CMT Presents: Karaoke Revolution® Country

Just about every time I have friends over to the house, one of the Karaoke Revolution games ends up in the PS2. We’ve spent many an evening laughing at and applauding each others attempts at singing a wide variety of pop and rock songs. Konami and Harmonix have always brought together a great mix of “Top 40” style hits that most folks know by heart. But not everyone’s radio station quick-select buttons are set to the same stations. Four games into the series, Konami has decided to take a detour and head for a wide open unexplored space. Country music is in the spotlight for the latest Karaoke Revolution and marks the first time the series has focused on a specific genre.

Karaoke Revolution takes the art of performing karaoke and transforms it into a game by judging your performance. Players rack up points by singing notes at the correct pitch. To assist gamers in reaching musical nirvana, note tubes move across the screen above the scrolling song lyrics. The position of the note tube on the screen indicates the pitch the words should be sung at. Note tubes near the bottom of the screen are low notes and note tubes further up are high notes. To assist the player in getting just the right pitch, an arrow on the left side of the screen moves up and down as you adjust your voice. Get the arrow to ride on top of the note tubes and you’re on your way to karaoke stardom.

The first item of business when starting Karaoke Revolution Country is creating your on-screen persona. Like the recent Karaoke Revolution Party, KR Country features a much more robust character generation system than previous games in the series. You can choose from several pre-made characters, but digging into the customizable features is more fun. Players can choose a variety of hair styles, clothing and accessories along with adjusting the characters physical attributes with a five-way slider. KR Country features most of the clothing and accessories from Party but also adds country items such as cowboy hats, boots, and western themed shirts. Additionally, by plugging in the Eye Toy peripheral, players can construct a three dimensional model of their own face to use as their character’s head. Good luck getting through the first song you sing after making yourself the on-screen character. I was laughing so hard at seeing myself sporting a cowboy hat, mirrored aviator shades and cowboy boots with spurs that I couldn’t get a single word of the song out.

So now you have your character, with or without your own head, and you’re ready to sing. Going into the game I was skeptical about whether or not a genre specific Karaoke Revolution game was a good idea. I must admit I was wrong, because the song list for Karaoke Country is impressive! The game features classic country tunes like “The Gambler,” “On the Road Again,” and “9 to 5.” It also brings newer songs such as “Goodbye Earl,” “Friends in Low Places,” and “Chattahoochee” to the table. After choosing what you’ll attempt to sing you then choose a difficulty and the song begins. I say “attempt” because I had no idea how difficult country music is to sing.

When I’ve had Karaoke Revolution parties in the past, the house rule has been that everyone plays on medium difficulty. This usually gives everyone a decent chance at winning and keeps the game interesting without be overly critical of your singing. Not so in Karaoke Revolution Country. I was struggling a bit even on the easy setting. Country music seems to have more slides (pitch moving around on a sustained note) and changes pitch much more frequently than the pop and rock tunes I’m used to singing. Don’t be put off by low scores at first. With a little practice you’ll be getting platinum record level scores again. Thanks to Karaoke Revolution Country I have a brand new respect for the abilities of country artists.

Karaoke Revolution Country has a wide variety of game play modes. Quickplay is the single-player mode that lets you jump right into singing your favorite songs. One Mic Party and Two Mic Party are the main features of the game though. In these modes you can set the number of players, the length of the song (full or short), and the number of rounds. At the end the scores are tallied and a winner is declared. There are also a few mini games that require players to sing notes at various pitches to make on-screen characters stage dive or play a pong-like beach volleyball game. You’ll be entertained for about ten seconds, and then you’ll head back to the real game. The only thing missing is the “Sing and Dance” mode included in KR Party. With line dancing being such a large component of the country music scene it’s a shame this feature was left out.

Gameplay: 8.8

Harmonix is the master of music gaming for a reason and Karaoke Revolution Country is no exception. The note-tube system is simplistic enough that anyone trying Karaoke Revolution for the first time will understand it instantly. At the same time, the game difficulty can be adjusted to fit vocalists of any skill level. The addition of customizable characters and even more multiplayer options make the latest Karaoke Revolution titles the best yet.

Graphics: 7.2

KR Country sports the same graphics system that Harmonix has used since the first Karaoke Revolution game. Luckily, Country brings all of the tweaks that KR Party added to the series such as customizable characters and Eye Toy support. The presentation doesn’t ooze country the way Guitar Hero oozes rock and roll, but it gets the job done.

Sound: 9.2

The guys and gals at Wavegroup Sound have once again delivered a spectacular batch of cover songs. There are a few tunes that sound a little bit off, but you’ll forget all about it when you’re singing them yourself. The song selection covers a huge range of country music styles from the 1970’s all the way to today’s latest hits.

Difficulty: Medium

It’s hard to judge the difficulty of a Karaoke Revolution game because some folks are just better at singing than others. The game also has multiple levels of difficulty that at the highest setting can even make my music major friends reconsider their career paths. While some of the songs will be forever outside of my vocal ability, there is enough variety that I can always find a tune I can combo all the way through.

Concept: 7.4

It’s all the fun of karaoke night without the public ridicule. The only problem is your PS2 gets to make fun of you now. Just grab a microphone, choose your favorite country song and then sing along.

Multiplayer: 9.0

Karaoke’s no fun without an audience, so fry some chicken, bake some cornbread and call all your friends. The game features multiplayer player modes that can be played with just one microphone or with two. With one microphone it’s a game of hot potato with each person taking a turn. Two microphones let two players compete at the same time or sing a duet cooperatively.

Overall: 8.3

When it comes down to it there are just some people that won’t like Karaoke Revolution Country simply because they are not fans of country music. If you are a fan of country then this is the game for you! The excellent production value and a stellar song list will make Karaoke Revolution Country the life of the party for those that wear cowboy boots and say “y’all come back now, ya hear”.