Developed and published by Ubisoft, released just in time for Christmas, Just Dance 2025 Edition hits consoles with a slate of new and familiar songs for you and your friends to get your groove on. For the purposes of this review, Just Dance 2025 Edition was played on the PlayStation 5.
In its newest version, Just Dance 2025 offers a new partnership with Ariana Grande, bringing 5 dedicated tracks to the in-game song library including hits ‘yes, and?’, ‘one last time’, and ‘break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored’. The game has also partnered with Nickelodeon for the 25th anniversary of Spongebob Squarepants, creating original maps and music featuring Spongebob and Patrick.
In addition to the featured collabs, Just Dance 2025 includes chart-topping hits from Sabrina Carpenter, Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus, Blackpink and Doja Cat plus an exclusive neurodivergent map designed in partnership with Galantis for their track ‘Bang Bang’.
The game’s design is extremely colourful, with the home screen looking like something a Crayola box spat up. Once you adjust to overwhelming colour and sound, the homepage is actually pretty easy to navigate, with a full display of curated playlists and a side menu to access your song library, playlist library, the locker room where you can customise your avatar and in-play animations, and more.
For first time players, choosing songs from the pre-made playlists is easy, with options like the ‘Easy As‘ playlist that compiles the games easiest songs, to ‘Good for Small Spaces‘ which will definitely be the go-to for players living in apartments.
As a first time Just Dance player, I tried a range of songs in the easy-medium difficulty, including routines that focused only on upper body movements. Having never played before, I found it a little difficult to focus with the amount of activity on the screen; some songs have multiple “coaches” to allow for multiplayer performances and I was often distracted by what the other coaches were doing, performing their moves by mistake instead of my own. This is very easy to do when the actions are grouped together at the bottom of the screen, using only a colour to distinguish between your moves and those of the CPU.
I can’t imagine this would get easier when you play with friends, but it would absolutely be more fun; If you’re going to dance around your living room, you may as well make it a party. Whenever I missed a move or stepped the wrong way, it would’ve been nice to have someone other than my dog to commiserate with.
Like any game, Just Dance is a skill and the more you play, the better you get. Your higher scores and player XP will help you unlock new skins, emotes, animations and avatars, giving you seemingly endless options to personalise your game. All of these features, accessible through the Locker Room, can be mixed and matched to your liking. I chose to change my scoring animations from the default to a cute candy theme complete with neon lollipops and bows!
Probably the most innovative thing about Just Dance 2025 Edition is the way it allows you to play without expensive add-on accessories like motion sensors and wireless joysticks. By pairing your game with the Just Dance 2025 phone app, you can use your phone’s camera to detect your moves or hold it in your hand like a wireless controller. The Just Dance 2025 app also allows you to control the game’s navigation and song selection from the palm of your hand. The integration of console and phone technology should make the game an appealing purchase to budget conscious shoppers.
No game is without its issues though, and Just Dance 2025 Edition does have a couple. My total noob status notwithstanding, the phone app was very difficult to re-sync with the game when the signal dropped – if for any reason you stop playing without properly shutting it down, the game will not generate a new code to sync with the app and it took me about 15 minutes of failing to connect the game with the app before I figured this out. Players should note that the game has to be closed down and restarted so that the correct pairing code can be generated; bear this in mind if you’re anything like me and keep your games and console in rest mode between plays.
The game’s grading system is also a little buggy sometimes, marking some moves I was positive I nailed as “misses” or “ok”. Since I played on my own, it’s not totally clear how many of those failed moves were a result of the game or of me not knowing how to dance, so take this criticism with a grain of salt.
And lastly, using your phone to play. This is less of a criticism and more of a thing to note: if you’re playing with your phone in hand, invest in a wrist strap. Much of my time playing with the handheld “controller” was spent worrying that my grip wasn’t tight enough, and the last thing you want is to smash a $1500 phone against your wall because you hit a move a little too hard. While the camera function is a handy workaround, your setup needs to have a clear vantage point for your phone to scan your body and detect your moves clearly, so players living in smaller apartments will have no choice but to play handheld.
Even with the minor connectivity problems and busy game maps, I had a lot of fun playing Just Dance 2025 Edition. With the option to join their paid subscription to access a larger music library once you play through all the freebies, and the ability to curate your own playlists of go-to dance tracks, Just Dance 2025 Edition is a challenging, engaging workout of a game (seriously, I got so sweaty) that is just as fun to play solo as it inevitably would be with a group of friends.
Just Dance 2025 Edition is available now on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X and Series S.