I’ve never been a fan of singing games – probably because I can’t sing. I got bored of SingStar real quick, but having three daughters and a wife, singing games are popular in my house. I somehow missed out on the original Lips – not that I lost any sleep over missing out – but when Lips: Number One Hits arrived, I was curious enough to see how this SingStar clone stacked up.
The first obvious plus was the wireless controllers. We’ve gone though a couple of PlayStation mics just through cord issues and the mics cutting out half way through a song. The lights sounded like a gimmick at first – and they mostly are, but it’s a handy way of knowing that they are switched on and working. The biggest surprise was that they are motion sensitive and are used in game for a variety of Wii style moments that do add to the game play, adding another element to what would over wise be just another singing game.
Graphically the songs all have different video mode options – I decided to stick with the original music videos – and display wise the lyrical set up is a lot easier to follow than on the SingStar games and even has a Guitar Hero style star power feature for extra points.
The song range is great, something for everyone, and with XBox Live you can add to your collection with ease.
Microsoft have essentially borrowed from various other sources to breath fresh life into the singing genre, but whilst Lips may lack in any original ideas, Microsoft defiantly now how to package an existing genre and make in into something better.
Not being a singing type of guy, Lips won’t make it on my essential games list any time soon, but I know that none of my girls are going to be dragging the PlayStation out of the closet anymore, instead they’re going to be fighting me for time on the XBox.
I’m not sure that this is a good thing…
Reviewed on: XBox 360
Available on: XBox 360
Reviewed by:
One thing I didnt like about Lips number one hits is that when you look at your friends list is just shows up as Lips, the same as the first game. This left me scratching my head as to why Famous and I couldn’t accept each others challenges.
That’s a good point Alpha.