Dance Magic
Sorti le 8 janvier 2013 sur PlayStation 3 et PC, Dance Magic est un titre indépendant développé et édité par Targem Games, proposé au prix de 9,99 euros. Le jeu repose sur une prémisse singulière : des scientifiques ont inventé une énergie biologique capable de convertir les mouvements de danse en véritable puissance, et le sort de l’humanité dépend dès lors du talent du meilleur danseur. Il appartient au joueur d’empêcher que cette énergie soit utilisée à des fins destructrices en prenant part à un duel de danse décisif.
La description du jeu évoque sept styles de danse différents, plusieurs lieux saisissants, un système de personnalisation du personnage, plus de trente pistes musicales, ainsi que divers modes de jeu incluant une campagne, un mode danse libre et une possibilité de jouer entre amis. Plusieurs niveaux de difficulté sont également au programme.
L’accueil critique et celui des joueurs apparaît contrasté. La presse a salué le plaisir immédiat du gameplay, comme GameGrin qui souligne que la victoire semble impossible mais que le simple fait de participer est si amusant qu’on ne peut s’empêcher de continuer. D’autres voix sont plus réservées, à l’image de Worth Playing, qui estime que Dance Magic manque de la magie qui rend les jeux de rythme si fascinants. Côté joueurs, un avis publié sur Metacritic rapporte un a priori négatif envers les jeux de danse, tout en admettant avoir demandé une copie du titre.
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« Winning seems like an impossibility, but the actual core gameplay – the taking part – is so fun, that I cannot help but to play on. If you play this game, you'll likely be in the same boat. »
« In the end, Dance Magic lacks the sort of magic that makes rhythm games so mesmerizing. »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« I should really start this review by saying I hate rhyme games, even worse dancing games. So why the hell would I ask for a copy of this game? And I did, I need to be very clear about that, I wasn’t approached by the developer, I specifically asked for this game. Why? Well it’s good to keep thing varied and secondly for the following Steam Review. . . Pretty harsh, also quiet offensive! But can this game really be that bad? The simple answer is no, it really isn’t, it pretty good as these games go. I’m not about to spend 40 hours playing it as it’s really not my thing, but I like it. I don’t love it or want to write a 1000 word review on it, but it’s a pretty good concept. So let’s talk about the game, it’s a rhyme game about dancing like hundreds before it but it has a hook. That hook is that it plays like a cross between the rhyme games we’ve all seen and a fighting game, as strange as that sounds it works. Instead of having to just out dance your opponent you must also put up shields and use commands to break your opponent’s combo, you can even do special moves of a sort. Each character has their own set moves and you’ll need to learn them to hold your own and while these move are a relatively simple four button affair it also takes timing to the beat of the song. This is a double-edged sword as with only five moves pre character and those never-changing their combination, it can get repetitive but as you progress you need that familiarity to even stand a chance. But at least if you do find it all too repetitive then you can always switch character, then you have a whole fresh set to memorize. It’s simple and not something that’s going to become a secret pleasure for me, but it’s got pretty good music and pretty good gameplay. At least enough for me to be happy to keep going back to it when my daughter nags me to play her, I might even have a little smile on my face while playing. It has colorful, interesting characters and there’s very little to get upset about here, it’s pretty good for a rhyme game. But it’s always going to come back to that, I’m not a rhyme game fan so it speaks highly of it that I don’t hate it. That why I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 and let me be clear here with that score, to me a 2.5 out of 5 is average as it should be for all reviewers, I consider this playable and even enjoyable to people who aren’t hardcore fans of the genre. But it’s not made me a rhyme game fan, so above average. Not the game to convert me, but good enough that I’m not chewing on the keyboard wishing the pain was over. I can play it and quiet enjoy it, that’s pretty high praise from me. »
