| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: Karaoke Revolution
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
It doesn't matter if it's not good enough, for anyone else to hear. Sing, sing a song!Karaoke Revolution is one of those games you either get, or you donﾒt. Itﾒs embarrassing, annoying, entertaining, innovative, and ﾅ not as challenging as you might have hoped. The idea is simple. Take the basic premise behind a karaoke machine: a bunch of songs, lyrics that scroll across the screen, a microphone, and someone willing to put on a show, and then belt your heart out.  Konami games it up by grading your performance. Much of the grade comes from pitch, thereﾒs an indicator that shows if youﾒre sharp or flat, and if you sustain the notes for the correct length. The grading doesnﾒt allow for improvisation, you have to sing it they way the singers in the game do, and it also doesnﾒt really care if you sing the words or not. You can get through REMﾒs tongue twisting ﾓItﾒs the End of the World as we Know It (and I Fell Fine)ﾔ by singing ﾓblah-blah-blah-blah-de-blah-Leonard Berstein!ﾔ like you do in the car, and still get a great score. Disappointing, but understandable given the limitations in voice recognition software. This also means, incidentally, that you can bust out with a perfect rendition of Michael Jacksonﾒs ﾓBillie Jeanﾔ and score worse than someone going ﾓda-da-dumﾔ through ﾓBroken Wings.ﾔ But the scoring isnﾒt what makes the game fun. Theyﾒve included an impressive 35 songs (all sung by sound-alikes, but good sound-alikes), given you several animated singers to choose from, a large variety of venues (roadhouse, subway platform, house party, and more), and a crowd meter that gives you additional feedback on how well youﾒre doing. The song list is impressive. Thereﾒs something for every taste. Addicted, I'm Coming Out, All You Wanted, Are You Happy Now?, Kiss Me, Believe, Ladies' Night. Billie Jean, Like a Virgin, Bizarre Love Triangle, One Week, Red Red Wine, Celebration, Save Tonite, Chain of Fools, Science Genius Girl, Complicated, She Talks to Angels, Crawling in the Dark, Smooth Criminal, Don't Know Why, Son of a Preacher Man, Every Morning, The Power of Love, Everything You Want, Waiting for Tonight, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, When a Man Loves a Woman, Hey Jealousy, Wind Beneath My Wings, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, You Really Got Me, How You Remind Me, You're the One That I Want, as well as the oneﾒs mentioned earlier in this review. There could be a few more standards, maybe some 50ﾒs tunes, a couple hip hop or rap tunes, or something from the Chairman of the Board, oh and it needs some Meat Loaf (Bat out of Hell would be sweet!) but itﾒs hard to complain. Konami claims theyﾒll have more tunes available in expansion discs, but only if the game sells well. Itﾒs disappointing the game doesnﾒt support online play or downloading additional tunes. In fact the game might be better served on Xbox and Xbox Live. The game is playable in multiplayer, but only for two players, which is odd. And the two have to switch off between songsﾅ why canﾒt we do a duet? Huh? Why? Why canﾒt you just pass the headset and pit 4 players against each other? At the get together I used to test the game, thatﾒs exactly what I did. We played in arcade mode and just passed the headset back and forth. The included headset is adequate; itﾒs a cheap Logitech model. An actual hand held mic would be preferable, but this one does the job. You can use any USB mic or headset, but, right now, you have to pay close to $60 for the bundle (a ﾓmic-lessﾔ version is scheduled to ship in early January). Karaoke Revolution is a clever game thatﾒs a lot of fun at the right kind of parties and get togethers (Iﾒll leave the meaning of that to you). Even solo acts who love to sing in the shower will love the feedback here. The game modes (three levels) may be too easy, but the 35 songs constitute a lot of gameplayerﾅ er, singplay, for the money. Kid Factor: Younger kids will have fun singing with you or, at least, watching you warble. Older kids who can read, can make their own attempts. Teens should love it, even if they find everything pre-Michelle Branch/Avril Levigne mystifying. There are no offensive songs hereﾅ well, ok, Smooth Criminal is pretty obviously about a crime victim (Annie are you ok?) but most kids wonﾒt catch that implication.  Reviewerﾒs Recommended Ages: 6+ ESRB: E-Everyone Genre: Singin' baby! Singin'! Developer: Harmonix Producer: Konami Score: 4 of 5 
Younger kids will have fun singing with you or, at least, watching you warble. Older kids who can read, can make their own attempts. Teens should love it, even if they find everything pre-Michelle Branch/Avril Levigne mystifying. There are no offensive songs hereﾅ well, ok, Smooth Criminal is pretty obviously about a crime victim (Annie are you ok?) but most kids wonﾒt catch that implication.
Kid Factor by Andrew Bub
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Karaoke Revolution |
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
