This review was contributed by Rebecca Gardiner, freelance writer.

Sony are back again with DanceStar Party Hits – a sequel to last year’s dance star party. The developers have made a big improvement from last year’s game, making it even more fun to play with your friends. From the moment the game starts you can already tell improvements have been made to the Move controller’s detection, which makes dancing much more rewarding and navigating the menu much easier.

This time around you have a choice of four ways to play. ‘Dance Now’ is a mode where you can play solo, battle it out with your friends, or play with a partner.‘Party’ mode is where up to 20 friends can join in dancing and singing to the lyrics on the screen, although the lack of SingStar mic support here does hurt the effect of this mode. Then, there is ‘Dance Studio’, where you can create your own moves to your favourite track. Dance Studio also features a dance class for dancing game noobs or veterans wanting to perfect their moves. This mode is a great way to familiarise yourself with the moves from your favourite song and a great way to level up your skills.

Lastly, there is ‘Workout’ mode, where you set your weight (or give a rough guess like I did) and track the amount of calories you burn while dancing. Workout mode gives you a plentiful amount of options with a large selection of routines – from a high energy sweat-out to a rap to get ripped .Just like in Dance mode, you can choose if you want an easy workout or an intermediate stage, although if you ask me any workout is workout enough! I jumped into the energy routine and burned up 32 kcal and a massive sweat to go along with it. I found it actually a lot of fun knowing I had to try and get my kcal meter filled up and then on the next song I challenged myself to burn even more kcals. This offers a great alterative to the generic fitness games.

Dance Creator is something I have never tried before in a dance game, and I must say Sony have done a great job with this mode. It’s very rewarding to make up your own signature moves to your favourite songs. You can also challenge your friends to your own dances, to see who can get the highest score,  which can result in a lot of fun.

I love the variety of songs and music types. There’s a huge track list of 40 songs, all ranging from the highs of the Beach Boys to the lows of One Direction. Having this variety is great and having all songs unlocked from the start was refreshing, as I wasn’t forced to dance to some of the more unpleasant songs to unlock better ones. Facebook features are back too, with the ability to share with your videos and photos with your friends.

The difference between difficult levels are very obvious. Beginner is ideal for those who are new to this style of game or to get a basic feel of a song. Intermediate is a bit more challenging, as the moves start to amp up and become more advanced, while the game picks up into a faster pace. Professional is for those who have played these dance games extensively, as it has very complex moves and very quick transitions. Whatever mode you choose to play, you will find that each one offers some good variety, making each song on each difficulty level unique.

Downloadable content is readily available with easy to use menus and reasonable  pricing. The downside is that tracks have to be purchased in packs rather than individually. So, while prices for the packs are fine, you may end up paying for songs you don’t necessarily want.

Sony have tried to focus on the multiplayer aspect of this game, and to this end you can get into battles with your friends, play co-op or get a huge group together and create your own  party. However, the game only allows for one Move controller per person, so for those great party modes you’ll have to share the controller, unless you have plenty of extras already ( a costly option). It’s an example of a problem that wouldn’t happen on the Move’s competitor, the Kinect. Also, it can get annoying holding the Move controller in your hand for extended periods, especially during the sweaty work out modes where your body already has enough to worry about.

It doesn’t quite rival its Kinect counterparts, but what Sony have done this time around is improve on every aspect of last year’s game. I was impressed and for the price of roughly AU $40, its definently a great game to play at your next party or at home alone burning off some calories.