Just Dance VR Review-In-Progress: A Familiar Beat

Just Dance VR brings Ubisoft's popular rhythm series to Quest today, and it's a familiar affair with new social features. Here's our review-in-progress.

VR rhythm games have no shortage of competition, so breaking through requires something special. Using an established series certainly helps but after an unusual development history, Just Dance VR - Welcome to Dancity is making its debut on Quest. The end result is an unusual mix of enjoyable yet flatscreen-derivative songs, tied together by social hubs clearly designed with VR in mind. I'll share my final thoughts once I've tried multiplayer but right now, it's a good start.

Your journey through Dancity begins inside a fully explorable apartment that acts as your hub. It's a good approach that lets you choose songs without being entirely reliant on flat menus, and I like how achievements are displayed like actual trophies in a cabinet. A decent range of cosmetics lets you customize your avatar, though some visually appear worse on Quest 3 when looking at your actual arm than they do in the mirror.

Each song hosts a unique world called a 'Danceverse.' Performing across these vibrant environments feels nice, though it's hard to fully appreciate them when there's little opportunity to look around. You're still making similar motions for your performance, mirroring the opposite dancer's routine with pictograms helpfully signaling which moves to perform next. Accurately following the routine gets a higher score and earning five stars feels great on trickier songs. Unlockable items and new cosmetics try to incentivize progression as you gradually level up.

Compared to Just Dance 2024 Edition, it's considerably easier to earn high scores and anyone who's played the flatscreen entries will find familiar gameplay with songs. Just Dance VR goes beyond simply being flatscreen derivative and follows the existing template really closely. You're just swapping a smartphone for Touch Controllers. Granted, that's not too concerning when motion controls were already integral. If anything, the VR version feels more forgiving with scoring simply because the controls are nicer to use.

There's some engaging gameplay once you get into it and every rhythm game needs a good soundtrack backing it up. Musical preferences are naturally subjective, yet it strikes a decent balance for pop fans. I'm not expecting hundreds of tracks but only featuring 25 songs means the selection is limited. Unlike other VR rhythm games, there's no indication that the library will get expanded via DLC.

This wouldn't be so bad if Just Dance VR featured a more timely tracklist. For comparison, Just Dance 2025 Edition has ten songs from 2024 alone, including hits by Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, and Sabrina Carpenter. Just Dance VR only has ten songs from the last decade altogether. I can't imagine who's asking for Hollaback Girl in 2024.

Of course, music doesn't have an expiration date and that's not to say what's here is bad. I'll cheerfully admit to playing the Call Me Maybe, Born This Way, and Blinding Lights stages multiple times, and most songs have appeared in other entries before. The one exclusive - Centuries by Fall Out Boy - is a surprising one, and it's a winner.

The biggest change for the VR adaptation is undeniably the social hub, Dancity, and that's directly inspired by Times Square. Up to 18 players can join at one time, grouping together to freely explore or start matchmaking against other dancers. Communication in Dancity is restricted to an emoji-only system, and you can select songs with others through billboards. Song of the week tournaments and weekly leaderboards will likely keep this lively.

Exploring doesn't take particularly long and like the avatar cosmetics, some visual elements like the jagged edges in Dancity's colored floors make an otherwise strong presentation feel slightly uneven. Making a social hub is a smart decision for VR, but Dancity would benefit from more activities that aren't just jumping into songs or a couple of small playgrounds. You can also summon unlocked toys like basketballs or balloons through the same method as choosing emojis.

If you'd prefer something more private, up to six people can go back to the apartment for a private party which allows voice chat. However, I've yet to experience Dancity or the apartment with other players since the opportunity wasn't available pre-launch. This is why I've opted for a review-in-progress currently, and I'll update this section in the next few days.

Just Dance VR Review-In-Progress - Final Verdict

Just Dance VR is an enjoyable adaptation that matches the flatscreen entries well, though it's let down in a few areas. Uneven elements like some low-quality avatar cosmetics and the short soundtrack are hard to ignore, yet there's a good sense of rhythm. I believe Soul Assembly took the right approach by creating an explorable social hub, even if your activities are somewhat limited.

I can see this appealing to VR newcomers who've just bought a Quest 3S and existing Just Dance fans will likely have fun, but it's a tougher sell for rhythm game veterans over something like Beat Saber. Because I haven't experienced the social hubs with other players yet, giving Just Dance VR a final score would be premature. I'll update this review in the coming days with my finalized assessment.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines. As a review-in-progress, this is currently unscored and a final rating will be added soon.