I havent played the recent Just Dance games (the last one I played was 4). But Dance Central by a long shot. The choreographies are better - sticking to styles of dance that carry alot of legit weight within the dance culture. There are difficulties structured for each song that cuts out or adds more complex moves out of the stage compared to Just Dance which has a locked difficulty with one choreography. It has a better move-by-move practice/training mode which gives the game more longevity to master a song. The third one has a amusing campaign. The online challenges/play in the third was welcome. The use of the camera showing and comparing how you're performing (All dance studios has a wall that's a mirror for a reason) was a great addition that Just Dance lacked and there was an ability to import all songs in previous games into the latest installment, implementing all the latest features.
The things that made Central great just didnt make it as popular as Just Dance. Mind the terrible e3 presentation, Dance Central just has more serious choreographies to it, targetting a specific market with named choreographers known within the dance community. It relied on challenging steps using sensitive and sometimes unforgiving Kinect technology, where Just Dance got its popularity on the Wii with a forgiving Wii-Mote that ignores most body movements. Central didnt have any of the silly/joke/accessible choreographies that Just Dance sported (which make for great drunk gameplay), nor did it launch with co-operative content for party play (which only properly appeared in the 2nd Dance Central game). The song licensing for Dance Central was is widely diverse, where Just Dance was predominantly well-known pop with some odd foreign stuff on the side for amusement. It didnt help that the the first Dance Central was rushed out the door for the Kinect launch and arrived after Just Dance established itself.
Not that Just Dance doesnt have any merits. The dance creator in the last one I played seemed interesting and it just has a more fun careless accessibility to it that's geared to a wider audience and different age groups.
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