Reviewed by Michelle Thurlow
One of the reasons I cited Konami’s Karaoke Revolution Party as last year’s best game in our Christmas gift-buying guide was because of the title’s representation of Tonic’s pseudo-country hit of 1996 “If You Could Only See” on the disc. At the time, I remember musing to myself how cool it would be if there were a rhythm action offering that highlighted country-western music to some significant degree. I also recall thinking that my pet rock had a better chance of winning a talent show than such a brainchild coming to fruition. Of course, now that I’ve spent a Texas minute with Konami’s latest music simulation Karaoke Revolution Country, I’m considering buying my stone buddy legwarmers and entering it into a jazz dance competition.
A long overdue title, Karaoke Country features the same effective interface that has served the Revolution series competently over the years. The Sony version of the game supports the Logitech microphone as well as the PS2 USB headsets. Gameplay consists of singing melodies at the correct pitch so as to fill in bars scrolling right across the screen that compute your score. The CPU only analyzes how correctly you hold a note, not how accurately you enunciate the song’s actual lyrics. You could thus simply chant, “My toes are shaped liked daffodils” over and over if you wish, which is a good thing if for some reason you don’t know all the words to “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”
The two mini-games from Karaoke Party make a return appearance in this latest Revolution volume. The Yo! Dude! Rock! stage (which probably should have been renamed for the country version of the series) involves belting out tones in the exact key so as to spur members of your audience to surf the crowd. The Beach Volleyball sport is basically the vocal adaptation of air hockey and is surprisingly demanding on the more difficult levels.
Social gamers will enjoy Karaoke Country’s multiplicity of multiplayer options for two to eight players. Grab a partner (or pardner) and warble a twangy duet or engage an opponent in a karaoke sound-off in Arcade, Medley, or Knock Out modes. Additionally, there’s also the KR Challenge allowing players to vary the types of modes activated for each round of the tournament.
Graphically, rhythm action titles have often been criticized for emphasizing sound quality over visual aesthetics, though the Karaoke Revolution brand has always seemed to me to be the exception to this stereotype. Revolution offers crooners literally dozens of options regarding the design of their avatars in the Character Creator feature (including EyeToy USB camera compatibility) as well as cool virtual venues in which to perform, such as a country bar and state fair pavilion. Having said that, fans of the series will note that the latest Karaoke game offers little that hasn’t been seen elsewhere in other installments of the franchise. Graphical content is thus fun and colorful, if a bit recycled.
Of course, the most important facet of any music game is unsurprisingly the music, and in this aspect Karaoke Country doesn’t disappoint. Song selections run the gamut from covers of hyper-traditional ditties such as Patsy Cline’s bluesy ballad “Crazy” to contemporary hits like Gretchen Wilson’s kitschy anthem “Redneck Woman.” Konami also scores a major coup by ensuring imitations of Garth Brooks’ delightfully cheeky “Friends in Low Places” as well as Waylon Jennings’ boot-tapping “Good Ol Boys” (the “Dukes of Hazzard” theme song) make the cut. The inclusion of the latter two songs alone in the musical repertory renders Revolution worth the price of admission in my view.
I do however harbor one small criticism of Karaoke Country’s soundtrack, and it is a quibble that I have with a lot of music games of late – that being recognizable tunes occasionally make it into rhythm action releases at the expense of better ones. As a longtime fan of George Strait, I can tell you than while the clever “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” is clearly his most famous chart-topper, the gorgeous “Ocean Front Property” and zydeco-tinged “Adalida” are in my books tracks of superior quality. Similarly, Johnny Cash’s tender “I Walk the Line” is more well known than “Folsom Prison Blues” because of the recent Hollywood biopic of a similar name, but its notoriety doesn’t necessarily construe “Line” as a more pleasurable song to sing.
Though the latest Karaoke Revolution game is a must-buy for country and music buffs, there are enough familiar tunes accomodated on the track list that will make you want to saddle up the console and invite a few cityslickers over for an old-fashioned hillbilly hoedown. Y’all will have more fun with Karaoke Revolution Country than an ant in a candy-bar wrapper. Yee-haw!
Special thanks to Chrystina Woody and Konami for providing a copy of this title.