Lips
(Originally Posted 12/2009)
By: James Oppenheim | Created: 2012-05-22 12:27:49 | (Updated: 0000-00-00 00:00:00)
Lips is Microsoft's attempt to go head-to-head with Sony's karaoke SingStar franchise.
If you've ever played any game on the strongly masculine styled Xbox 360 you're going to give Lips a double-take. The look and feel here screams "casual"; it almost feels like you're playing on a Nintendo game. You'll probably know right away whether this game is for you by looking at the artists: Duffy, Coldplay, Johnny Cash, and John Denver. For sure, this isn't your teen-son's Rock Band.
But, that is exactly the point of this, and many of the other Microsoft titles this season. Clearly, Microsoft is reaching out to new audiences, new gamers. The demographic here is intentionally broad; the music unapologetically "pop". If this is your music, and you like to sing, you're going to love Lips.
Of course you can download other content, and even load in your own music. So the game can be tweaked to match your musical tastes, but if you want to rock out, this probably isn't the title for you even with the inclusion of Nirvana's In Bloom.
The game comes with two wireless microphones. These game us some trouble, as syncing them with the Xbox wasn't nearly as easy as with the standard controllers. Why the instructions for connecting the controllers to the game are in a separate pamphlet and not in the game's manual escapes me. But, even when I figured out the trick of getting the mikes to be recognized by the console, it wasn't always straightforward to get them to work.
Once the mikes are hooked in, however, using them is as easy as shaking them to "join" the game. The LED equipped mikes pulse with color and can be used as "tambourines" as they are motion sensitive. There are a number of game modes - competitive, cooperative, and others that take advantage of the microphones' motion sensing capabilities.
Most of the songs feature original video clips, which makes them much more entertaining than traditional karaoke. My favorite was a-ha's Take on Me, a masterpiece of animation.
The coop mode means that not everyone has to be a superstar to rack up points. And, as with most karaoke games, some of the fun comes from sharing the joy of singing (badly) together.
Lips tries hard to be a "lifestyle" product: a music player for the casual gamer. Songs can be selected individually, or you can set up a playlist in jukebox mode that will just play the music until someone shakes a mike to join into the singing. It isn't a feature I would use, but some of our tween and younger teen players like the jukebox mode and reported that they thought it was a valuable addition.
