Just Dance 2026 Edition Review

Candy Sixteen: The Evolution of a Dance Icon

Simply Dance turns candy 16 this yr and we’ve seen it blossom from a simplistic try at a dance sport with only a few songs to select from, boring backgrounds and easy animation to what it’s right this moment – a full blown dance extravaganza with a whole lot of songs in its again catalogue, a variety of various music genres and dazzling visuals.

However with so many acquainted options returning yr after yr, it raises the query: has Simply Dance already reached maturity, or can Simply Dance 2026 Version nonetheless deliver one thing new to the dance ground?

Let’s begin off by taking a look at what’s acquainted.

Simply Dance, once more in 2026

Nostalgia, Ok-Pop, and Bluey: The Music Library

Songs are listed on the ‘Songs’ web page, the place the brand new Just Dance 2026 Edition tracks seem on the prime by default. You may as well type songs by problem, effort or rating, and filter them by choreography model, style, temper, decade or accessibility – which makes discovering your subsequent routine straightforward (particularly if you happen to’ve bought Simply Dance+ and entry to its large library of over 400 tracks).

Shopping for the sport offers you one month’s entry to Simply Dance+, whereas the Deluxe Version contains three months and the Final Version affords a full yr – all accessible by way of the Xbox Retailer.

As soon as your subscription expires, you’re left with the 40 songs bundled with Simply Dance 2026 – however that’s nonetheless a strong combine. As common, Woman Gaga and Dua Lipa characteristic prominently with two songs every, alongside current hits like Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan, Anxiousness by Doechii, and Messy by Lola Younger. Rounding out the playlist are nostalgic classics (Women Simply Need to Have Enjoyable by Cyndi Lauper), Ok-pop (DRIP by BABYMONSTER), and Latino beats (La Bamba). A number of songs include alternate variations, providing variations in problem, visuals or variety of dancers – the disco traditional Born to Be Alive, for example, has each Halloween and aerobics themes.

Ubisoft have additionally scored a little bit of a coup by pairing up with children’ favorite – Bluey. One music options Bluey and her household as they dance round their home and neighbourhood. In case you have children beneath 10 then that is certain to be a giant hit.

We’re going to must assume that as Simply Dance has been round for 16 years, most individuals are acquainted with easy methods to play. It begins with downloading the Simply Dance Controller app after which pairing your sport with the app. This then turns your cellular gadget right into a controller, which lets you work together with the sport interface and likewise act as a movement sensor to trace your motion. You observe the actions of your coach on the display screen and are awarded with scores of how carefully you mimic them.

After all, that is by no means going to be very correct so Ubisoft have provide you with an answer to this, which leads us to our first new characteristic – the Simply Dance Digital camera mode.

The Digital camera Conundrum

This was nonetheless in beta mode in Just Dance 2025 however now involves us in its absolutely examined type. To many, this shall be a promoting level of the sport. Since waving a fond farewell to Microsoft’s Kinect, dance video games simply haven’t been the identical for people who find themselves really good at dancing and wish their expertly timed actions of their physique tracked so they’re reaching correct scores. For these of us who usually are not so choreographically-blessed, we fairly appreciated the truth that waving our proper hand that’s clutching our smartphone roughly in time to the music allowed us to rack up respectable scores and make us really feel like a dancing semi-god. This was all the time the enjoyment of Simply Dance – it by no means took itself too significantly and let everybody be a part of within the enjoyable, irrespective of their talent stage. For the sake of this assessment, we set our egos apart and determined to offer Digital camera Mode a attempt.

Just Dance 2026 Edition review 2 — Bluey is in the home

First up – compatibility points. For some motive, regardless of having the prerequisite Android 9 and above put in on our cellphone, we had been advised that it was not appropriate and couldn’t use digicam mode. So, we tried one other cellphone. This time we had been advised at first that we had wifi community errors although each the cellphone and Xbox had been related to the web. Plus we had fairly just a few random crashes the place we needed to shut down the sport and the app and begin once more. And we’re not the one ones having points with a poor 1.9/5 star rating on the Google Play store.

In the event you do handle to connect with the app – and your cellphone passes the compatibility check – you possibly can choose Digital camera Controller Mode when beginning a music. You’ll then want to put your cellphone on a suitably excessive floor in entrance of you and hope the app efficiently detects your physique. We discovered that vibrant, even lighting was important for it to work correctly. Whereas Digital camera Controller Mode does really feel barely extra correct than the normal handheld methodology, it nonetheless can’t fairly match the precision of the outdated Kinect days – there may be zero indication within the sport about how correct your actions are, in case you needed to make enhancements, and evidently flailing your limbs in roughly the correct route will nonetheless earn you a good rating.

Dr. Gigavolt and Celebration Mode: New Sport Options

The one different new characteristic that Ubisoft have delivered to the Simply Dance Franchise this yr is Celebration Mode. This sees gamers teaming as much as dance in a sequence of snippets of songs to assist the character Dr Gigavolt (who reminds us of a benign and extra flamboyant Dr Robotnik of Sonic fame) crack the formulation for good dancing. Now, I’m unsure if we’re fairly the check topics he’s on the lookout for, however nonetheless we had a go.

The premise is that you just be a part of as much as 6 native gamers and participate in a sequence of songs the place you’ll want to obtain growing excessive scores to progress. You get to decide on the issue of the dances – straightforward, medium or exhausting, and the length: 10, 20 or half-hour. The length will affect what number of dances it’s important to compete in – 5, 8 or 12 and the size of snippets from every music, which ranges from 1.5 – 2 minutes lengthy. This differs from utilizing the traditional playlists which might be provided as a part of the sport in just a few different methods.

First off, you get to decide on every music from the Simply Dance+ catalogue by way of a shuffling jukebox. Don’t like what’s been picked? Choose ‘shuffle’ and one other shall be supplied.

Plus, throughout gameplay, you’ll face random ‘disruptions’ – monsters showing mid-routine, display screen blurs or color shifts designed to throw you off. There are additionally small sections the place you might be requested to carry out one among three particular actions slightly than dancing: shaking your cellphone, clapping or doing completely nothing, a bit like a dancing model of Simon Says. We didn’t really feel that these added something to the occasion really feel as they stopped the circulation of the dancing, plus clapping whereas holding a cellphone is as awkward because it sounds.

Regardless that that is touted as a celebration sport with a number of gamers, not all songs characteristic a number of coaches, so that you’ll typically discover yourselves all dancing as the identical character. This doesn’t have an effect on the gameplay – it nonetheless works completely effectively, and everybody will get their very own rating – nevertheless it does take slightly shine off the supposed occasion environment.

Just Dance 2026 Edition review 3 — A number of stumbles

Extra of the Similar Celebration Enjoyable with Technical Stumbles

Simply Dance 2026 Version affords extra of the identical occasion enjoyable that we now have come to count on of the franchise with the addition of what ought to have been an thrilling new growth – digicam controller mode. Nevertheless, we had been decidedly underwhelmed, not solely due to the problems with the Simply Dance Controller app however the truth that it appears to do nothing to enhance the dancing expertise or enhance accuracy of scoring.

In our opinion, If Simply Dance is to maintain the rhythm going for one more 16 years, it must deliver one thing really contemporary to the dance ground.