We like singing games around our house and are fairly willing to try new ones to find one that fits our tastes. Over the years on PS2 and Xbox we have accumulated: SingStar 80s, 90s, Pop, Country, CMT Karaoke Revolution Country, Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3, and Lips, Lips Part Classics, I love the 80s, and Number 1 Hits. Not to mention many many song downloads.
Imagine our interest when we found out there was a karaoke app on the Xbox that had thousands of songs and it was made by the same people who did Lips. We were in for a tryout at least. I loaded up the app and tried one of the few free songs to get a feel for how it all worked. In the app you choose songs you want to sing and make a list (or play individual songs) the you see your avatar get on stage ready to sing for a crowd of random avatars. Unlike competitive singing games with guide lines you have to hit with your pitch, the Karaoke Channel app (KCA) just gives you the lyrics and a visual timing guide for when to sing. Scoring is done by how many fans you attract with your singing. I imagine the better you know the timing and cadence of words the better you do. As you do better more and more avatars appear at the venue you are performing at to cheer you on. There is also a Kinect element allowing you to increase your fans and bonuses by matching poses your avatar does on screen.
The mechanics are all good here though the poses for Kinect should be more power stances and rock moves than the current make you look silly at your party type they are now. To access the song library for the game you have to buy a pass. It is a few hundred Microsoft points for a few hours of access. WARNING: the pass is real time and only for your account. No sharing for everyone logged in. If you want to sing the songs or earn the achievements you have to get a pass yourself. If you buy a 4 hour pass at 2 pm, it is done at 6 pm. This is a major pain and just poor on the developer's part.
When you finish songs, you get rewards (new items for your stage or avatar unlocks) based on how many fans you attracted. I liked the song selection and the fan attraction part of the game. The singing was also easier than other games mentioned above as there is no failure just fewer fans coming to rock out. This plays into the social party style of the game. KCA is really geared to be a game played by multiple people at a party. At least if they all play on one account.
KCA is somewhat fun, has a large song selection (though not some of the biggest songs on radio right now) and an accessible casual singing game for Xbox. It loses me with the pass issues and goofy poses. It's not as fun as the other singing games I mentioned above even if it does have a larger song library. We will just have to hope they keep adding songs to Rock Band since Lips is dead. The Karaoke Channel App gets 2 Mick Happies. Sorry if you happened to hear me singing, your ears will stop bleeding soon.
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