American Idol Encore: Karaoke Revolution Latest and Hot TV Show
American Idol Encore: Karaoke Revolution Latest and Hot TV Show
“Unfair though it may be to draw comparisons, Rock Band has raised the bar for games of this sort.” Is it too much to hope that Blitz Games’ video game adaptation of the hit TV series American Idol is any good? Wellllll… yes. Yes it is. But not in the ways you might expect. Surprisingly challenging on the gameplay side of things, the Konami-published Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore is hurt most by its poor translation of the televised competition and its overall lack of polish.
Earning Top Honors in American Idol Encore
Let’s look at the good stuff first. American Idol Encore boasts 40 pop songs from a variety of genres; from Madonna’s “Holiday” to Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” from The Zombies’ “Time of the Season” to Styx’s “Come Sail Away.” None of the tracks are original master recordings of course, but then again this ain’t Rock Band. What’s more, cash-rich American Idol Encore buyers can log their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 versions of the game onto the Internets where more than 60 additional songs are waiting to be purchased.
In terms of raw gameplay, Encore is pretty simple. The top two-thirds of the screen during a performance show your user-created and -customized avatar singing and dancing while the bottom third is occupied by a meter on which lyrics and pitch levels scroll by as the song plays. A guide arrow on the pitch bar tracks where the singer’s voice is in relation to the actual song.
Each of the songs is divided up into multiple sections, typically one section for every two or three phrases. Sections are graded on a scale from Lousy to Great, with grades determined according to how much of the combo meter is filled in each section. Too many low scores in a single song empties out the Crowd Meter, ending that performance prematurely. The Crowd Meter refills slowly as the performance improves, with boost coming from Good or Great grade on specially marked Crowd Boost sections of the song.
It is actually quite challenging to nab high scores on the harder tunes. American Idol Encore features three overall difficulty levels but each song also has its own difficulty, marked by either one, two or three musical notes. For those who need a point of comparison, the vocal component in the recently released Rock Band offers far less of a challenge than the pitch-perfect requirements on display here.
Out of the Running in American Idol Encore
Things look promising enough at first in American Idol Encore with a great variety of solo and multiplayer modes to choose from. In addition to single song quickplay and the tournament-style competition - available in 8-, 13- and 18-round flavors - players can also set up offline Duets or competitive Battle performances (head-to-head or tournament-style) as well as online tournaments, leagues and head-to-head faceoffs.
Dig a little deeper into the single player however and you learn just how shallow the translation of the TV series is. Judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell all lend their voices and likenesses to the game, but not their personalities. Perhaps it’s asking too much for the commentators to make valid statements as to the quality of the performance they supposedly just watched. But why include the feature if even series a-hole Cowell is going to heap praise upon an otherwise low-scoring attempt?
Encore also fails to capture the spirit of the televised competition. Whether you’re playing an abbreviated tournament or the full-on shebang, each round’s song is selected from the overall list of available music, minus what you’ve already sung. While this does make up for the somewhat limited song collection - as compared to the amassed history of musical recordings, at least - it’s out of line with the show’s traditionally themed rounds. The listing is laid out well, with different sort options available according to category, difficulty, even a user-created “favorites” list. Why then can’t the game’s American Idol mode skew closer to what millions of viewers watch on TV?
American Idol Encore remains fun for roughly the length of time it takes to sing through all of the included songs that you like. A wide selection of downloadable content adds value, but not enough when you consider that each song is an additional investment on top of your $70 ‘game + microphone’ bundle. Unfair though it may be to draw comparisons, Rock Band has raised the bar for games of this sort. If you’re the sort who loves pop music and who can happily do without master recordings or guitar/drums, American Idol Encore is a decent enough alternative for achieving your goal of virtual superstardom.
American Idol Encore: Karaoke Revolution Latest and Hot TV Show
