Karaoke Revolution Party – GC – Review

We got
jiggie with Dance Dance Revolution. Drum Mania had us banging out sounds for
hours. Guitar Freaks — I’ll never forget how many dollars it took from my
wallet. (Seriously, it just reached in and took them. No joke!) Konami is the
king of arcade music games. After years of waiting and hopeful anticipating,
GameCube players have the chance to experience one of their most addictive and
most innovative music titles, developed exclusively for home consoles: Karaoke
Revolution.

Coming to
the Cube in the form of Karaoke Revolution Party (KRP), this is the fourth
edition in Konami’s vocally enhanced series. As you can imagine the absence of
the number "four" and its replacement with the word "party" points to a new
feature of some kind. That assumption is correct. KRP takes the
calorie-burning fun of Dance Dance Revolution and combines it with the joy of
singing for a new mode that shows why pop stars lip-synch while dancing: it’s
hard!

How does it
work? I asked myself the same question and am still baffled by how well the
game measures our vocal performance. Using lyrics, a pitch arrow, and phrase
markers (straight lines that go up and down to follow the highs and lows of
the song), the game picks up your vocals and turns it into a score.

This doesn’t
mean you have to be on par with Lionel Richie to be considered a star. In
every circumstance the game measured my attempt at singing, not my actual
performance. The goal is to hold your notes and attempt to sing the song as it
originally was. Do that and you’ll at least be able to pass the song. Scream
it out, or recite the lyrics with little conviction and you won’t get
anywhere.

That sounds
like too much work I’m sure, but if we gave up every time a game presented a
new challenge we’d still be playing Pong. And DDR would have flopped. Can you
imagine how awful our world would be then? I repeat, you don’t have to be a
rockstar to be good at this game. It takes practice, a glass of water, and
knowing when to take a break. Singing’s hard work, believe it or not.

KRP is
jam-packed with a new song lineup:

• (I’ve
  Had) The Time of My Life

• (You
  Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

• Ain’t
  Nothing Like the Real Thing

• Ain’t
  Too Proud To Beg

• Always

• American
  Woman

• Brick
  House

• Call
  Me

• Crazy

• Crazy
  in Love

• Do
  You Really Want to Hurt Me

• Drive

• Dust
  in the Wind

• Endless
  Love

• Every
  Little Thing She Does Is Magic

• Everybody
  Wants to Rule the World

• Everywhere

• Fame

• Fly

• For
  You I Will

• Headstrong

• Greatest
  Love of All

• Here
  I Go Again

• I
  Don’t Wanna Be

• I
  Left My Heart in San Francisco

• I
  Love Rock and Roll

• I
  Will Always Love You

• If
  You Could Only See

• I’ll
  Be

• Material
  Girl

• Me
  and Bobby McGee

• Pain

• Pieces
  of Me

• Play
  That Funky Music

• Start
  Me Up

• Superstition

• Sweet
  Caroline

• Take
  On Me

• Takin’
  Care of Business

• That’s
  Amore

• The
  Game of Love

• Time
  After Time

• Truth
  Is

• Turn
  The Beat Around

• Unforgettable

• Uptown
  Girl

• Waiting
  For A Girl Like You

• What
  I Like About You

• Who
  Can It Be Now?

• You’re
  My Best Friend

None of
these songs are performed by their original artists. Before you start to fret,
let me assure you that these covers, while terrible as MP3s, are more than
acceptable as karaoke tracks. I suspect Konami did this because they needed
tracks that could be edited and tweaked for interactivity. Doing that with the
original artists’ performances would be much harder (and much more expensive).
As a bonus it makes those of us who aren’t rockstars sound better. I feel much
more secure going up against an unknown vocalist than I would going up against
Steven Tyler.

The new Sing
and Dance mode is a challenge to your feet as well as your mouth. While
following the lyrics (more than half of which I didn’t know) and doing my best
to keep my voice aligned with the phrase marker, I had to spot arrows and step
on the dance pad at the right moment. Early songs are easy, and if you want to
keep it simple you can lower the difficulty setting. If you want to make it
really easy you can play the classic karaoke mode where your only goal is to
have fun. No phrase markers present!

But to sing
and dance as intended you’re going to need to whip out your DDR skills or
spend some time practicing. Crank the difficulty to its highest setting and
brace yourself for a challenge that increase in confusion with each song you
don’t know. That’s another thing that helps: learn the lyrics. There’s nothing
more humiliating than going to a karaoke bar and choosing to sing a song you
don’t know. As well known as KRP’s music collection is, I only knew every
lyric for about 5% of the songs. And some of these are songs that I loved when
they were released. But if I don’t buy a CD I’m unlikely to retain lyrical
information.

Christmas is
just around the corner. With family and friends bombarding your house, why not
take advantage of the moment by whipping out a console and a copy of Karaoke
Revolution Party? It’s a must-have music game for any console you own, whether
it’s GameCube, Xbox, or PlayStation 2. Everyone loves to sing, even those shy
types who say they wouldn’t sing in front of people if their life depended on
it. Karaoke Revolution Party proves that they will sing in front of people and
for a lot less than life dependency.

Review Scoring Details for Karaoke Revolution Party

Gameplay: 8.5
Who knew that
karaoke could be turned into a video game? And a good one at that? It sounds
like some cheesy infomercial. "For just three easy payments of $19.99 you can
get this awesome, unbelievable, fully-interactive karaoke machine!" What that
infomercial stated is true except for one thing: this game is anything but
cheesy. Karaoke Revolution Party is an addictive blast. You’ll sing till
you’re hoarse, finally answering the question, "If games could be played with
a body part other than your thumbs, would it get sore too?" You bet. Just like
sore thumbs, this is a pain you’ll hardly think twice about receiving.

Graphics: 7.0
Not much has
changed since the first game. You have more control over your character’s
appearance, but the overall look of the game is the same.

Sound: 8.0
Acceptable covers
from professional vocalists. Nowhere near the quality of the originals, but
it’s not like we want to compete with Jim Adkins or Brandon Boyd.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The learning
curve is half the battle. Once you’ve figured out what the game interprets as
successful highs and lows you’ll be on your way to becoming a rockstar (in a
virtual sense).

Concept: 7.5
The Sing and
Dance mode, as cool as it is, isn’t exactly innovative. It’s a great melding
of two completely different types of games, adding to the difficulty (which
was already pretty high) while adding to the fun.

Multiplayer: 9.0
Duets, team
games, head-to-head battles – is there anything this game doesn’t have? You
and your family, and/or friends, will be entertained for hours. This is the
kind of game you’ll come back to whether you think you’ve mastered it or not.
It’s so much better than traditional karaoke, but if you want that, there’s a
mode that lets you sing without the stress of having to put on a decent
performance. As far as mainstream party games go, you won’t find a better
title – not even the great Super Monkey Ball – than Karaoke Revolution Party.

Overall: 8.5
Want to have so
much fun that you feel like singing? Then play the only game for GameCube that
lets your exercise your vocal talents (or lack thereof) while having the time
of your life. To say that this game is addictive would be an understatement.
To say that it’s infectious would be one as well. Crank your TV speakers and
sing a few of the top 40 hits and a couple 80s classics and your whole family
will want to join in. "I love that song!" "Give me the mic." "Is it my turn
yet?" "Hey, he cut!" "No I didn’t!" "Mom, they’re hogging the mic!"