Post by blaze on Jan 12, 2007 9:53:08 GMT -5
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070112.GAMING12/TPStory/Technology/columnists
'Smell like I sound, I'm mumble-mumble hum. And I'm hungry like the wolf. Mumble-hum-mumble, in discord and rhyme. I'm on the hunt, I'm after mumble."
Yes, once again be thankful these are print reviews and not a multimedia form that would allow you to hear me play Karaoke Revolution: American Idol (PlayStation 2; rated Everyone). I slaughtered Hungry Like the Wolf, the Duran Duran classic, and many other fine tunes on my way to becoming the next American Idol. The game didn't say anything about a record deal, but start looking for my album debut, Imperfect Pitch, in the fall.
The insanely popular TV talent show, which begins a new season of humiliation and trilling on Tuesday, has been cannily married to a game franchise with a solid background. The first attempt to cash in on the ratings behemoth was a forgettable 2003 game that used rhythmic button pressing -- it should be and was avoided -- but Konami's Karaoke Revolution titles use microphones and a scoring system that measures pitch and timing as the player sings. The result is that rarest of things in the video-game world: a tie-in title that does justice to the source material.
Karaoke Revolution: American Idol begins as so many other games do these days, with the creation of a character. This is pretty generic stuff -- choose sex, skin colour, head shape and outfits -- but the fun factor is multiplied if you have an EyeToy, Sony's camera peripheral for the PS2. It allows you to map a 3-D version of your face onto your competitor, which adds a personal quality to the proceedings that will either delight or depress you, depending on your singing chops: I used a stand-in that looked eerily like me for two songs, but it was somehow easier to hear my voice coming through the speakers if it was attached to a stranger on the screen. Less responsibility that way.
Next up is the audition room and the first taste of judging. The songs -- covers of 40 karaoke favourites, from Piano Man to the Guns & Roses ballad Every Rose Has Its Thorn -- have been broken down into two visual cues: The lyrics scroll across the bottom of the screen; just above them is a pitch meter that tells you how long to hold a note and where, roughly, it should fall on the musical scale.
As you sing You've Lost That Loving Feeling and other tracks, a little arrow dances along the pitch meter, turning green when you get it right and red when your voice refuses to co-operate. If your arrow remains green, your singer will begin to inexplicably glow and sprout shooting stars -- an odd touch, it has to be said -- and you can count on a high score and a ticket to the next round.
If it is red too often, you may want to skip the post-song festivities, namely the judging. This is ultimately what separates American Idol from the other Karaoke Revolution titles, and the developers at Blitz Games have done a good job of digitizing Randy Jackson, the nice judge, and Simon Cowell, the offensive judge. Their critiques are often based on your performance -- you started strong or you need better timing -- and Cowell lives up to his reputation for being a mean bastard. But the third judge from the TV show, Paula Abdul, is not in the game and her replacement, a look-alike named Laura, offers little aside from platitudes and clichés. (To be honest, I didn't notice Abdul was missing for several hours, but that response will vary.)
As the game progresses, high scores on the various songs will unlock videos of real Idol contestants plus new outfits and characters, and you can reach the finals after eight rounds in the short competition. I beat the game on that easy level by humming my way through the later stages, an acceptable form of cheating as long you are not subjecting a real audience to the torture of having to sit through it.
When you add in a party mode for up to eight players and the ability to perform duets to the solid single-player competition, American Idol the game gives fans of the TV show all they could ask for (unless, again, they like Paula Abdul).
What it doesn't offer is something many video games give their players: a boost of self-esteem. The first thing the virtual Cowell told me was this nugget of nastiness: "I think America would absolutely hate you." He's probably right, on a lot of levels, but there is something wrong with an entertainment experience built upon mocking people's hopes. There is a very good chance it will not be as popular a pursuit when the performance being excoriated is your own.
scolbourne@globeandmail.com
'Smell like I sound, I'm mumble-mumble hum. And I'm hungry like the wolf. Mumble-hum-mumble, in discord and rhyme. I'm on the hunt, I'm after mumble."
Yes, once again be thankful these are print reviews and not a multimedia form that would allow you to hear me play Karaoke Revolution: American Idol (PlayStation 2; rated Everyone). I slaughtered Hungry Like the Wolf, the Duran Duran classic, and many other fine tunes on my way to becoming the next American Idol. The game didn't say anything about a record deal, but start looking for my album debut, Imperfect Pitch, in the fall.
The insanely popular TV talent show, which begins a new season of humiliation and trilling on Tuesday, has been cannily married to a game franchise with a solid background. The first attempt to cash in on the ratings behemoth was a forgettable 2003 game that used rhythmic button pressing -- it should be and was avoided -- but Konami's Karaoke Revolution titles use microphones and a scoring system that measures pitch and timing as the player sings. The result is that rarest of things in the video-game world: a tie-in title that does justice to the source material.
Karaoke Revolution: American Idol begins as so many other games do these days, with the creation of a character. This is pretty generic stuff -- choose sex, skin colour, head shape and outfits -- but the fun factor is multiplied if you have an EyeToy, Sony's camera peripheral for the PS2. It allows you to map a 3-D version of your face onto your competitor, which adds a personal quality to the proceedings that will either delight or depress you, depending on your singing chops: I used a stand-in that looked eerily like me for two songs, but it was somehow easier to hear my voice coming through the speakers if it was attached to a stranger on the screen. Less responsibility that way.
Next up is the audition room and the first taste of judging. The songs -- covers of 40 karaoke favourites, from Piano Man to the Guns & Roses ballad Every Rose Has Its Thorn -- have been broken down into two visual cues: The lyrics scroll across the bottom of the screen; just above them is a pitch meter that tells you how long to hold a note and where, roughly, it should fall on the musical scale.
As you sing You've Lost That Loving Feeling and other tracks, a little arrow dances along the pitch meter, turning green when you get it right and red when your voice refuses to co-operate. If your arrow remains green, your singer will begin to inexplicably glow and sprout shooting stars -- an odd touch, it has to be said -- and you can count on a high score and a ticket to the next round.
If it is red too often, you may want to skip the post-song festivities, namely the judging. This is ultimately what separates American Idol from the other Karaoke Revolution titles, and the developers at Blitz Games have done a good job of digitizing Randy Jackson, the nice judge, and Simon Cowell, the offensive judge. Their critiques are often based on your performance -- you started strong or you need better timing -- and Cowell lives up to his reputation for being a mean bastard. But the third judge from the TV show, Paula Abdul, is not in the game and her replacement, a look-alike named Laura, offers little aside from platitudes and clichés. (To be honest, I didn't notice Abdul was missing for several hours, but that response will vary.)
As the game progresses, high scores on the various songs will unlock videos of real Idol contestants plus new outfits and characters, and you can reach the finals after eight rounds in the short competition. I beat the game on that easy level by humming my way through the later stages, an acceptable form of cheating as long you are not subjecting a real audience to the torture of having to sit through it.
When you add in a party mode for up to eight players and the ability to perform duets to the solid single-player competition, American Idol the game gives fans of the TV show all they could ask for (unless, again, they like Paula Abdul).
What it doesn't offer is something many video games give their players: a boost of self-esteem. The first thing the virtual Cowell told me was this nugget of nastiness: "I think America would absolutely hate you." He's probably right, on a lot of levels, but there is something wrong with an entertainment experience built upon mocking people's hopes. There is a very good chance it will not be as popular a pursuit when the performance being excoriated is your own.
scolbourne@globeandmail.com