I’m a huge music fan. Of course, I’m a very eclectic listener, and radio stations tend to quickly annoy me. I listen to almost everything from Alanis Morissette to Enya to Rocco DeLuca and the Burden to The Killers plus a little bit of Imogen Heap and back to The Corrs. I have a decent idea why I agreed to Disney Sing It: Pop Hits: It was to annoy my cousins at Thanksgiving. But since that greatly fell through, I have been torturing myself instead.
Yet, in a few odd ways, this is almost a false statement. I remember the first day I placed the disc in my PlayStation 3 and was anticipating something by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus or The Jonas Brothers or my nemesis, Taylor Swift. Instead, it was a lone piano. I knew that melody from somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. And then I heard the singer’s voice: It was Jem. The song was “It’s Amazing.” That was the moment I decided to give it the old college try.
As you can probably guess, Pop Hits is a karaoke game. You sing into the microphone along with the game, and it awards you points for being on pitch. The higher the score, the better. Music is set up on what looks like the treble cleft and perfectly follows the words for each measure or so. Unfortunately, the magical golden line doesn’t always go to the end of the section shown and instantly jumps to the next line of lyrics. So if you are not familiar with the songs (like me), it is frustrating to figure out when you’re supposed to sing.
Pop Hits tries to correct this by supplying a tutorial to help aspiring singers realize their potential. Unfortunately, it both works and backfires. It works by giving voice lessons. It backfires by not going into any great detail. You just read the writings in the box and attempt to follow the example. If you fail, you have to reselect the tutorial and watch the first section again. While I applaud the developers for including music lessons, I would rather have them be more diverse. How about watching a video of the person explain it in great detail and then practice and then keep the player in that space until he gets the hang of it? As difficult as it would be, it would allow budding songsters to develop their voices. It would be worth it. Granted, the tutorial presented is better than nothing.
Anway, you can select how many songs you want to sing (up to 10) and how many players are involved. I was a little disappointed by the lack of buttons on the microphone, but with wireless controllers being the norm, this isn’t a problem with a long cord. It’s still awkward to put down the microphone, pick up the controller and then pick up the mike again. And nothing was as annoying as when the mike decided to act up. At least once during each gameplay session, there would be this blowing noise coming from the television. And the pitch pointer would wildly fluctuate. It was telling me that the game no longer recognized my voice. Pausing the game sometimes works. Other times, unplugging the mike would work. And other times, it would take a few attempts to correct it. I don’t know if this is the norm for the other mikes or if I just lucked out with a bad microphone. It’s annoying and shouldn’t occur.
Anyway, no karaoke game is worth it if the soundtrack isn’t up to par. There are about 25 or so songs in the game and range in genres. Most of the music would be considered for tweens (9- to 12-year-olds). What ties almost all of them together is their bubbly pop nature. The Jonas Brothers shouldn’t be on the front; Colbie Caillat should be there instead. Her music is the most reflective of the game’s sound. Other standouts include “It’s Amazing,” “Warwick Avenue,” “Mercy,” “The Climb,” “Apologize” and, of course, “Bubbly.” Well, at least that’s true from the adult perspective. Miley Cyrus, and her alter ego Hannah Montana, and The Jonas Brothers conquer the game’s soundtrack. Cyrus has about eight songs while the Brothers have five. Also, the one song that truly stands out but doesn’t fit is Coldplay’s “Violet Hill.” Filled with dark lyrics and post-photolytic imagery, it just doesn’t fit with the theme. Any one of their previous hits, such as “Yellow,” “Clocks” and even “Viva La Viva,” would have been better choices.
Graphic in Pop Hits could almost be seen as a technical marvel. As you sing various songs, their respective videos play in the background. And they look just as good as they do on VH1 or MTV. All of this moves smoothly with no chips or cracks. It moves smoothly from song to song, with only the score screen between each. There are no superfluous screens. Thus, I have access to a video-on-demand, provided that I am in the mood for pure pop. It is important to note that menus are also cleanly and intuitively lined out.
At the end of the day, Disney Sing It: Pop Hits is a tough game to recommend. When everything works well, it is one of the best karaoke games out there. However, this is a big catch to all of this: You have to like tween pop. You need to have children around you. This game does not fit into my life. The closest child in my family lives 300 or so miles away. And I’m 25. As such, the majority of the songs in the game do not fit me well. But if there are children in your life who are fans of Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato, you are golden. This is a great game to add to the family night arsenal. And if some of my family lived closer, this would be something I would hold onto just for them. For now, I’m going to wait for something that indulges my eclectic musical tastes. Thank goodness for playlists.
