High School: Sing It! Musical with Microphone

Ok, I am officially old. I don't get all the fuss about this High School Musical thing; it simply does nothing for me. However, millions and millions of young kids and teenagers are all ga-ga over it. I can't recall a made-for-TV musical that made me and my friends go nuts and spawn not only a sequel but a marketing juggernaut. We had 80's hair bands when I was this age and darn it, if I didn't buy a single pair of stretchy pants to go with my cowboy boots and long hair. Times were simpler.

But if you are one of the unfortunate parents out there who are pestered into buying any and every HSM piece of merchandise made, then have I got a deal for you. As if jumping on the "SingStar" bandwagon, High School Musical has a full-blown game where your own kids (and maybe you) can sing through all of the musical numbers of both movies. Does it matter if you haven't watched a single movie and don't know the lyrics? Well, yes and no, the lyrics are provided on the bottom of the screen but the tempo and inflections are not, good luck.

"These fireflies are messing up my tempo!"

The game comes complete with a USB microphone, which, if you are like me, can't stand that the USB port is in the back of the Wii, ensuring that the pricey toy you bought is more likely to be dumped on its side now more the ever. The mic is actually a decent piece of equipment that is neither cheaply made or colored in some goofy HSM colors; it's black, has a little weight and makes me feel better about singing in my living room with the dog staring at me. Interestingly enough, the game also encourages you to hold a wii-mote as well and snap it in time for a little accompaniment. Apparently it is supposed to be a tamborine or other little music maker, but whatever it is, it give the game a little more something.

Playing the game is not too difficult and is insanely short. You can play three ways - quick play, where you belt out a song from the list, the story mode where you pick a character and roll through the various musical numbers from the movies, and party mode, which allows up to seven players to go for the high score. Now what exactly does that mean? It means you need to maintain the tempo of the song and hold the notes appropriately as the words scroll across the screen changing colors to the timing of the song. Surprisingly it works better than I thought and watching my niece and nephew plow through the game, as they know every song, was somewhat disturbing. As you sing verses and choruses, a letter grade flops out on a piece of notebook paper indicating how well you did. Linking many "A's" together will get you an "A on the song. Likewise poorer grades give you overall poor final tally. All of this occurs as poorly rendered characters from the movies dance in any number of the movie's musical numbers (cafeteria, gym, etc.). I don't know about you, but my high school might have been a lot more fun if we randomly broke out into song and dance numbers.

 
 "My high school was never like this."

The game isn't doing itself any favors with the bland and poorly mapped characters. I know what some of these kids look like and their likeness is not apparent in this title. The characters act out the dance sequences and attempt to match their opening mouths to your singing. I know that in these interactive-style games that graphics are often placed on a back burner because the game is so much fun. Well, this is not really the case here, the graphics just look plain sloppy. The developers could have put something else into the presentation I suppose, but they didn't. It's hard to explain, maybe its just that the game looks very last generation, and not even a good-looking last generation title. I know, I should go easy on this one, but I can't because this is one of the most expensive games out for the Wii; the microphone version retails for $59.99. For that kind of scratch I expect certain points to be hit, and visually it does not make the cut. 

Now for a game that involves singing, one would expect decent music, and I had to confer with the kids, but I guess the songs (the music part at least) is faithful to the source material. Thankfully there is a microphone adjustment to tune the sensitivity. Taking the test will help players dial in a comfortable level. Parents take note: if you buy this for your HSM fan, expect some inevitable experimentation when it comes to the singing in the game. Whatever your thoughts are on your own singer's abilities, buy yourself an iPod.

Now I think it is important to note that this game can be beat in under an hour. Sure there are things to unlock and characters to find, but playing through the story mode repeatedly is the only way to get everything. I just don't see players singing and singing and singing, over and over and over just to unlock a couple more characters that don't really bring anything else to the game.

Gameplay: 7.0
It's not Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but it does bring some of those interactive elements to bear. The only problem is that on the first two games you are likely to find at least a few songs you really like no matter what your taste is. With HSM, it's all original music that never saw any airplay except on the Disney channel and maybe radio Disney.

Graphics: 5.8
Interative games don't need a lot going on in the background if the gameplay is awesome; well, HSM is not awesome and the background graphics are not good at all.

Sound: 7.0
While you probably won't recognize a single song, your kids sure will and then proceed to drive you crazy singing their favorite songs over and over and over.

Difficulty: Easy
Anyway you slice it, this game can be finished very easily. The party mode gives it some legs, but don't expect this game to be played for as long as say, a Mario title.

Concept: 7.0
It actually is a right smart idea to take a license as popular as High School Musical and put it to an interactive singing game like this. But boy, they really needed to put more life into this title,

Multiplayer: 7.0
The party mode allows multiple players to sing out the songs. I had to default to my family again on this one; to me, it didn't seem to be all that much fun but that is probably because I didn't know or get the music. But the kids were laughing and having a good time and that's what matters at the end of the day.

Overall: 6.5
It may take advantage of a popular license and use songs the kids love, but it is way too short and way too easy, especially for the target audience.