Karaoke Revolution

"From the people who brought you the Silent Hill series comes an even greater test of courage."

Karaoke Revolution is the video game that has everybody singing. What a concept! And surprisingly, it's also quite good. Understandably, you may have your reservations about playing this, but they'll almost certainly melt away by the end of the first song.

There's finally an actual use for that USB microphone that's just being lying around.

You begin by choosing from a set of pre-made Idol personas (at least one of which is sure to look like you, more or less). You also get your choice from a wide variety of virtual venues, such as a concert hall, a hootenanny, and many more. Then you're ready to perform a song, karaoke-style. The available track listing consists of many of today's and yesterday's greatest hits, so you're sure to know a few of them. For the songs you don't know, the game makes it easy enough for you to get through, anyway.

Through the use of state-of-the-art technology that's designed to read the pitch in your voice, the game can actually judge the quality of your performance with a fair degree of accuracy. How well you're doing is even reflected in the size of the virtual crowd in your virtual gig; for example, if you're missing notes and generally singing off-key, the crowd may thin out or even boo you off-stage. But if you're good, the crowd starts feeling the music and you may achieve… The Glow. Thankfully, there are also multiple difficulty settings that allow you to decide how easy-to-please your virtual crowd is going to be about your singing, so you can adjust the amount of pressure accordingly to your level of proficiency.

None of the original versions of the songs are present here; rather, less prominent remake versions are used. It was a wise choice on their part-- other than the fact that it probably costs much less; players don't really need to be compared to the real deal.

Although the single-player alone is a righteous experience, Karaoke Revolution definitely plays best with others. You get to share moments of hilarity with all your talent-less friends, and besides, it's not worth making a fool of yourself if no one else is watching.

(Liquid courage can help.)

You should know that the voice detection system isn't precise enough to make out the actual words. So technically, you could cheat and hum through all the verses of “It's The End of the World As We Know It”, but it's a moot point if everyone agrees not to.

As far as karaoke video games go, I'd say this one's a smashing success.

KARAOKE REVOLUTION

The first word of the title alone may have already been enough to strike terror into your heart. But if you're up to the challenge, overcoming fear has never been such a party.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/04