ABBA You Can Dance

 



I love ABBA. I think my first real introduction to ABBA might have been Muriel's Wedding, the classic Australian film starring Toni Collette. The main character, Muriel, is obsessed with ABBA, and at the time I didn't really get it. Then I saw Mamma Mia, the musical, and fell in love. I've seen it more than once, and I've written about it here. It's amazing to me that someone wrote a play that fits perfectly with ABBA music. It's like they were made for each other - the music, which existed long before, and the musical. We have the soundtrack and it gets played pretty often. My kids may or may not get annoyed with me as I grab them for a twirl (or three) in the kitchen while belting out Dancing Queen. I was a little skeptical when I heard they were making a movie version of Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried. Chris and I were in Chicago a few years ago when it came out, and he was recovering from major surgery so we couldn't do a whole lot. Therefore we found ourselves in a movie theater for a double feature (Dark Night opened at the same time). And I loved it. Really loved it. They nailed it. Streep as Donna and Seyfried as Sophie - they're just perfect. The music might not be as chillingly beautiful as it can be in the live theatrical production, but nonetheless they did a great job and it's a super fun, gorgeously scenic movie.

Since I love ABBA so, so much, I was really excited to be given the opportunity to review the new Wii game, ABBA You Can Dance. Seriously, there is now a dance game featuring all ABBA music! How much awesomeness can be contained on one little game disc? A whole lot, as it turns out! If you've ever played the Just Dance games, the ABBA You Can Dance game is very similar and played in the same way. Up to four players can dance at a time to compete against each other. You can choose a song, or let the game randomly choose one for you. There are characters on the screen doing all the moves and the players copy the moves. Each move is rated as follows:

• X - You missed a move
• OK - You can do better!
• Good - Nice move
• Perfect - Awesome!

Based on your rating, you get a certain number of points. If you perform a special "Gold Move" correctly you get 500 points. But there is more to this game than just dancing along and getting points. You can even hook up a USB microphone (or two) to your Wii console and sing along to the music as you dance! Besides Play mode, there are two other modes, Musical and Karaoke. In Musical mode, you can choose your choreography and dance and sing along to a musical based on ABBA's music. For the Karaoke mode, up to two USB microphones can be connected to the Wii console to sing duets with your friends! The song lyrics are on the screen. Vocals are not scored or recorded, it's just a cool little bonus!

According to the instruction booklet that comes with the game, "The flow of your movements is sensed by the Wii Remote and compared with those of professional dancers in order to evaluate your performance precisely. The amount of energy you put in is also detected and affects your score, so give it your all!" Don't be discouraged if it takes you awhile to get the moves, this is supposed to be fun! And it takes a little getting used to. I am anything but coordinated, but even if I don't score well I still have fun playing!

I had some friends over to try out ABBA You Can Dance. We had a good time being silly and feeling our disco groove, and the disco light definitely helped create the ambiance. Pretty much everyone I know is getting sick, sick now, or just getting over being sick. So I'll be honest, we maybe could have been slightly more energetic. Even so, we enjoyed the game. I'm really looking forward to playing it with my kids soon. I think the Musical mode will be fun, and I know Bethany will dig the Karaoke mode. And since two of my friends were not familiar with the music of ABBA before trying out ABBA You Can Dance, I thought it fitting that we end our evening watching the movie Mamma Mia. I think I've converted them.

ABBA You Can Dance for Wii would make a great Christmas gift for any ABBA fan, or anyone who likes to dance, sing, and have a good time. It definitely gets my seal of approval.


Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please  click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.