According to the tagline for Lips Party Classics, "it took decades to build this collection". Literalists will question this as most people with a knowledge of crowd-pleasers could come up with a large chunk of this playlist in about 60 seconds. Familiarity, however, is entirely the point.
As the name suggests, it's a (budget price) song pack for the rather popular Xbox 360 karaoke title – 40 singalong classics to get the party started. Or, perhaps more likely, keep it going or finish it in drunken style. Regular karaoke crooners will have been here before and newcomers will, at least, know most of the titles on offer.
Accordingly, there's a certain assumption on behalf of the publishers that you'll already have the necessary peripherals. While the game will work with most USB microphones, to get the most out of it you will need the "official" Lips ones. These have motion sensors within and, in order to maximise your score, you'll need to employ them on a regular basis. This could be anything from tilting the microphone up when the "Star Stream" meter is on screen, to playing an imaginary tambourine or, somewhat inevitably, a little air guitar when the on-screen instructions dictate.
The game itself covers a few bases. There is a career mode, of sorts, where the points you earn take you up the rankings, from bathroom baritone to global superstar. Each individual performance is rated on a personal scale and also ranked on a global scale, thanks to the joys of online sharing. For the former, there are assorted medals to be won covering pitch, rhythm, performance, your party ability – hitting the tambourine, for example, in time with the instructions – technique and stability. As such, unlike other recent entries into this increasingly crowded sector, it does at least reward singing ability but also gives some credit for the enthusiasm of the performance, which levels the playing field a little in multiplayer games.
For those interested in seeing how they compare to other bedroom rockstars, the online elements are slickly handled and use your Xbox Live avatar to good effect. Good performances will see them pick up new accessories, cups etc, and while it may be a sign that I need to get out more, watching my Xbox alter-ego grooving to Tom Jones and Gloria Gaynor raised a few smiles.
The interface is easy to use – it takes longer to sync a new microphone than it does to get to grips with the game options – there are hundreds of downloadable songs that you can buy, and it's also easy to turn songs from your own music collection into karaoke "classics".
However you cut it, Lips Party Classics is just another console karaoke title. But, as far as such titles go, this is about as good as you'll get.
