Game review: We Sing 80s

The gaming market is inundated with music games, even more so on the Nintendo Wii which is a console more directed at family orientated gaming, with its library of easy playing, cutesy and party games.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Oct 2012, 15:25 BST

Dominating the Wii’s music genre is Nordic Games’ very own franchise of karaoke sing-along games titled We Sing which collectively across 9 games separated by music genre or artist.

These games are perfect for parties and get togethers and provide huge laughs with its accessibility for players young and old whether they can sing or can’t.

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The 9 games span many music genres whether it is rock, pop, old and new and even deutshe hits this series certainly caters for everyone and there is many more to come (judging by the website).

We Sing 80s contains 30 timeless hits from that decade including Blondie’s “The Tide Is High”, Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”, Queen’s “I Want To Break Free” and Spandau Ballet’s “True”, each accompanied by their music video which is played in the background which I found a treasure trove of nostalgia gold being an 80s kid myself.

The menus are very easy to navigate using the Wii remote and the backgrounds are customisable.

We Sing games all play the same. Players are required to sing along to their favourite hits on offer whilst the game judges the accuracy and tone of the singer’s voice whilst the artist’s music video plays in the background.

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Lines along the screen are displayed at different heights which indicate the pitch required with the lyrics of the song displayed underneath, so there is no excuse not to sing along, and then the player is scored at the end of the song.

The option is there, too, if you want the competitiveness to be taken out which transforms the Wii into your very own karaoke machine.

The hardware limits of the Wii with it only possessing 2 USB ports however means if you require more than 2 players to sing, a separate USB hub is required allowing for up to 4 players to play at the same time.

Single players can sing to reach the highest score and unlock the 30 awards in 3 modes Solo, Blind and Expert, Blind being the most exciting and tense with the lyrics disappearing from time to time during the song but if you want the most out of We Sing, its 8 multiplayer modes is where it’s at.

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Singing along to Kylie Minogue’s timeless classic “I Should Be So Lucky” with your friends has never been such a laugh whilst at the same time providing nostalgic value sparking “I remember this song” conversations.

Multiplayer modes on offer include Group Battle, We Sing, Versus, Pass the Mic, First to X, Expert, Blind and Marathon each playing differently to the other with different levels of competitiveness providing hours and hours of fun.

This game also helps the less confident singers with its singing lessons mode which acts as a tutorial gradually easing the player in enabling them to knock out Lionel Ritchie’s “All Night Long” note by note. We Sing 80s supports any USB microphone, although optimized for Logitech mic’s, they pick up the pitch and tone of the players voice superbly and the cheating method of just humming the tune which admit it we all used before has now been addressed which means in We Sing 80s you do have to sing word for word.

We Sing 80s includes a jukebox mode which is for the hard core fans.

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This mode allows the players to choose a song and just sit back and relax and enjoy the song without the worry of failure.

Summary

We Sing 80s definitely stands out from the crowd with its nostalgia rich content and multiplayer modes that provide great laughs and its singing lessons makes it accessible for everyone singers and non-singers alike and for those who don’t want to sing can just sit back with its jukebox mode. Transforming your Nintendo Wii into your very own karaoke machine is handy for get togethers with friends providing a great unique centrepiece at parties. We Sing 80s carries on Nordic games’ patented franchise brilliantly, leaving fans wondering what is next for the franchise. This game is nostalgia at its very best.

We Sing 80s

Developer: Le Cortex

Publisher: Nordic games

Nintendo Wii

Genre: Music Video interactive

Release date: 28th September 2012

Graphics – 3.5/5

Story – 2/5

Gameplay – 4.5/5

Overall 3.5/5

©theleet