Hot on the heels of the Party Classics disc last month, here we have yet another add-on compilation for the original Lips game. Just like with buses, you wait ages for one to come along and then two turn up at once. This time around the focus is very much on that bastion of pure pop cheese, the 80’s, where no hair was too big, no song was too loud and no lyrics were too ridiculous. A golden age you might say. Yet again you can play the disc as a standalone effort but it is far more likely to appeal to most players as an add on to the original Lips.
Oh my... That brings back memories... Painful ones!
Like other add-ons in the Lips franchise, this is a title totally devoid of any new features other than the songs themselves. The gameplay is as amusingly catchy as ever, allowing you and a friend to sing (or screech, dependant on skill) along to a variety of tracks in a bid to rack up a high score and impress everyone. You can still amass combos by hitting consecutive notes and snag medals for particularly impressive performances, all of which adds up to a nice place on the leaderboards and an appropriately coloured trophy - from platinum to bronze. There are a few alternate multiplayer modes which see you duelling one another, stopping a bomb from going off or getting a happy couple to smooch, but it all boils down to singing well... or not as the case may be. With nothing new added to the mix, it is almost as if this game has been rushed out to round off the series so that the developers can move onto bigger and better things.
Yet again the price point is the key here, and the selection of songs range from the great to the bizarre. I doubt many people have been hankering after a rendition of Devo's Whip It or Rick James' Super Freak, but we can all enjoy some of the classic songs like Erasure's A Little Respect and Ultravox's Vienna. That being said, it really all boils down to personal preference and whether or not you are a fan of eighties music in the first place. For younger gamers this may well not appeal in the slightest, and even ardent eighties fans will feel a bit let down by some of the song choices. It is still a stronger collection than Party Classics was, but you have to wonder how much thought went into putting the list together. I am fairly sure that there were more than forty songs released during the eighties and yet there are still a couple of tracks from the late seventies stuck in here – which seems a touch strange.
1980... The birth of the emo.
Theoretically this should be the final Lips add-on to come with extra achievement points, as it takes the game up to the (allegedly) maximum allowed tally of 1750. With that being the case, the list itself is a real disappointment. There is one achievement tied to each of the six medal categories for specific songs and then a few more points for singing every song on the list and doing well in co-op on different modes/songs. That is pretty much it, and experienced players will probably be done in the time it takes just to sing each song a solitary time. Hardly a fitting end to the series, but at least there are no more ludicrously high star related targets to attain.
As a big fan of the eighties this disc appealed to me more than most, but the whole formula is getting a little stale now. Considering the fact this disc was released so soon after the last one, it would not be a great surprise if this was the conclusion of the original Lips series and a full blown sequel was in the works. Frankly, the game is in need of a bit of an overhaul, but as a last hurrah you could do a lot worse than rocking out to this.
A pretty good mix of songs with only one or two bad eggs in the batch, however, anyone who does not like eighties music is instantly ruled out.
The same as the last two titles with drab menus and a few music videos; still, it does what it has to do.
Great fun in a group, but this is strictly DLC stuff for people who have grown tired of the songs already available and are a fan of cheesy eighties music.
The same package for the fourth time pretty much, which is making me sound like a broken record, although at least the songs are better. With the rushed nature of this release, it seems that there may be a proper sequel in the works to move things forward.
An achievement tied to each medal, some co-op tasks and singing each song. That is it and you should be done within a few hours. A real letdown.
Another fairly good add-on pack with a good song selection, although there are no other new features to speak of. This is a bargain in terms of DLC for those people desperate for some new material, but adds nothing new in terms of gameplay.
April 15, 2010
Hot on the heels of the Party Classics disc last month, here we have yet another add-on compilation for the original Lips game. Just like with buses, you wait ages for one to come along and then two turn up at once. This time around the focus is very much on that bastion of pure pop cheese, the 80’s, where no hair was too big, no song was too loud and no lyrics were too ridiculous. A golden age you might say. Yet again you can play the disc as a standalone effort but it is far more likely to appeal to most players as an add on to the original Lips.
Oh my... That brings back memories... Painful ones!
Like other add-ons in the Lips franchise, this is a title totally devoid of any new features other than the songs themselves. The gameplay is as amusingly catchy as ever, allowing you and a friend to sing (or screech, dependant on skill) along to a variety of tracks in a bid to rack up a high score and impress everyone. You can still amass combos by hitting consecutive notes and snag medals for particularly impressive performances, all of which adds up to a nice place on the leaderboards and an appropriately coloured trophy - from platinum to bronze. There are a few alternate multiplayer modes which see you duelling one another, stopping a bomb from going off or getting a happy couple to smooch, but it all boils down to singing well... or not as the case may be. With nothing new added to the mix, it is almost as if this game has been rushed out to round off the series so that the developers can move onto bigger and better things.
Yet again the price point is the key here, and the selection of songs range from the great to the bizarre. I doubt many people have been hankering after a rendition of Devo's Whip It or Rick James' Super Freak, but we can all enjoy some of the classic songs like Erasure's A Little Respect and Ultravox's Vienna. That being said, it really all boils down to personal preference and whether or not you are a fan of eighties music in the first place. For younger gamers this may well not appeal in the slightest, and even ardent eighties fans will feel a bit let down by some of the song choices. It is still a stronger collection than Party Classics was, but you have to wonder how much thought went into putting the list together. I am fairly sure that there were more than forty songs released during the eighties and yet there are still a couple of tracks from the late seventies stuck in here – which seems a touch strange.
1980... The birth of the emo.
Theoretically this should be the final Lips add-on to come with extra achievement points, as it takes the game up to the (allegedly) maximum allowed tally of 1750. With that being the case, the list itself is a real disappointment. There is one achievement tied to each of the six medal categories for specific songs and then a few more points for singing every song on the list and doing well in co-op on different modes/songs. That is pretty much it, and experienced players will probably be done in the time it takes just to sing each song a solitary time. Hardly a fitting end to the series, but at least there are no more ludicrously high star related targets to attain.
As a big fan of the eighties this disc appealed to me more than most, but the whole formula is getting a little stale now. Considering the fact this disc was released so soon after the last one, it would not be a great surprise if this was the conclusion of the original Lips series and a full blown sequel was in the works. Frankly, the game is in need of a bit of an overhaul, but as a last hurrah you could do a lot worse than rocking out to this.
A pretty good mix of songs with only one or two bad eggs in the batch, however, anyone who does not like eighties music is instantly ruled out.
The same as the last two titles with drab menus and a few music videos; still, it does what it has to do.
Great fun in a group, but this is strictly DLC stuff for people who have grown tired of the songs already available and are a fan of cheesy eighties music.
The same package for the fourth time pretty much, which is making me sound like a broken record, although at least the songs are better. With the rushed nature of this release, it seems that there may be a proper sequel in the works to move things forward.
An achievement tied to each medal, some co-op tasks and singing each song. That is it and you should be done within a few hours. A real letdown.
Another fairly good add-on pack with a good song selection, although there are no other new features to speak of. This is a bargain in terms of DLC for those people desperate for some new material, but adds nothing new in terms of gameplay.