit of exercise…for you and the kids! Country Dance is available from Amazon for $37.99 with free super saver shipping.

So, let me hear from you country fans out there, what do you think?  Is this a game you’d be interested in?

The Wii version of Country Dance was sent to me in exchange for my honest review.