Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a surprisingly satisfying continuation of the Persona 4 story. Dancing All Night takes advantage of its incredibly odd idea and weaves a somewhat meta but always interesting story that manages to feel like a worthy Persona sequel.
Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Developer: Atlus
Price: Only available on PS4 as part of the Endless Night bundle ($99.99), $24.99 on Vita
Platforms: PS4 (originally Vita)
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review
Persona 4 is a fantastic game, and the Persona 4 Arena series of fighting games that followed it are great follow-ups to the base game’s amazing story. Before playing Dancing All Night, I was incredibly skeptical of the claim that it was a genuinely strong sequel that carries on the story of Persona 4 and both Arena games perfectly, and yet, here we are. Persona 4: Dancing All Night, which I missed on the Vita, has blown me away and proven itself to be not only a worth sequel, but a pretty damn fun dancing game.
Taking place after all previous Persona 4 entries, Dancing All Night brings the Inaba Investigation Team back together (at Rise’s request) to perform a dance routine at the upcoming LMB (Love Meets Bonds) Festival. As could be expected, things take a dark and supernatural turn, as a group of idols/singers disappear before the festival. After learning the girls were taken into the Midnight Stage, a world reminiscent of Persona 4’s TV Word, the Investigation Team goes off to rescue them through the power of dance. It is absolutely as silly as it sounds, and Dancing All Night knows that and embraces it.
Not only does Dancing All Night continue to develop the entire Investigation Team, but it also offers some strong commentary on Japan’s enormous “idol culture”, a phenomenon that many Westerners, myself included, find somewhat confusing. The missing girls are all idols, meaning famous young singers/models/actresses whose fanbases are primarily made up of young men. The missing girls are all confronted by the personas (no pun intended) that they are expected to put on for the world. From one idol’s struggle to be more than the ditzy comic relief to another idol’s dislike of being viewed only as the group’s sex appeal, the Investigation Team has to help each idol overcome their conflicting views of themselves as idols and as people. It’s a fascinating story that offers some interesting insight into the world of idol culture, all while staying relevant to Persona 4.
” I stand by the opinion that the Investigation Team is one of the best groups of protagonists in any video game, so any excuse to see them banter more is fine by me.“
The main characters all get to shine as well, naturally. Rise, as an idol, takes a central role alongside Narukami, and proves herself to be a satisfactory main character that also serves as a guide to idol culture. Chie, Yukiko, Yosuke, Teddie, Naoto, and the absolute best Persona character Kanji all show off how much they’ve grown since the original game, as they help each idol face their true selves as they once did. Outside of the plot, it’s just fun to see the team interact again. I stand by the opinion that the Investigation Team is one of the best groups of protagonists in any video game, so any excuse to see them banter more is fine by me.
Dancing is suitably a major part of Dancing All Night and, for the most part, it’s a total blast. While your character dances in the background, you have to hit D-Pad directions and button inputs as they enter the perimeter of a giant circle in the middle of the screen. Depending on your timing, each hit is either GOOD, GREAT, or PERFECT, and let me tell you, there’s nothing more satisfying than nailing a PERFECT note in total harmony with a song’s beat.
The only problem with dancing comes from the visuals that are behind it. As stunning as some of the dance sequences are, they can make it quite difficult to see button inputs. The flashy routines make for a very, very busy screen, which can make doing well on higher difficulties needlessly hard. It’s difficult for me to suggest an alternative or fix for this issue, as the distracting dances are a major part of the game as well, though the person playing the game will likely see very little of the actual dances if they’re focused on nailing button inputs.
There’s an astounding amount of customization in Dancing All Night, with plenty of costumes and accessories for each and every character. School uniforms for different seasons, Halloween and Christmas costumes, and a seemingly endless amount of different glasses are just a few of the themed goodies you can equip to each character, though you’ll need to buy them first using money earned through the Story and Free Dancing modes. The item shop is presented as Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities, the shopping channel from Persona 3 and 4, which is a very nice touch.
“The remixes are more suited to a rhythm game, but they still retain the spirit and energy of the songs that they’re covering.“
Music is another big part of Dancing All Night, and it succeeds in spades. The soundtrack of Persona 4 is already incredible, but the remixes that are featured in Dancing All Night are almost all just as good. The remixes are more suited to a rhythm game, but they still retain the spirit and energy of the songs that they’re covering.
As a minor point, I really like that the story is presented in the same way that Persona 4 presented its narrative. Animated illustrations of each character appear when they talk, making different expressions while blinking and striking poses. It goes a long way in solidifying Dancing All Night as a real Persona installment, as this cohesive presentation makes it feel like an expansion of the series.
The Final Word
Persona 4 Dancing All Night is a shockingly good sequel to Persona 4 and its fighting game spin-offs. Though the distracting visuals can sometimes get in the way of the gameplay, Dancing All Night is almost always fun to play, and is surprisingly strong when it comes to continuing the story of Persona 4 and its characters.
MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
