Metareview -- Lips (Xbox 360)

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 20th 2008 at 9:10AM }

For big kids, karaoke is dependent on friends, good track lists and alcohol. Remove any one of those elements - especially the alcohol - and there's probably going to be a problem. So, it's not unexpected when potentially sober and lonely video game reviewers get their hands on Lips, it's going to result in some scattered scores. Given Europe's long-standing history with SingStar, it's really not surprising to see Eurogamer's writeup on Lips being less a review and more a comparison between the two franchises.

Videogamer (80/100): "It's the only game of its type on the 360, it's got brilliant microphones and it at least tries to allow you to expand the potential track-list to infinity. If you like karaoke, and you have friends or family that like karaoke, it's a damn sight better in-law entertainment option than charades this Christmas, and for that we should be eternally grateful"
Kikizo (80/100): "While the ability to sing to your own music collection has its problems, overall Lips is absolutely brilliant fun, as well suited to a Saturday morning with the kids as it is a late return from the pub. In the end, that's what this kind of game should be about, and as a rival to SingStar, Lips can happily call itself equal. "
Gamespot (65/100): "The wireless microphones are convenient and innovative, and they make it difficult to go back to corded models afterwards. The song selection is also excellent, with 40 songs that are varied in style but united in anthemic quality. That said, the game's lack of camera support, vocal playback, and simple online functionality disappoint, especially given their proven success in Sony's SingStar series. Even worse, the nonexistent difficulty level means this is a game with practically no appeal for single players, aside from those who want to collect the easy achievement points."
Eurogamer (50/100): "But the saddest thing about Lips is that it suffers in comparison to SingStar's gameplay. We've long moaned about legacy issues with SingStar - that it can't cope with vibrato, punishes you for tailing off at the right time, and has a bit of lag in audio playback - but despite Lips' fancy mics and superficial improvements, it's too easy, too isolated from other players, and too buggy. The irony is that SingStar has glitches as well, now and then, and casual gamers seem to put up with this, whereas Microsoft - architect of the Red Rings - has little goodwill left to cash in on that front. Casual or not, though, you should only buy this if you can't get SingStar."

Tags: casual, karaoke, lips, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

baby sea tuna @ Nov 20th 2008 9:22AM

I'm a total karaoke nerd and I still can't fathom exactly why this game exists.

I think the worst thing about it for me is the mic incompatibility with Rock Band and vice versa. SingStar's proprietary bullshit kept me from picking up that game, and the same stands true for this one.

Haggard @ Nov 20th 2008 12:00PM

They said the mic WILL be patched to work with Rock Band.

TMGE_rock @ Nov 20th 2008 9:23AM

As soon as I heard iNiS was developing a new rythm game I got exited... but a SingStar clone? They can do so much better!

Well, at least the advertisment is better than Singstar...

KaneRobot @ Nov 20th 2008 9:25AM

Ah, Lips. The Rock Revolution of karaoke games.

Dirk Dorkelson @ Nov 20th 2008 2:59PM

What a troll comment.

If it was the Rock Revolution of karaoke games, all the songs would be covers, it would have half the number of songs as the latest SingStar, plus come with a complicated microphone that no one could figure out how to use and be named something designed to confuse people, like "Singing Stars."

Other than the fact that it came out AFTER SingStar, I fail to see how Lips is Rock Revolution of karaoke games. Heck, it even includes a new feature allowing you to sing along with your own music.

Considering I can't buy SingStar for 360, I might pick this up.

Maverick Saturn @ Nov 20th 2008 9:28AM

I don't understand why it is that you can't buy 1 pair of accessories for a game and it works for everything, why does there always have to be problems ¬_¬

I've got singstar already, but its mainly the mother and sis that play it, I'm not the Kareokee type, saying that, I wonder if they'll be interested in lips :S

Kspraydad @ Nov 20th 2008 9:40AM

As with all MS stuff...wait till version 3.

Ellianth @ Nov 20th 2008 12:05PM

Was that a joke? Dunno if you've ever heard this before, but jokes are supposed to be funny.

halo 3 sucks. @ Nov 20th 2008 5:44PM

Comebacks are supposed to be funny too...

Imadogg @ Nov 20th 2008 8:06PM

Lol that was pretty funny

whistlepig @ Nov 20th 2008 9:44AM

if they put out better dlc songs then im sure they can win over alot of US players of singstar since the US store lacks alot of well known songs or at least staple karaoke songs

Erluti @ Nov 20th 2008 9:57AM

Can't you hook up mp3s to it and it automatically works for those songs?

Watership @ Nov 20th 2008 9:52AM

Ummm Joystiq, this meatareview is really premature. Most sites haven't even reviewed the game and you just grabbed the first 4? I think this will be totally innacurate very soon.

samfish @ Nov 20th 2008 10:00AM

Yeah, those 80's will probably be wiped out by a flood of 60's, since the bigger sites, including Eurogamer and Gamespot, all kind of typically score within 5 or so points of each other.

Watership @ Nov 20th 2008 10:03AM

I listed to 1upFM the other day where everyone was saying they loved it. And games are score across the board lately. People giving Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts 90s and then Wired giving it 50.

MC Double Def DP @ Nov 20th 2008 10:18AM

I wouldn't give much weight to any review that wastes space mentioning the red ring of death in a game review. *cough* eurogamer.

IronCladChicken @ Nov 20th 2008 11:27AM

Lol... A little bit touchy huh?
Eurogamer are just saying that M$ lost a lot of good will with the rrod issues (which are still very active given most XBox discussion boards) - & that this doesn't help when selling a buggy game to casual users... how is this not a valid comment?

Burritoclock @ Nov 20th 2008 12:25PM

Because it could be thrown in every review, why not just make it a standard paragraph and copy and paste it onto every review? It's dumb.

Why not review every Wii game and mention casual, kiddie, minigames or what have you, and then review every sony game and mention price, crappy download speed, lack of games, or whatever.

Cellien @ Nov 20th 2008 10:38AM

"architect of Red Rings"

At this point in time, that seemed pretty unnecessary for a review about a singing game. Might as well bring up in every review that the Wii isn't HD so looks bad on LCDs and the PS3 still shows no signs of 4d graphics and "real time weapon change" is in fact possible w/out the power of the PS3.

Meh, I just feel like complaining. Still too early I guess. :)

(/grumpy)

Kspraydad @ Nov 20th 2008 10:59AM

If you are trying to attract the casual gaming crowd with a Lips type game the RRoD (or general unreliability of Xbox) is certainly one of the few things that a casual might have heard about the X. It is a big stumbling block imo and is the reason I didn't purchase an Xbox in the first 2 years.

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Nov 20th 2008 11:11AM

I thought CoD4 for PS3 had Real-Time Weapon Change...

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 20th 2008 4:26PM

CoD4 on the PS3 also has "active grenade toss"

eat it Microsoft!

konajinx @ Nov 20th 2008 11:05AM

The RRoD statement was unnecessary, as is this game.

willxcore @ Nov 20th 2008 11:47AM

I can't understand the appeal of games like this or SingStar. Do people really need a 50-60 dollar video game to sing along to songs they may or may not like when they can just listen to whatever mp3s or cds they have and sing their hearts out to that? Unless it's played in a "party" environment which I guess I still don't understand. Is it like... who can sing this song better? I just don't get it. *goes back to Gears 2*