Karaoke Revolution
Now you can embarrass yourself in the privacy of your own home.
Tags: Karaoke Revolution Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jeff Shedden on Dec 31st, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Karaoke Revolution (title page) | 1 - 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Everybody sings. Some do it professionally, and some keep it to themselves in the shower or the car. Then there’s the subclass of some of us who like to go out and make fools of ourselves in public, getting drunk and doing KARAOKE. Some of you are jealous of us, and wish you had the cojones to get up and sing to a crowd, but don’t want to look like an American Idol reject in front of a large crowd. Konami feels your pain.
Karaoke Revolution is a simple game. All you do is sing, and the game tells you how well you did. Lock the doors, close the blinds, put on the headset and away you go. It really couldn’t be any simpler. As you play along in Arcade or Showtime modes, there’s a bar down below that guides you with the lyrics and a line that marks the note. All you have to do is sing on key, and you rack up the points. There’s an arrow that points at where you’re singing so you can adjust your pitch up or down to nail it. Do well, and the crowd cheers. Bork a note and they’ll boo at you. And that’s really all there is to it.
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Showtime mode is the “career” mode of the game. This is where you perform a single song in a number of venues. If you complete the song, you can move on to a new venue. If you perform REALLY well, you can unlock new songs and costumes for the characters.
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Showtime is nice, but I honestly prefer the Arcade mode. This is where the game shows its Bemani roots. You choose any of the songs in the list and just perform them for a score. However, this part of the game really shines when you have several people playing with you. You can compete for scores, and you get the chance to make fun of that one person who is completely tone deaf, and only sings one note, no matter what the song is.
There’s another multiplayer mode which is basically Karaoke Revolution’s version of American Idol. You perform a song, and then the other players vote on your performance and give you your score. This had potential, but there’s always that ONE person who gets irritated and decides to give you a poor score out of spite. This person usually ends up with ice water dumped down his or her back, so it’s all good. If you’re playing with an honest group, there’s a chance to really have your ego stroked.
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Now, Karaoke Revolution comes with a healthy grouping of songs. There’s 35 different tunes, scattered across nearly every genre you can think of. You can bounce from a light Nora Jones tune (Don’t Know Why), and then go right into some hard rockin’ Van Halen (You Really Got Me) and then finish off with a little 90s alternative from the Gin Blossoms (Hey Jealosy). There’s even the option of using upcoming expansion discs with the game. You can’t use regular CD+G discs, but not a big deal. Unfortunately, as of this writing, Konami hasn’t announced what will be on any of the US expansions.
The only problem I had, was that I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the newer tunes. I don’t listen to Hoobastank or Nickleback or Linkin Park, so I didn’t know how their songs went. Normally, this would be a problem. Luckily, Konami and Harmonix decided to include a straight Karaoke mode. There’s no scoring, and you can just sit back and listen to each song played with the vocals intact. I have a platinum score on songs I had never even heard until this game came out.
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Bemani games aren’t usually known for their graphics, but Karaoke Revolution changes all of this. Instead of some blocky character dancing around, you have a full setup with a highly detailed stage, motion captured characters, and some surprisingly good lip-syncing. Even the backup band is active, jumping around with their instruments and such. The stages are all unique, and even include a subway station where the screen will shake as a train goes by. It’s a real trip.
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Harmonix has yet to make a disappointing game. Karaoke Revolution is easily their current best. I adored Frequency and Amplitude, but Karaoke Revolution is just a lot more fun to play. It’s easily the best non-fighting, non-shooting multiplayer game on the PS2 this year. There’s no real learning curve; if you can’t sing you can’t sing. If you can sing, this will help you sing better. In fact, in lieu of a learning curve, the only thing you have to be able to do is swallow your pride and put on the headset. Oh, and if you’re male, be willing to sing “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” and “Like A Virgin”.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
A ton of songs Better graphics than any other Bemani game Easy to pick up and play Unsurpassed social gaming |
9.3 |
| What Doesn't | |
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Your tone deaf friend Some of the song choices are questionable |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If my girlfriend is willing to play this game, everybody should be. She hates any and all of my games that aren't Bejeweled, and she loves this one. That should say a lot. Get it. | |
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Tags: Karaoke Revolution
Posted by Jeff Shedden on Dec 31st, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
