Sing Party

Genre: Music-Rhythm

Players: 1-? Team Competitive (Local Alternating)

.

Review:

Sing Party is a Karaoke game released on Wii U in 2012 that has players singing along with 50 popular songs ranging from the 1960s all the way to the then-current day. This game sold with an included microphone, though… this is a bit of an issue in itself, which I’ll get to in a moment.

The presentation here is simple, but it works well enough, with colorful visuals, and depending on the game mode you’re in, they might be pre-rendered simple geometric shapes, or you might see a slightly-cartoony character on-screen giving players an indication of how to act if they want to dance to the song. Yes, that’s apparently a thing, and I’ll get to that in a moment.

Regarding the songs themselves, I’ll say that 50 songs is a pretty low count for a Music-Rhythm game, especially a Karaoke game, although this is somewhat excused by the low launch price of $50. This game was supposedly planned to have added DLC, but that never happened.

Here are the songs included in this game:

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head by Robbie Williams

All About Tonight by Pixie Lott

Alone by Heart

Always on My Mind by Pet Shop Boys

Baby by Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris

Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen

Dancing in the Street by Mick Jagger and David Bowie

Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Richie

Daydream Believer by The Monkees

Don’t Hold Your Breath by Nicole Scherzinger

Don’t Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston

Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen

Firework by Katy Perry

Flashdance… What a Feeling by Irene Cara

Glad You Came by The Wanted

Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac

Groove Is in the Heart by Deee-Lite featuring Q-Tip and Bootsy Collins

Haven’t Met You Yet by Michael Bublé

Higher by Taio Cruz featuring Kylie Minogue

How You Remind Me by Nickelback

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness

I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown

I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany

I Want You Back by The Jackson 5

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

I’m Yours by Jason Mraz

Ironic by Alanis Morissette

Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri

Just a Kiss by Lady A

Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

Kids in America by Kim Wilde

Le Freak by Chic

Love Shack by The B-52’s

Love You Like A Love Song by Selena Gomez & the Scene

Mercy by Duffy

Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna

Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

Satellite by Lena

Show Me Love by Robin S.

So Good by B.o.B

Surfin’ U.S.A. by The Beach Boys

The Climb by Miley Cyrus

The Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga

The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News

The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss) by Betty Everett

Theme from New York, New York by Frank Sinatra

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Y.M.C.A. by Village People

You Can’t Hurry Love by The Supremes

You’ve Got the Love by Florence + The Machine

As for the gameplay, the game itself is split mainly into three game modes: Party Mode, Sing Mode, and Team Mode.

In Party Mode, one player sings, while other players are given on-screen prompts instructing them how to dance. It’s… pretty dumb, and nothing here is rated or anything like that. I guess this is a super-casual mode for players just wanting to be silly with friends. Read: younger kids.

Sing Mode is a more traditional Karaoke mode. You know, pitch sensor with tracks on screen to indicate what pitch your voice should be at, along with lyrics. There’s nothing truly incredible going on here, but it works well enough.

Finally, there’s Team Mode, which alternates between two players or teams of players trying to compete for the best score. Again, decent enough, but nothing truly groundbreaking.

Here’s the thing, though – both Party Mode and Sing mode require the use of a USB microphone, while Team Mode requires the use of the microphone built into the Wii U’s gamepad. And that’s just… inexplicable. If the game was designed to allow players to use both, why can’t the game just let players use whichever one they want? Why force them into one lane or the other based on the game mode they pick?

Ultimately, Sing Party is a decent Karaoke game, but it makes some odd choices that don’t add much to the game, and it seems like this game could have been much better with a few simple common-sense changes. Being able to choose when you want to use a USB microphone or the Wii U gamepad’s built-in mic would have been helpful here, and the Party mode is dumb and pointless. However, if you’re absolutely desperate to get an inexpensive karaoke game on the Wii U (and have a USB microphone), this game will get the job done.

tl;dr – Sing Party is a Karaoke game that doesn’t do much that’s new for the genre outside of an odd “Party Mode” that has multiple players following on-screen dance prompts for no good reason. There’s also the odd choice to make the game only work with a USB microphone in some game modes, and only work with the Wii U gamepad’s built-in mic in other game modes. Also, the 50-song track list is somewhat limited, though this is somewhat offset by the game’s low price tag. Overall, this is far from a spectacular Karaoke game, but it’s more or less a decent one.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, Homer Simpin, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, Kristoffer Wulff, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Francis Obst, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}