ic-games Review - Pop Idol - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

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Pop Idol

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Hothouse Creations
Publisher: Codemasters
Reviewed: Playstation 2
Genre: Music based (rhythm)
UK Release: 01st Nov 2003
Article Date: 01st Dec 2003
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price:
Price Comparison:
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Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 70%

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Pros

Family Fun

Great multiplayer options

Many "modes" of play

Cons

Limited single player

Some terrible singing "talent"

Screenshots

14 of 24

Pop Idol (The TV program) has a massive legion of fans that flock to their televisions whenever it airs on TV. Fans point out that it is directly responsible for bringing unknowns like Gareth Gates and Will Young to our lives while people that cant stand the program point out the very same thing. Love it, or hate it though, Pop Idol is a success and developers Hothouse Creations (of Who Wants to Be Millionaire? fame) have stirred up the love hate relationship all over again. They made it all into a game.

The appeal factor on Pop Idol the game like its television counterpart is hard to quantify, while fans of the game will buy this title regardless of what we have to say, there is still a massive amounts of fun to be had regardless of the material the game is based on which is a rare situation in licensed games. Personally I would be arrested if I wrote in this review what I thought about the people who invented the show but I can still appreciate the amount of fun that can be had from playing this title with a gathering of people. But then again, I also loved Parappa The Rappa……

And that’s because gameplay wise, Pop Idol directly borrows (directly rips?) from the massive hit Parappa the Rappa and Um Jammer Lammy before it. You must simply bash the correct buttons at the correct time to keep your own personal pop idol singing in tune. Sometimes you will be prompted to press two buttons at once (certainly as the game progresses) and that’s just about it. The more times you bash the buttons in the correct order (in time) the greater your Idol will sing. Control can be via the keypad or by using a compatible dance mat of which the majority on the market will suffice.

The main mode of the game has you creating your own Pop Idol, choosing the appropriate clothes for each round, and finally selecting a song for the auditions. If you manage to perform well enough then you’ll be brought forward to the next round and the process is repeated, stage by stage you must perform another track in front of the infamous judges which include the dreaded Simon Cowell

Other game modes are just variations of the main event; however the karaoke mode is guaranteed to get some interest from a drunken party clan. Each Idol must put down the controller and sing one of the tunes for real, as in true karaoke fashion the words are flashed in front of you to help you out. The ultimate decisions are made by your friends who vote how good your performance was and it’s left to Simon Cowell again to alert you of the decisions, again great with friends, almost useless as a single player experience.

Pop Idol does have some problems, the tracks are varied and cover quite a period of pop music history and each track is even sung by both a female singer and a male singer to add even more tracks into the mix. That’s not the problem; the problem is that unfortunately I used the term “sung” loosely. One of the greatest problems with this title is that at times you may be bashing the buttons correctly and scoring multiple points and bonuses yet your idol still sounds like a tortured rabid cat. You soon realise that while you can bash buttons correctly developers Hothouse Creations certainly didn’t bash the correct buttons on their telephone when they were offering jobs as voice talent. It’s not all bad, but just don’t expect much from your Idol, however well you yourself are doing. Add that to the fact that their never seems to be enough songs built into the game during later stages unfortunately spoils what could have been a far higher rated game.

Will Pop Idol fans like this game? They will adore it and force everyone within a hundred mile radius of them to play it. Will everyone else like it? Well that depends if you allow yourself to like it. Mix friends and family with large amounts of alcohol this Christmas and place a controller in their hands and you will have a successful party. I hate myself for saying it, but actually Pop Idol is a very good game – but only if you have access to people you can force to play it with. Yes its gameplay at its simplest form, but this gameplay was responsible for enticing people in their droves to purchase the aforementioned games like Parrapa the Rappa. It works just as well for Codemasters, and with the Pop Idol franchise it’s bound to be a massive success again. No, it’s certainly not game of the year material by any stretch of the imagination. But what it sets out to do it succeeds in; this game is a perfect family game when the family is sick of playing monopoly. As a single player experience it never gets off the ground, but add guests to the equation and a decent night in is almost guaranteed.

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