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Is this the next ‘Guitar Hero’?

Music lovers, listen up.

If you enjoy rhythm-based music games -- like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DJ Hero or Tap Tap Revenge -- you might want to tap your way through the just-released Dance Legend app from TuneWiki.

Ideal for dance music fans, this free game for iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) and Android devices lets you create real dance moves with your fingertips, be it the "Running Man," "Moonwalk," "Wave" "Side Step," "Kid and Play" or "Duggie."

While the game has a steep learning curve -- younger or novice gamers might give up before they get the swing of it -- this free download can be fun and challenging for those who stick it out.

The idea behind the game is simple: You're a dancer who wants to rack up as many points as possible. In order for your dancer to perform the moves correctly, you need to closely follow the on-screen patterns. For example, you may see a white dotted line jet across the screen in a half circle or it might be four shorter vertical lines cascading down the screen. If you're in rhythm with the pattern, the white dots turns green, but if you fall out of time the white dots turn red and you won't amass as many points as possible. You'll get a preview of your next steps in the top right corner of the screen.

The game ships with two free songs -- LMFAO's "Champagne Showers" and Ming's "Go All Night (Digital Lab Remix)" -- plus there are two more free songs you can download (Dev's "Bass Down Low" and Felguk's 6-minute "All Night Long (Darth & Vader Mix)."

Playing well earns you coins, which you can use to download additional tracks, or you can use real cash to snag new songs. Licensed artists include Lady Gaga, MC Hammer, M.I.A., Vanilla Ice, Don Omar, Selena Gomez, Nelly, Miley Cyrus and Jackson 5, to name a few. If you don't have enough gold coins you can buy more gold coins using real cash ($0.99-cents gets you 80 coins, for example). Songs are typically 40 or 50 gold coins apiece.

Gold coins can also be used to buy additional gear for your dancer, should you want to customize their appearance. This includes various tops, pants, shoes and hats, mostly for 10 coins apiece. You can also earn and redeem "street cred," represented by a "thumbs up" icon. Your avatar can be male or female, plus you can change hair style and colour, face type and skin tone.

Dance Legend is a fun and free game, but there are some issues -- other than its difficulty, that is. The press release promises a "Kick It Up" mode, which isn't anywhere to be found in the game menu. Secondly, there are other music genres listed, such as Rock and Alternative, but no songs were available for those (and how would the dancers move to them, anyway?). Finally, parents should be aware of potentially offensive lyrics, such as in the included LMFAO song ("I'm gonna get you wet, I'm gonna make you sweat," etc.).

Dance music fans should test-drive the free app by downloading Dance Legend at the Canadian App Store.

Here's the official trailer for the game: