I’ve seen some major acts play at the Kings Cross Scala over the years before they made it big, not least Deftones and The Killers, but recently I was lucky enough to step onto the same stage myself and, complete with backing singers behind me, belted out a number to the darkened auditorium.
Unfortunately there was no crowd this time though, only a few PR people behind the launch of Nordic Games’ We Sing Pop! for the Ninendo Wii — the latest addition to the market-leading series of multiplayer karaoke party games, in the same style as Singstar.
Following on the heels of We Sing Rock! last year, the pop version released 23 March follows suit with 30 global chart-toppers from six decades of music, every track a recognisable smash hit.
Aussie evergreen (in the UK at least) star Peter Andre provides one of the options with his 90s summer hit ‘Mysterious Girl’, which reached number one on its second attempt following his appearance on reality show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
I decide against attempting to emulate Peter’s inimitable talents for my choice of song to perform; in truth it was a struggle to find anything I truly liked (the list unsurprisingly is aimed more at female tastes), but eventually found Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ (pictured) to be an acceptable choice.
More dedicated pop fans will find the tracklist a bit more to their liking, with the likes of Lady Gaga, Adele, Hanson, Kelis and Wham! to select from.
And for anyone not that impressed by Peter Andre’s flying the Australian flag, there’s actually a We Sing Down Under on the market, with a tracklist comprising Aussie hits from start to finish.
In all editions there’s a range of game modes to keep interests piqued, from Group Battle to Pass The Mic, and Player Statistics give a detailed breakdown at the end of each performance, with an option to replay the efforts for praise or ridicule. We Sing is presently the only series of singing games to simultaneously support four players in any Party mode, using four separate microphones.
If it wasn’t for the backing singers supplied by the company for my slot I would’ve cut a lonely figure on that stage, Solo Mode or not. I was sent the video file of the effort afterwards but chose not to watch nor upload it – sorry!
To recreate the experience yourself join We Sing online at WeSingGame.com
The game can be bought from all major home entertainment retailers.