King of Sing- Lips: Number One Hits Review

While the great majority of gamers groove along with the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, at my house, karaoke is king. I’ve tried to introduce the family to plastic guitars and drum kits, but inevitably the instrument of choice is the microphone. Although almost all of us are woefully deficient crooners, competitions are consistently impassioned and often stretch into the morning hours.

Until the recent release of Lips: Number One Hits, our platform of choice has been Sony’s Singstar line of disks. With its uncomplicated interface, disk swapping ability, and inclusion of music videos, the franchise has proved superior to Konami’s Karaoke Revolution series. Certainly, the build quality of Sony’s microphones has also contributed to Singstar’s status as preeminent singing title. After a week with the iNiS-developed Lips, I can say that Sony’s position as the dominant Karaoke game is in serious jeopardy.

Within minutes of opening the Lips packaging, players will notice one of the core strengths of the Microsoft-published game- its multifunctional microphone. The wireless peripheral has a sturdy build quality, and includes a motion sensing feature with elevates the game above its peers. Typically, instrumental sections of songs are accompanying by awkward downtime; Lips cleverly asks players to either sway to the music, or use the microphone as a tambourine or maraca. Overall, the sound quality of the device is excellent, although as with more wireless devices, a minimal amount of lag can be discerned. Owners of Rock Band and last three Guitar Hero releases will be glad to know the peripheral also work with those titles. 

Once aspirant vocalists drop into one of the game’s main modes, the title’s attractive song selection screen is displayed. By default, the game shows both the music contained on the disk, as well as all the songs available for download. While some players might be irked by Lips’ unabashed salesmanship, not having to leave a session to browse for additional tunes is a gentle blessing. Hovering on any album cover plays a brief fragment of the song, although this worked sporadically for downloadable content.

Once players select a song to perform, each tune’s lyrics are shown on-screen along with corresponding ‘pitch’ bars. To score points, players must sing as close to the timbre of the original vocalists. Those lacking professional range don’t have to worry- they can transpose the tune to a higher or lower octave, as long as they stay on key. Staying on pitch will fill a player’s Star Stream; once this meter is full, a gesture with the microphone allows performers to maximize a song’s score. Additionally, proficient songsters may accrue bonuses for using vibrato and displaying perfect-pitch during a section of the song.

Number One Hits consistently stays true to its moniker- each of the title’s forty songs are solid, with almost no filler on the disk. Additionally, there’s a voucher inside the box to download one of three additional song packs, upping the tune count even further. Owners of the original Lips game can swamp disks to sing along with the first disk’s music, and players can also hook up to MP3 player to croon to favorites- sans lyrics, of course. Although the title brilliantly incorporates Xbox avatars, who sway and dance to the music, only avatar per mic is allowed- meaning single peripheral owners won’t see their virtual personas without a bit of work. 

The title’s online integration is handled glowingly. Players that deliver an exceptionally accurate performance may be shown their worldwide ranking mid-song, which can instantly add a dose of adrenaline to the proceedings. After a tune is completed, every player is shown their position in the worldwide leaderboards. Competitive gamers can send challenges to the Xbox Live friends, which can give solitary gamers a reason to give the disk a spin.