Singstar has always been a popular franchise for Sony and one which we always thought that Microsoft should probably try to emulate, however when they finally did I never imagined that they would also go as far as releasing a new disc in the franchise twice a year, but they have and now here we are talking about it.
Lips: Party Classics carries on from where Lips: Number One Hits left off, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the party other than the songs, but then that’s what title updates are for. Party Classics concentrates more on entertaining the crowd rather than innovation, however for around £19.99 for 40 new tracks complete with the original videos, it’s quite hard to complain about the lack of new features here.
The most important thing about this disc is obviously the songs and when it says Party Classics on the box it really means it. Songs included range widely but should still help to draw in the crowds. Popular favorites on the disc include “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes (which certainly brings back memories of some drunken Hogmanay nights for me), “TubThumping” by Chumbawamba, “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers and also “Y.M.C.A” from the Village People, though this is just four of the stand out songs from an add-on which should have at least a handful of songs that everyone will recognise, especially those of the 80/90’s generation.
For the benefit of those who have never played Lips, the basic premise of the game is to choose a song from the list and sing it, trying to get the best score possible in Solo, Vs or Co-op mode. The main difference here from other karaoke style games is that the wireless mic is motion sensitive, therefore you will be asked to bash it along to the rhythm (although bashing buttons also works), copy your avatar’s on screen gestures and of course reach the correct pitch in order to get the best grade possible when the song ends.
The main problem that I personally have with Lips is that it lacks social features such as the ability to record video and also the ability to upload and share them with your friends, which if you think about it doesn’t really give you a lot of reason to play, after all where is the real fun if you can’t watch it back again? Another problem is that it doesn’t seem very challenging, I don’t know what it is, but it just seems a bit too easy to hit the right notes and just to add to the problems whenever you want to sing a certain song such as one from another volume, you have to swap the disc every time.
One of the main features of all of the games in the series so far has been the ability to go Freestyle, importing songs from your own music collection straight into the game, however a lot of music players are not supported and even when you do find one that is, the songs are not presented with lyrics or their original video, so it all feels a bit pointless really. Out of all the issues with Lips though, the one that annoys the most is the presentation, it really does feel like all the menus and tracks were placed in a hat and picked out in a random order, there has just been no real love put into this product and for me that is why it fails to inspire.
Pros
- 40 songs for less than £20
- Good fun with friends
Cons
- Poor Presentation
- Too Easy
- Lacks social features
Lips Party Classics is nothing more than an add on for a fairly average singing game, perhaps the next update or next Lips in the series will improve things, but until then this game is most certainly Singstar’s poor distant cousin twice removed. We would only suggest that you buy this disc if you love Karaoke and don’t own a PS3 or if you own Lips already and want to go for every song on the Party Classics disc.
