Playstation Dance Factory Views

General Goods

Dance Factory is a PlayStation 2 game developed by Broadsword Interactive and published by Codemasters. It has been compared with Dance Dance Revolution, but unlike those games generates dance moves from any music CD. It can be played with any PlayStation controller and allows input from the EyeToy camera, but is typically played with a foot-operated Dance pad and is available with or without a pad in the package.

The differences stem from the gamut of the game and the tastes of the reviewers. Whereas tracks for other games are chosen and often edited to suit the game, allowing very precise timing and even cues that are not directly implied by the music, Dance Factory works with a much wider range of tempos, track durations and genres than pre-programmed rhythm action games. But this potentially infinite variety means that results vary - some songs work better than others and certain CD tracks may not be playable at all: the UK Official PlayStation magazine tested with a 'Let's speak Spanish' disc, with predictable results as that CD was not intended for dancing; more sensibly, a BBC Radio review (referenced below) commented that some Radiohead threw it a bit but added then I actually went in and I worked out my own dance steps along to Paranoid Android and it's brilliant!

Review scores in the UK and US Official PlayStation magazines differed by a factor of two, the UK magazine awarding 60% and saying A clever idea that's a laugh with the right kind of music, but is too random to be anything other than an occasional curiosity. in October 2006, page 95, whereas the US Official PlayStation magazine rated it just 30%, commenting I still think a music-customizable rhythm game could be amazing, but Dance Factory falls short of the ideal. - June 2006, page 94.

You'll no sooner put the Dance Factory disc into your PS2 than you'll be yanking it back out again. The game keeps running as you swap in your own music CD. If your PlayStation 2 still has the ability to read CD-ROMs, it'll whir and chug until it brings up the track information, at which point you can select a track and have the game automatically generate a dance pattern to go along with it. This takes a minute or so -- while you're waiting you can play an odd little boring puzzle game where you rotate a cube by stomping on the dance mat.