Music related gaming
664 words
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my impressions of Donkey Konga
and Singstar Party.
I bought my Gamecube in Canada, which has advantages and disadvantages. One
disadvantage is that I need to use a Freeloader disk to load European
games, and this doesn’t always work. It didn’t work with the copy of
Donkey Konga I borrowed from Paul while he’s away, so I had to also borrow
Steve’s proper British Gamecube to try it out.
For those who don’t know, Donkey Konga is a videogame which comes with a
controller shaped like a set of bongos. As music plays, a sequence of
actions scrolls into a target area. When the action hits the target you
must hit one or both of the bongos, or clap. If you do it right, you’ll
find yourself playing a nifty rhythm in time with the music. With more
controllers, you can have up to four people playing an arrangement.
It’s great fun, and once I’d bought a second pair of bongos, it became
even more fun. The only fly in the ointment for me is that the songs are
lacklustre re-recordings of the originals.
House favourites include “The Impression That I Get”, and “September”,
and the UK release treads a comfortable line between cheesy Nintendo
theme tunes (Latino workings of the Zelda theme, the Mario theme, etc.),
camp, and slightly ageing Britpop cool (Supergrass, Jamiroquai).
So it was that I had to get a copy I could play on my own equipment, and
while Ruth was in New York, I asked her to get me a copy. It turns out
the American release is a very different beast.
The first few songs in the American game are nursery songs — immediately
making the game feel less, well, grown up. Having said that “Bingo” (”There
was a man who had a dog and Bingo was it’s name-o. B.I.N.G.O. etc…) is
a lot of fun because of the “[CLAP] [CLAP] N. G. O.” choruses.
Surprisingly, a number of the songs on the American version are clearly
recent American chart hits which are unfamiliar to the British ear. Maybe
the English speaking world isn’t as homogenised as we thought? Disappointingly,
“I Think I Love You” turns out to be a recent cover, rather than the
original or the exuberant Voice of the Beehive version. This kind of thing
accounts for a disappointingly large chunk of the game.
But, there’s good new stuff in there. A lot of the British indie-pop is
gone, but in its place there’s We Will Rock You, there’s Jesus Jones’
“Right Here Right Now” (of all things!) and there’s Willie Nelson’s
“On The Road Again”. Plus you’ve got the Pokemon theme…
All in all though, I feel more positive towards the UK one: which means
I need to invest in a way to play that’s my own.
Singstar Party, the sequel to the karaoke game Singstar, came out on
Friday. Much anticipated it was too. Basically it’s 30 new songs, proper
duets (i.e. you don’t always sing in unison), and a “party mode” for teams.
There’s still something for almost every taste, although there’s nothing
as insanely inspired as including “Ace of Spades” on the first one. Some
80s Bon Jovi style pop-rock wouldn’t go amiss..
It’s interesting how what you want to listen to can be so different from
what you want to sing. I’m not a fan of Dido, but “White Flag” is
among the most satisfying songs to sing in the game.
“Video Killed the Radio Star” probably doesn’t have the image in most
people’s minds of being a great song, but singing it — as a duet –
reveals that it really is, and it’s great fun to sing.
Conversely, songs you might have a soft spot for, are revealed to be really
bad, once you stop listening to the production and start singing them as
songs. “Survivor” (Destiny’s Child) is just awful. Javine’s “Greatest” has
verses that barely have a tune.
Elsewhere, songs that sound easy to sing turn out to be immensely
challenging — giving you new respect for the artists. I never imagined
that “A Little Time” by The Beautiful South would be hard to sing.
Bottom line though: it’s worth it for the opportunity to belt out
Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out”. That feels great.