We Sing 80s Review

Another Christmas holiday is coming around and anyone who possesses a Wii will undoubtedly be dusting it off to get it ready for the upcoming festivities. We Sing: 80s is the latest edition to the We Sing series, so if you’ve got any of the previous games then you surely will be considering adding this to your collection. Just like the other We Sing games, the genre of songs can be guessed from the title.

Just like every other We Sing title, We Sing: 80s has a range of tunes to try out. In fact there are 30 songs to get to grips with. Some of the singles include: Baltimora – Tarzan Boy, The Bangels – Eternal Flame, Blondie – The Tide is High, Cameo – Word Up, Culture Club – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen, Duran Duran – Rio, Frankie Goes to Hollywood – The Power of Love, The Human League – Don’t You Want Me, Kylie Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky, Paula Abdul – Straight Up, Queen – I Want to Break Free, Simple Minds – Alive & Kicking, Spandau Ballet – True, Tears for Fears – Shout, Tiffany – I Think We’re Alone Now and Toto – Africa are just a few of the famous 80’s hits. There is enough here for every fluorescent socked singer out there!

There are various multiplayer modes on offer, they include Group Battle, We Sing, Versus, Pass the Mic, First to X, Expert, Blind and Marathon. If you ever played a We Sing game before then none of these will be new, but for the uninitiated here’s a quick overview: We Sing, is where two or more players can sing together as a particular artist or on different parts of the song. Versus, is a straight head-to-head showdown, while Group Battle is the same as Versus but you play in groups. In First to X, the first player to reach a designated points total wins, and in Pass the Mic each player takes a turn on the microphone. Blind, has you battling against other players, but this time the lyrics & sounds randomly disappear, while Marathon allows you to sing a specific playlist of songs and, finally, Expert tests you by presenting no on screen pitch bars and no on screen lyrics. Blind is arguably the most interesting because it can become quite enjoyable watching someone trying to sing whilst the lyrics and sound disappear randomly.

Graphically We Sing: 80s is average, the music videos definitely look like they are from the 80’s, but I guess that’s the whole point. The videos themselves will surely bring back lots of good and bad memories for any player who was brought up during that decade. Navigating between the menus is very easy and you’re able to get to where you want reasonably quickly.

The award system is back but it only adds a little more longevity to We Sing: 80s. It’s below average fanfare for the single player, but We Sing: 80s is, of course, best served with multiple players, just like any party game worth its salt. For the most part the microphone works well and there’s very few occasions where the hardware lets you down.

We Sing: 80s is a competent game that does karaoke very well and will entertain many a household. However, the We Sing series as a whole is not ground-breaking and the same thing can be said about We Sing: 80s. If you already enjoy any of the We Sing series then you are probably going to get enjoyment out of We Sing: 80s. It’s the ideal game for a party atmosphere, but it’s a pretty uninvolving experience for the single player.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.