Based on the popularity of Sony’s SingStar series, you’d think Nintendo would have released some sort of singing game on the Wii by now. Though when you look at Ninty’s own musical dud, Wii Music, and even Microsoft’s Lips, maybe it’s probably best that the SingStar series continues to reign supreme. Despite the history that mainly goes against the majority of devs who produce music games and also Sony’s clear monopoly on the karaoke game market, developer MindScape has decided to release yet another U-Sing for the Wii, this time titled, U-Sing Girls Night.
Just like the previous U-Sing game, Girls Night is a SingStar-like title designed for young female gamers. However, this time round, the focus is on the top female artists and bands. There’s Blondie, bands from the 90s such as The Cardigans and more recent hits from younger artists like Katy Perry and Lady GaGa. All up there’s 30 songs on the disc, and many more to download with the assistance of the Wi-Fi Connection and a couple of Nintendo points cards. The only real issue with the tracklist is that it mainly consists of hits from the 00s, but then again this is forgivable when it is considered that newer songs would appeal more to young Wii owners.
Blondie soon found out she was losing her mind.
In comparison to the SingStar titles, and even the previous U-Sing title, U’ve got talent, there really isn’t much on offer within Girls Night. There’s a single player, two player and jukebox mode. The single player is very straight forward. Players select a short or long version of the song they wish to play and then choose one of the three difficulties to play the song on. Then they play it. The only real drive the game gives players to continue playing this mode is to try and enhance their singing skills or to beat past scores they’ve set on certain songs. To be honest though, the more causal players will probably use this game like a music album rather than a video game, meaning it could potentially have a longer lifespan than other Wii games if it’s in the right home.
Although there only is a small amount of content within Girls Night, just about all of it has been copied from SingStar. There really is no stopping U-Sing. In-game or in general, Girls Night pretty much takes every single ‘good’ aspect of the SingStar series and claims it as its own. The menu layout, the way songs and artists are displayed in the track selection area, and most obviously the little bars that track players’ vocals and how well they are singing. It’s all there, and once again, it has all pretty much been ripped from SingStar. Unlike SingStar though, U-Sing Girls Night hasn’t entirely nailed the karaoke genre. In particular, the quality of the supplied microphones does not seem to rival the build of the Sony’s ones, and then there’s all those minor errors due to the lack of polish, making U-Sing fall short of becoming the best karaoke game on the market.
Visually U-Sing isn’t much. For most of it, it’s just like watching a really bad line up of songs on an early morning session of Rage. The Wii’s lack of HD means the majority of videos won’t look as good as they could, but a lot resemble their original and (in the case of the 90s tracks) gritty-looking television counterparts – though some of the more recent songs in the game do look much better. Sound wise, the musical backings are fine, but rarely will players be able to hear themselves through their television or sound system speakers, and if they do, it’ll usually just be a few muffled sounds.
In a nutshell, U-Sing Girls Night is the Nintendo Wii equivalent of SingStar, just nowhere near as polished. Although the title features 30 #1 female artist songs, it falls short of Sony’s long-running karaoke series due to its limited single player mode and few online options. Even if MindScape just threw in a couple of online leader boards, it would have drastically extended the life of this title regardless of its obvious flaws when compared to SingStar. A great alternative for lovers of karaoke would be to go out and buy a PS2 with two official microphones for roughly $100.00 and about 5 or so SingStar games for $20.00 – $30.00 each. And seriously, if you really are interested in checking out this type of game then you probably should consider the PS2 and SingStar option that was just suggested as U-Sing Girls Night with two microphones retails at $119.95.
Graphics: C+
Decent enough, but they really could’ve been better. The only positive thing in this department is that the Wii’s lack of HD means that the majority of older videos have a true old and gritty feeling to them.
Sound: C
Possibly the most vital aspect of this type of game. And it really only just succeeds in most areas. The in-game sound is good enough, the quality of the mics is passable and the game’s tracklist is a matter of opinion.
Gameplay: C
Like the rest of this title, the gameplay is also good enough. The few features it has are all pretty much copied from SingStar, but have much less love put into them. The lack of online leaderboards doesn’t help either.
Overall: C
If you already own a PS2 and a few SingStar games then stick with that. If you haven’t tried a game like U-Sing Girls Night out before, then maybe consider purchasing a PS2 and a copy of SingStar. If Wii is all you’ve got, then U-Sing Girls Night will probably satisfy your sudden need for a karaoke game.
