FREESTYLE! Flashcard in Dance Central 2
Freestyle, also stylized as FREESTYLE! in Dance Central and Dance Central 2 is a gameplay mechanic that appears in Dance Central, Dance Central 2, Dance Central 3, and Dance Central Spotlight. It gives players a brief amount of time during the song to perform any dance moves. The feature can be disabled in games after Dance Central, with Dance Central Spotlight adding dance moves in place of the Freestyle section of DLC songs from Dance Central.
Dance Central[]
Freestyle in Dance Central. [1]
In the first Dance Central game, Freestyle is included in all songs and cannot be disabled. The dancers perform a dance move that is not included in the scoring before Freestyle begins and, in some cases, after Freestyle ends. During the Freestyle section, a silhouette of the player's upper body is displayed in rainbow colors alongside lights in the background. As the player moves their body, different lights are illuminated, which changes the way the song sounds. The player can receive one of two feedback ratings on their Freestyle: "Nice Freestyle!" or "Flawless Freestyle!".
Before the Freestyle section, dance moves with camera icons on their flashcards will appear in the routine. If the player passes a move with the camera icon, they earn a photo taken of them during the Freestyle section. Once the Freestyle section begins, a countdown from 3 is displayed before the Kinect's camera captures photos of the player while they are dancing. After the Freestyle section, the photos are quickly played back in a loop, simulating the player dancing. Photos can be disabled, but the camera icon will still appear on flashcards and during the Freestyle section.
Dance Central 2[]
Freestyle remains fundamentally unchanged in Dance Central 2, but can now be disabled for songs originating from Dance Central 2. Disabling Freestyle will not affect songs from the original Dance Central game. When Freestyle is enabled for Dance Central 2 songs, the characters continue performing the routine as it would appear if Freestyle is disabled. In many songs, this causes some dance moves to only appear when Freestyle is disabled. Additionally, the player's silhouette is now displayed in full and as a collection of red dots, with the color changing slightly for parts of the body that are moving. The silhouette will also pulsate to the rhythm of the song. Unlike the first Dance Central game, Freestyle is not scored in Dance Central 2.
Dance Central 3[]
Freestyle remains largely unchanged from Dance Central 2. While Dance Central 2 displayed the player's silhouette relative to their play area, Dance Central 3 scales the player's silhouette to fit a fixed position on the screen. The lights in the background have been removed, instead being replaced with a black and dark blue background. The player's silhouette is displayed as a collection of squares in various sizes; these squares become larger and rainbow-colored the more the player moves and smaller and dimmer the less a player moves. When the squares are not rainbow-colored, they are colored blue for the left player and purple for the right player. Additionally, players can now receive feedback during and after the Freestyle performance, with "Keep It Up" being equivalent to a Nice rating and "In The Zone" being equivalent to the Flawless rating. Like in the first Dance Central game, Freestyle also adds points to the player's score.
Freestyle is featured prominently in Dance Central 3's story. First, the player is told by Lima to freestyle as they are time traveling or else they risk becoming trapped in the time stream. Lastly, after Oblio is freed from Dr. Tan's mind control at the Crow's Nest, he urges the player to challenge him to a dance battle in order to seal him in the time stream. During the dance battle, Dr. Tan and the player must perform their own dance moves to "Tan-Step". The player wins the dance battle due to Dr. Tan's lack of creativity, successfully sealing him in the time stream.
Freestyle is also featured in loading screens for songs, where the player can dance to the theme of the venue they are about to dance in. Additionally, the Keep The Beat minigame in Crew Throwdown works similarly to Freestyle, with 2 to 8 players dancing their own moves while stealing their opponent's moves and points in the process.
Dance Central Spotlight[]
Freestyle in Dance Central Spotlight is fundamentally similar to its appearances in Dance Central 2 and 3. Instead of a flashcard with glowing lines like in previous games, the Freestyle flashcard graphic is split diagonally into two sides: a blue side with a triangle pattern and a pink side with a dotted pattern. The player is displayed as a collection of 3D triangles, with the triangles growing larger and more dispersed on the parts of the body that are moving. Additionally, the background of the Freestyle section features triangle studs in a green, yellow, and pink gradient that flash to the rhythm of the song and a black floor that the light is reflected on. As the player is dancing, the background will occasionally rotate. A sound effect plays after the Freestyle section ends.
Unlike most of its previous appearances, the player cannot earn a rating for their performance during the Freestyle section. Additionally, Freestyle can now be disabled for songs from the first Dance Central game, with moves from previous sections of the routine being reused in place of Freestyle.
Trivia[]
- In Dance Central, Freestyle counts towards the Pure Perfection achievement, meaning the player must get a Flawless rating during the Freestyle section in order to earn the achievement.