Jump on board, feel the high, 'cause the game is alright. The game of course, is We Sing: Robbie Williams, and we went on the road to Mandalay (or Cologne, as it's alternatively known) to play it.Whether you want to admit it or not, there's bound to be a few songs you recognise on the 25 song strong setlist - and yes, of course there's Angels, that staple of drunken karaoke nights. Which may not sound like too much, compared to the 40 of We Sing Encore, but there's far more in terms of Robbie Williams fan fun in this one - they haven't just stuck a collection of songs on a disc and slapped Robbie Williams' name on the cover. In fact, Robbie's been quite heavily involved in the production of the game himself.
It's the Robbie Williams Nintendo-like avatar. Definitely not a Mii. Nintendo are funny like that.
First off, there's a virtual re-creation of Robbie on screen that takes you though the game - as well as voice overs on the menus from the man himself. So when first switch the game on, you'll be welcomed by Robbie himself, saying "Hello and welcome to We Sing: Robbie Williams" - it's a small touch, but it's a nice one.
The voice overs don't stop at the menus either - Robbie, much like Simon Cowell, takes on the role of a critic at the end of every song you sing, telling you how well, or poorly you did, as only Robbie can - he told me my performance (butchering) of 'She's The One' was "wonderful". I'm sure some teenage girls would have killed to have Robbie Williams tell them that.
To add a bit more fan service to the game - and to help add some much needed replayability to the game, there's also a vast amount of unlockable stuff here for you to earn - from videos of memorable Robbie moments, to photos that span his 20 year long career. The little awards system from We Sing: Encore makes a return, with a whole new batch of little achievements on offer for you to unlock when you meet the criteria.
Now, I love karaoke games - whether it be Lips, We Sing or singing on Rock Band or Guitar Hero. And I also used to quite like Robbie Williams (I'll admit to this one, seeing as there were far more embarrassing things in my teenage music collection). Which is why it was a refreshing feeling to find that, for the first time on a karaoke game (apart from maybe Beatles Rock Band) I knew pretty much every song on the game.
But despite the distinctly Robbie flavourings, the classic We Sing formula hasn't changed for this game either - you can still grab up to three of your friends to embarrass themselves alongside you, across a selection of familiar multiplayer modes. After all, life's too short to be afraid, so grab a mic, sing the refrain, 'cause you don't have to take the blame when you sing off key in the We Sing mode, where you and your friends co-operate to get the best score, and it hides your individual points, to save you from the embarrassment of being the worst. Of course, there are a whole host of competitive and single player modes too, including the evil Blind mode, that removes the on screen lyrics, and the mega hard expert mode, which is for the masochists only. For a full run down of the various modes, check out our We Sing: Encore preview, as all the classic modes have been retained here. There's even singing lessons, for those of you who wouldn't want to go within a five mile radius of a microphone with people in ear shot - and the voice of Robbie Williams will help you out in this mode too.
So why not sing me a love song with We Sing: Robbie Williams, which should be in stores in October 2010. It may seem like you're waiting for eternity, for a concrete release date - but don't worry - something beautiful will come your way - and we'll let you know as soon as it does. Till then, tell me, how do you rate the morning sun?
