Persona 4: Dancing All Night

Clear visuals are important for a rhythm title, and 'Dancing All Night' has crisp and clean graphics to make playing through the songs fun and easy on the eyes. During the songs, the characters dance to their own unique style, and it's both entertaining to watch while not being so distracting that notes are hard to see and hit. It is worth noting, though, that the characters' dance routines do not change, so repeated attempts at the same song has you watching the same set of moves every time.

Outside of the songs, cutscenes play out in a somewhat typical format for the genre that 'Persona 4' spawned from. Players are treated to 2D anime-style portraits on static backgrounds, with the occasional cut to an animated scene. The character portraits are well drawn, and each of the 'Persona 4' characters have new outfits, which freshens up their looks a bit from the original title and 'Persona 4 Arena'.

The original 'Persona 4' had a great soundtrack, and 'Dancing All Night' remixes some of the more iconic tracks from that game to use here. The remixes are overall good, though I ended up not liking a few of the more hip-hop based remixes. Of course, on the other hand, the Junos remix track is downright amazing, so essentially the good and the bad balances itself out.

I will note, however, an audio quirk that quickly grated on my nerves. During the tracks, the dancing characters will grunt and talk, with the other party members watching commenting on how awesome the dance is. This would be fine if it only happened once and a while, but these quips and noises happen constantly throughout the song, and are repeated often throughout the course of the game. They quickly become tiresome to listen to, and even distract from the song, becoming an annoying trait to the title that cannot be turned off.

'Persona 4: Dancing All Night' is a good game, but it's also a game that's likely only going to appeal to a specific subset of people. Mainly, it's those that are really into the world of 'Persona' and the characters of 'Persona 4' are going to be charmed by this title, and Atlus has made 'Dancing All Night' exactly with that in mind. Unlike 'Persona 4 Arena', whose fighting game mechanics can still have a widespread appeal, this rhythm game is regulated to a more narrow audience. That's an important and viable choice. The game is by no means wanting for personality, but those that aren't invested heavily into the 'Persona' franchise might be better off looking to another rhythm title to satiate their needs.