We're quite big fans of the We Sing series of karaoke games here - and although they both got 9/10s in our reviews, personally, I like We Sing: Robbie Williams best, but We Sing: Encore is very close second. With publisher Nordic Games' currently busy beavering away on the upcoming dancing game, We Dance, which looks set to be every bit as awesome - just in a slightly sweatier way than karaoke - we were beginning to wonder when we'd next see a We Sing game. Luckily for us, the wait will soon be over, with not one, but three brand-new karaoke games on the way before Christmas, each with a slightly different theme.
We Sing: Pop, We Sing: Rock and We Sing: UK Hits will feature 40 songs each - and due to the 'We' series' impeccable setlist choices in previous games, we're sure that these games will follow the same trend. Flicking through an issue of the industry magazine MCV, we found an advert that gave us a sample of some of the songs we can expect to see:
We Sing: Rock
- Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
- Motorhead - Ace of Spades
- Europe - The Final Countdown
- Def Leopard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
- Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
We Sing: UK Hits
- Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude
- Blur - Girls and Boys
- Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
- Tinie Tempah - Pass Out
- Spice Girls - Who Do You Think You Are
A pretty impressive selection (the annoyingly spelt Tinie Tempah notwithstanding), we're sure you'll agree - and we're especially interested in We Sing: Rock. Although I listen to a wide range of music, the setlists of most karaoke games seem to veer too much towards the modern auto-tuned pop/R'n'B (although it doesn't deserve to be called rhythm and blues) of people like Rhianna, Beyonce and the like for my taste. Generally finding my music tastes tend more towards that of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I've waited years for someone to do a rock themed karaoke game - so that's probably our most-looked forward to out the lot. Now all we need is a We Sing: Crazy Women (featuring Tori Amos, Bjork, Fiona Apple and others like that) and I'll be in karaoke game nirvana. Talking of Nirvana, I wonder if they'll be on the Rock game?
Those crazy Germans... Their version of the karaoke game Lips came with Helge Schneider's Kasebrot, a song about a cheese sandwich.
All the standard multiplayer modes you'll have come to know and love if you've ever played a music game are present and correct too. There's We Sing, where everyone co-operates for the best score; Versus where you go head to head against another player for the most points; Group Battle, which is the same as Versus but in a team; Marathon, where the player with the best average score over a setlist wins; and First To X, where people compete to reach the target score first. There's also the more inventive Pass The Mic, where people take random turns at singing lines before passing over to the next; Blind, which plays like Versus, but the lyrics and sound will disappear at random intervals, leaving you on your own and Expert, which is strictly for karaoke masochists, as there's no lyrics or pitch bars to help you.
As of yet, there's no release dates for any of them - and no official song lists either, but we're expecting a release before Christmas. Make sure you check back over the next few weeks, as we're sure to get more information in the coming months.
