Back when motion controls became a thing, nearly 20 years ago, one genre became ubiquitous with the gimmic: dancing titles. The Wii, Wii U and Kinect thrived on games like Boogie, Dance Central, and, of course, Just Dance, to the point of Ubisoft releasing games of franchise on the ultra-dated Wii up until 2019, two years into the lifecycle of the Switch. It always bugged me that VR devices had never received a Just Dance game up until now. Why did it take so long for Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity to be a thing, Ubi? Because this is actually great!

The amount of psychedelic crap being blasted directly onto my eyeballs is perfect for a VR title.

Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity isn’t just a mere VR port of, say, Just Dance 2024 or the brand new Just Dance 2025; instead, it’s its own thing, with some exclusive modes and a setlist comprised of songs from previous games in the franchise. The main addition being the Dancity, which is a social hub of sorts, where you can meet up with other players, interact, and dance together on what’s essentially a town square.

In case you are wondering, yes, it does feel like it’s Ubisoft’s take on the whole “Metaverse” nonsense that tech companies tried to shove down our throats during the pandemic years. I will say I didn’t interact with this town hall of sorts whilst playing Just Dance VR for two reasons: the first one being that, as much as I love VR gaming and want for more people to own headsets and play VR games, the online community in this game isn’t very big as of now (granted, the game has just come out). The second reason being that I’m here to dance like in other Just Dance games, with cool visual effects and whatnot.

This s*** is indeed bananas.

If that’s what you want, then Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity delivers. Oh boy, does it deliver. Even if its soundtrack isn’t original (it’s a bunch of songs featured in previous editions), I think that was an ideal situation for a “first game in the series” in VR. You have stuff like “Hollaback Girl”, “I Will Survive”, and even “Don’t Stop Me Now”, with improved visual effects, whilst retaining the same gameplay and coreography.

Virtual reality gives each song an added layer of detail and immersion. You are inside the “Hollaback Girl” school, you are inside a graveyard in “I Will Survive”. You are free to look around your surroundings; even if that doesn’t exactly affect the gameplay, it just makes things a lot cooler. As to be expected, the Quest’s motion controls work like a charm in this game. Just make sure to draw a pretty big playfield before booting the game up; you will extend your arms a lot, so make sure to do that in order to avoid having the Quest remind you that you’re trespassing the designated playfield, ruining immersion.

Sadly, this is “I Will Survive”, not “Thriller”.

I do think that the setlist is far from ideal, though. It’s not that the songs are bad; I don’t like all of the tunes included, but I never expected to, as this is Just Dance, not Guitar Hero: Metallica. The issue is that there are just 25 songs in the base package, which is nearly half as much as your average yearly Just Dance outing. With no confirmation, as of now, that Just Dance VR will either receive paid updates or access to the same subscription model as its non-VR counterparts, 25 songs is all you have at the moment. What’s in here is good, but I wish there was just a little bit more in order to improve its overall lasting appeal.

I bet I looked ridiculous while dancing to this song. Don’t care though.

I will admit I did not care at all about the Dancity social hub, even if this was supposed to be the main selling point; what I really wanted to do (and loved) is dance in VR. Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity absolutely nails in this regard. I have no idea why Ubi took this long to release a virtual reality version of one of its most successful franchises. It’s a perfect fit for a portable VR system like the Quest. Even if the current selection of songs is admittedly sparse, it does cover a wide assortment of genres and styles. The controls are pristine, the visuals are excellent, and there’s a lot of room for improvement. As a first attempt, Just Dance VR is great. I just hope it gets updated with more meat in the near future. Preferably with the Macarena.

Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity is available now on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro.

Reviewed on Meta Quest 2.

A copy of Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancitywas provided by the publisher.