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Xbox 360 Party Game Roundup

Author Stuart Andrews
Published 21st Dec 2008
Manufacturer Microsoft Game Studio
Price £33.31 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed £39.14 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price Click here
Overall Score 6 for Overall
Xbox 360 Party Game Roundup
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Like it or not, the Wii has been a phenomenal success, and both Microsoft and Sony have realised that broadening your user base is a crucial part of gaining market share in this console generation. Sony, with SingStar, EyeToy and the PlayStation brand has always had a foothold with casual gamers, but for Microsoft this has been an uphill struggle.

While price cuts have made the Xbox 360 an appealing buy for cash-strapped families this Christmas, it's still widely regarded as the hardcore gamer's choice; the one you buy to play Gears of War 2, not the one you buy when you have the family round on boxing day.

This year Microsoft has made a decisive effort to reverse this, both with the more friendly NXE interface and with big, party-hearty games promoted directly to the casual audience on TV. Are these games that you'll want to play this holiday, or are these efforts likely to leave you wishing for a Wii. Roping in what friends and family members I could find, I set out to find out.


Let's not beat around the bush; this is Microsoft's take on SingStar, but with a few changes and improvements that show that someone on the development team has been paying close attention to what people don't like about Sony's product. The two bundled microphones are actually the most innovative thing about it. They're not only wireless, they also glow and pulsate gently in the dark, and are motion sensitive - a fact the game makes use of with bonus points meted out for hand-clapping, maracas shaking and tambourine waggling during intros, outros and instrumental sections.

Fundamentally, though, this is a pretty straight clone of Singstar. Lyrics scroll or are illuminated in sequence in time with the song, while a pitch bar gives you an idea of what notes to sing and when to sing them. You can sing over the original videos or use specially created, animated efforts, and the visual style is actually quite appealing. In fact, at first, it looks like Lips is going to actually improve on SingStar.

 

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Latest 4 of 5 Comments

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comment StuAndrews said on 22nd December 2008

It's not so much that they're mediocre, more that they're all promising but have at least one disastrous flaw. I quite like all three products, but I just can't... more

comment Wilfried said on 22nd December 2008

I'll have to disagree with ilovethemonkeyhead, sorry. Most families cannot afford either a PS3 or a 360, let alone a PS3 and a Wii or a 360 and a Wii. The reason they head str... more

comment mr dog said on 23rd December 2008

my experience is that i bought the wii first on the strength of excellent release titles like mario galaxy and zelda, but found too few must-have single player games to make it wor... more

comment Wilfried said on 24th December 2008

I'm the same as you mr dog. My colleagues, most of whom have kids, have pretty much all gone for a Wii. One of my regular game supplier also mentioned that the Wii was his big... more

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