Review: Lips: Number One Hits, Hitting a Bum Note
by Daniel Lipscombe - October 22, 2009
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Lips: Number One Hits has me perplexed, on one hand it’s a fantastic addition to the series, bringing new songs, avatar support and online leaderboards.
On the other hand it feels like an incredibly over priced add on pack that could have possibly been brought to the marketplace as DLC. I’m a big fan of karaoke games, the Singstar series on PS3 brought me onto the genre and despite the fact that I hate karaoke when I’m in public, I’m known to warble like a dying cat in my own home. This makes me a lover of INIS’ franchise Lips, but I do still have doubts about this edition.
With this new edition to the Lips franchise there are 40 new songs to try, all of which are master tracks that play along to original videos by the artists. The set list is actually quite fun, being a collection of number one hits there are plenty of cheesy hits mixed in with some genuine classic songs.
Most people will know the songs without even needing the words, which will add to the pick up and play mechanics of the game, which allows your friends and family to pick up the second wireless microphone, shake it, to wake it and join in.
As with the original Lips game, it’s great fun to play with other people whether they can sing or not. Duet with one another or battle it out on the competitive modes, while this is /still/ a great feature, it would have been nice to see something new. Particularly since INIS have added great support for avatars. Your avatar will follow you through your progress, taking part in moments in the songs and picking up your trophies when you do well in songs.
A great moment of this would be the motion control in the microphones. In the first game, you would see a diagram on screen showing you what to do to score more points, now however, your avatar will show you. A nice touch, I must say. Another feature is the Lips: Number One Hits is one of the first games to feature avatar awards.
These new additions sit alongside the best one in my opinion, the online leaderboards. Sounds simple? It is, but it’s a genius add on. Whilst singing, you will actually see your progress on the leaderboard rise /as/ you sing which pushes you on to hit more notes or activate your multiplier, anything to push that score up. Once the song has finished you can see how your friends have done on the same song and how you rank in the world.
But these additions do pose a slight problem to me, as I mentioned at the opening. There are issues with this “game” I use quotation marks, as it’s not really a standalone game in its own right, it is at its roots, an add on. 40 songs is great, all of the improvements are great, but could they not have been included in an update or DLC pack?
The fact that INIS provide DLC songs on a regular basis anyway says to me that this is just capitalising on the Christmas period. This could have easily been released for a chunk of Microsoft points and /some/ of the additions could be included in a title update.
Another gripe of mine and it may be seen as petty are the achievements. All of which can only be earned by owning the original title, sorry? Now the ‘casual’ gamer may not care but this is a bit cheeky really and when the achievements /are/ unlocked there are only 250 points up for grabs. All of this reeks of ‘add on’ content and it’s a real shame that INIS haven’t pushed the boat out and included more new content or game modes.
Even if you want to call this and add on pack, and by all means do so, it’s a great add on pack. The songs are fun and that’s the more important point to highlight, what would a karaoke game be without good songs?
If you own the original, then this will be must have, if not, then it might be worth just sticking to the original.
