Do you like “Tale as Old as Time” in Beauty and the Beast? How about “I’ll Make a man out of you” in Mulan? Or maybe “Part of Your World” in The Little Mermaid? Well, these songs and many other great hits did not make it into the final cut for Zoe Mode’s, Disney Sing It: Family Hits. However, there are many other enjoyable and not so enjoyable, songs within the game.
When it comes to Karaoke games, Disney Sing it does many things correctly. When singing a song, the game will match your pitch with the song’s notes. Even on the hardest difficulty, there is a small margin of error to matching the two, not necessarily negative given the target audience. Children will not only enjoy singing-along to Cars and Monsters, Inc., but older generations can enjoy songs from Aladdin and Lion King. While playing the game we felt the warming sensation of the same Disney magic that touched us as kids. After singing your song you have the option to listen to your own recording. While listening to your performance you are offered with some limited options to edit your voice. These options are few and don’t do anything more than give you a few fleeting laughs while using them. The enjoyment you get out of this option is correlated to the enthusiasm the player gives to the song. With the exception of a few songs, the game is very easily mastered. We were able to jump right into the game, on the hardest difficulty, and receive high scores.
Some of the songs were not songs at all. They were simply reading text from the feeder. In particular, the “Work Song” from Cinderella movie was fifty percent talking, not singing. Songs like the “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride” were difficult to get the correct words but still very entertaining to sing. At the end of the song you are rated on a 5-star scale; however, while singing there is no way to tell how close you are to the next grade without having a full understanding of how points translate to stars. In each song there are small sections that allocate extra points for success. This adds a little pressure to those spots, which generally fall during a chorus or well-known part of the song. This adds a positive aspect to the gameplay.
Even though many of the songs have a full sequence of corresponding clips, they were edited incorrectly. Simply taking the sequence from the movies and putting into the game would have done much more for the song than the sequences they threw together. However, the video quality makes up for the lackluster movie clips. These clips continue to stalk you even when you try to escape to a serene menu. The pitch bars obstruct the screen so much that onlookers are unable to watch the video clips.
The default audio settings for the game can be a little annoying. The game is set to have some voice playback while you are singing, making it difficult for the players to hear the actual song. Once this issue was resolved the audio quality becomes clear and a pleasure to listen to minus (potentially) the singer’s voice. The microphone bundled with the game results in occasional crackling and spotty coverage. There is no story in sight. No career mode, no characters, and no advancement beyond leader boards. Only quick play is present in this game.
Ultimately, the biggest flaw of Disney Sing It: Family Hits is the limited song selection. Beyond personal preferences, the inclusion of songs without human-like voices detracts from the experience, especially given the totality of Disney’s vault of songs. This could be forgiven if an online store was incorporated within the game for additional a-la-carte purchases, but alas there is not. The party play modes are what will keep most players coming back, and for the most part these modes are successful. Specifically duet mode with two microphones allows each player to play the role as one of the characters in the song. Solo play is limited because of the lack of online leader boards. While it may take a few tries, you will continue trying to become a SUPERSTAR! at your favorite songs.
Disney Sing It: Family Hits is a brilliant concept: take classic Disney songs and put them in a karaoke game. However, a few failings in execution and the lack of downloadable songs hurt the overall experience enough to stop this game from receiving a full recommendation. We encourage you to look at the song list. If by chance your top thirty Disney songs are on there, you will most likely have a ton of fun with the game.
-Dew and JB
6/10 Solid
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