posted 2007/02/16 at 23:26
Yesterday while I was out picking up Norton Internet Security Suite 2007, I also picked up Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol for PS2. Believe me, I never thought I would spend any money on anything with the words "American Idol" attached to it, and I very nearly skipped this release of Karaoke Revolution for that very reason. However, once I found out "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was going to be on the game, I pretty much had to pick it up. We Shannons are huge Jim Steinman fans, what can I say.
Anyway, at the very least they made the American Idol features avoidable, so I can just go in and play the game like I played the previous Karaoke Revolution games and not have to worry about dealing with the spectacle that is the show that sums up pretty much everything that is wrong with American culture these days. Seriously, Simon Cowell is right up there with David Spade and Craig Kilborn on my "People who make the strongest case for legalizing retroactive birth control" list (non-political edition). In addition to "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the game has a lot of other songs I actually appreciate, like "Easy," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," "Proud Mary" (although I would have preferred Tina Turner's cover to the original), and "Piano Man." As usual, all the more recent selections are bottom-of-the-barrel stuff (seriously, why hasn't Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" appeared yet), but the classic rock and R&B gives me plenty to enjoy.
That being said, there are still some things that bother me about the game, starting with the fact that I had to get it for PS2 since Secret Level isn't porting the games over to Xbox anymore. I originally got Karaoke Revolution games for Xbox because game-and-mic bundles for the Xbox were cheaper than the ones for the PS2, but the Xbox's ability to download content to its internal hard drive was a huge bonus for me. I can put in Karaoke Revolution Party for Xbox and play nearly all of the songs that are in the first four Karaoke Revolution releases for PS2 without having to switch discs (and with all the improvements that were made in the series up to that point). Not only do I essentially have to "start over" with the PS2 releases, but because the microphones aren't compatible across different systems, I had to lay down ten bucks more just to get a PS2-compatible microphone with the game. Couldn't Konami have hired another company to port the game over to the Xbox, or did they spend too much money in their lawsuit against Roxor Games?
Another thing that bothers me is how the on-screen characters work. I like the create-a-singer function that's been in the past couple of games (and this time around they actually have something that resembles my signature black bucket hat), but for all the options you have for customizing how your on-screen singer looks, you don't get any control over how the singers move. I admit that my childhood dreams of being the lead singer of a band never moved beyond singing over CDs in my bedroom, but I know that my "style" of singing has always been to keep the microphone on its stand ninety percent of the time and rarely, if ever, to do any big theatrical moves on-stage. In the Karaoke Revolution games you're always stuck with the microphone in your hand, and not only do the singers keep doing a bunch of stupid dance moves, but the moves weren't even motion-captured that well, making them look even more artificial within the game. (They also aren't synchronized well with the songs, so that during a ballad all of a sudden your singer will start flailing her arms around wildly, looking like she's having a seizure.) I don't see why Konami can't include an option in the game to customize the motions your singer performs during the songs.
That being said, I'm still generally pleased with how the game turned out (especially since it allows American Idol haters like me to not have to deal with the game's simulation of the television show), and it was a good addition to my collection. I understand that the Karaoke Revolution games are great fun when you're drunk, but given that I know nothing about being drunk (and very little about having fun, for that matter), you all will have to let me know how that works out for you should you try it.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon