I guess this is the week of frank admissions. First I admitted to liking Vin Diesel (which surprisingly didn't meet with as much public ridicule in our forums as I thought it would), and now.. yes.. I'm going to admit that I have indeed sung Karaoke. Naturally there was a certain amount of alcohol involved and after playing back the tape they gave me I'm pretty certain that being drunk makes absolutely no difference to your singing voice, except inside your own head. It's good to know that the Portsea Hotel no longer does Karaoke nights so the world is safe from my singing voice that sounds remarkably like two Koala's having a knife fight, what you're not safe from is my newly discovered funky disco skills thanks to this game!

Dance UK has hit the Xbox and is a pretty good package. It comes included with a dance mat that plugs into the controller port on your Xbox and allows the full control of the game and menu navigation with your feet. It also grips most surfaces that we tested it on (floorboards and carpet) just fine. Now where does Karaoke fit into a dance game I hear you ask? Well Dance UK isn't just about laying down the disco moves, it also comes with a number of different modes that lift it from what would be a fairly well done, but limited single player game into something you can enjoy yourself and with friends and family.

First up there is the games Dance UK mode where you pit your skills through four television studios and as you progress, the beats per minute (BPM) of the dance tracks increase. This is your standard 'jump on the dance mats arrows' in time to the music mode but when completed, unlocks some extra music tracks for you to use. If you can make it through the games Tutorial mode then the Dance UK mode shouldn't been too hard for you to begin with but as it progresses it does get pretty tricky. Making the slightest mistake in the final can also see you disqualified which was frustrating and as of yet, I haven't been able to complete it. Once you complete the single player Dance UK mode you also unlock the Dance Recorder which allows you to save your own dance steps.

To be honest, the single player appeal of Dance UK would be pretty limiting but there is also a rather nifty 'Aerobics mode'. You enter your weight (and don't worry, it isn't stored in some secret Xbox Live database) and away you go. Based on how successfully you hit each of the steps it tells you at the end how many calories you burned! I've been giving it a couple of turns most days and its amazing how quickly you start to feel it in your legs. Finally we have a way we can get some much needed exercise most of us probably need, but still do it from the warm, irradiating, safe nurturing glow of our television sets without actually having to go outside.

Dance UK has a multiplayer mode that is loads of fun as well. Up to 8 players can compete (in turns) to be the Disco king of your group of friends. If you can talk your mates into giving it a shot and nobody minds the constant ridicule that comes from behind you while it's your turn it's an absolute blast and during a few sessions all my friends and I were almost in tears watching each of us try and out-do the others. It's simple and addictive and even my four year old son was giving it a shot and doing pretty well! If there's one complaint, it's during the multiplayer mode because everyone does their turn to the same song (otherwise it wouldn't really be fair) and you do get sick of hearing the same song over and over, and over again.

Juke Box mode allows you instant access to each of the available music tracks and difficulty levels. You simply select what track you want, select the difficulty level and away you go. Now what does Karaoke have to do with all of this? Well Dance UK also has a Karaoke mode, in the options you can toggle it on and off and sing along to all the tracks that come with the game. The game doesn't come with, or support a microphone though so the Karaoke mode is basically just the option to turn the song lyrics on and off onscreen. There was a wireless microphone and headset released for the PS2 version but due to poor sales it hasn't made its way over to the Xbox though it does support it if one gets released.

31 Dance tracks are included and feature hits such as Sophie Ellis Bextor 'Murder on the Dance Floor, Mis-Teeq' One Night Stand, Junior Senior 'Move your Feet, Jamelia' Superstar and a whole bunch more that I haven't heard of. I was surprised to recognise as many tracks as I did as I was expecting the game to be just filled with obscure second rate music, and this clearly isn't the case at all. Even the unknown tracks (well to me) all sound pretty decent and are spread across Grunge, Skater, Guitar, Hip-hop, R&B, Drum N Bass and your typical hardcore dance range.

Unfortunately there is no 'custom soundtrack' support and this could have extended the music track selection infinitely and I was surprised to not see it included. If it had been, and if Dance UK also supported a microphone the Karaoke mode in it could have also been something special, as it is, it's pretty basic. Though in all fairness, even if you could import custom tracks, the game would not know the lyrics anyway but this is a feature that the Dance Recorder mode could have greatly benefitted from.

Lastly Dance UK supports Xbox Live and you can upload your highest scores and compare them with your friends list and total strangers. There's no online multiplayer however so the action is just limited to your living room.