Let’s face it, we all knew the new peripheral smell was going to wear off of the new Kinect games soon. It was great while it lasted, but we all know there would come a title, as there always does, that first piece of shovelware that showcases the kind of mediocrity that the Kinect is capable of. Kinect Dance Paradise is that first game, the ripping off of the band-aid that such a cool innovation is capable of the same tropes that plague the rest of the game industry. The game has it’s bright points, but in the end is so “meh” that even seasoned dance game players will find themselves bored.
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 List Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $18.96 
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To be honest, the game really tries to be a good copy of Dance Central or Dance Masters, two clearly superior dance-themed Kinect games. The Dance Paradise Kinect game even features a few of the same songs as those titles, and the rest of the list shows that at least the music side of things was brought strong. Good, danceable tunes from Lady Gaga, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Daft Punk aim to please, and the move detection is pretty nice, not requiring a lot of adjustment to use. There are some neat features in the game, such as the track skip, which requires a bit of running around on account of the player, but they’re the shiny coat of paint on an otherwise rusty exterior, and only add to the list of flaws after a while.
When you play Dance Paradise for a while, a few things become apparent. First of all, the developers idea of dancing has not advanced past fads that happened in the late nineties. You’ll find yourself doing the funky chicken, the running man, and even jamming out with some air guitar at some points. It’s actually kind of surprising they were able to resist adding the Macarena. After a while of playing, you’ll realize that although the move detection seems merely forgiving, it’s almost flawed to the point of being broken, as it doesn’t even try to register what your body is doing below the waist. Anything above, and the move detection might even record some frantic flapping as a perfect move.
Despite these trappings, the game does sport some interesting features, such as avatar integration, and a track list consisting of 40 songs. Multiplayer works pretty good, capping at only two players but consisting of interesting game modes like attack, versus, or team mode.
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