For
karaoke fans who don't have a PlayStation 3 and SingStar, showing off your vocal
skills has been relegated to a component of Rock Band. Now vocalists are getting
the full love from Lips, which provides hypersensitive microphones and a sophisticated
system of picking up on how players sing. But for serious gamers, Lips might go too far out of its
way to make play accessible, taking out much of the challenge and satisfaction
of good performances.
Lips is always no-fail and there
are no alternate difficulty levels. There are 40 songs in the box with no
options to unlock more. Still, what is there is great. The mix of music spans decades
and genres. The creators picked songs based on their "game-ability," but they
seem to also have been selected for the great videos accompanying them, ranging
from Duran Duran's bizarre "Hungry Like The Wolf" to Weezer's cute "Island
In The Sun."
The
visuals created for classic songs available for download like Bing Crosby's "White
Christmas" are less inventive, but three party games provide alternatives for
familiar visuals. Those who crave competition will like "Vocal Fighters," where
players appear as angry metal rockers fighting for stage attention.
Video
distractions aside, the games' nuances deliver. You can win medals for
excellence in vibrato, pitch, and rhythm, while friends with controllers can
provide backup in the form of cowbells or tambourines. The motion-sensitive
mics flash different colors and and let players strike poses to trigger streaks
of bonus points. And unlike Rock Band, Lips features plenty of hip-hop, scoring each
spoken word rather than just letting you make noise and wait for melodic
sections.
Beyond
the game: Lips has been
steadily trickling out new content for download, with tunes by Men At Work,
Depeche Mode, and others due out in January.
Worth
playing for: Getting
to sing along to A-Ha's "Take on Me" while watching one of the best music
videos ever.
Frustration
sets in when: The
party-game sound effects throw you off, and by the time you've recovered,
they're playing again.
Final
judgment: A
self-esteem booster for your tone-deaf friend, though the introduction of more content
should help make it stay fun for everyone else.