KARAOKE REVOLUTION
© 2003 Konami

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KARAOKE REVOLUTION

In an industry where sequels are all the rage, and the same genres are explored again and again, fresh game ideas always get some extra bonus points from me. Innovation keeps things fresh, and while I've played a ton of first person shooters, I've rarely seen many games where I can play maracas, dance, or have my own real-time strategy gardening simulation. I was recently blessed with an early copy of Konami's latest title, this one falling into their "revolution" series of music games. It isn't a Dancing title though, on the contrary, it's KARAOKE REVOLUTION.

The game is pretty self-explanatory. Basically, you sing. You sing hit songs and you do your very best to sing them as correctly as possible. Believe me, it's not the easiest thing, although I have been able to get a perfect on Madonna's Like a Virgin (chalk it up to the Moulin Rouge watching). The game comes either with the USB headset (or without it for those of you who have purchased SOCOM: US NAVY SEALS and already have one). It's pretty simple to set up, as you just have to plug it into the front of the PlayStation 2 and then sing away.

As of this point, I haven't really experienced any problems with the headset. Only a couple times did I manage to create a feedback loop when I turned the volume up too high or got too close to a speaker. That said, the microphone is very sensitive, and picks up your singing very well. The game works for people of all octaves, although it's probably a bit easier for you to pick up the perfects by singing in the same one that it was recorded in.

You score points by holding the notes when you're supposed to. As you do this, you fill up a meter, and the higher the meter is filled, the better your score is for that part of the song. You also have a crowd meter if it gets too low you lose, and if it gets high the crowd gets into it and starts clapping. It's all pretty simple.

The real clincher for the game is the vast array of songs that have been selected. From "Red Red Wine" to "Celebration" to "Addicted" to "Crawling in the Dark" to "Like a Virgin" to "It's the End of the World as We Know it" to "One Week" to "You Really Got Me Now" to "Son of a Preacher Man" the soundtrack is absolutely killer. There's no way you can go wrong with it, and any gamer will find something to like and sing along to.