Just Sing: Holiday Edition Vol. 2

Storyline: There was no story in this game. Since this is a singing based game, I was not disappointed that a definitive story was not present. I felt it was not needed to help boost my experience of the game overall.

Gameplay: The game consists of singing to classic Christmas songs. I enjoy singing games, especially Christmas songs since the lyrics are very familiar and easy to follow. However, I was not happy that there were only two songs featured in this game. Basically, this was another repeated mistake Just Sing has made, not featuring enough Christmas songs. This second installment featured Deck the Halls and Merry Christmas. I was very disappointed that I was not offered a wider variety of holiday songs. Again, I was bored with these two songs within minutes and tossed it aside to begin playing another game.

Additionally, there is a brunette female dressed in Santa clothes, prancing around on this stage. I liked having a different character for this edition; however, I saw it unnecessary. It did not help my overall enjoyment of the game in anyway. Having animated pictures related to the song would have suited it better. 

Audio: The audio is okay at best, sounding like an orchestrated keyboard. The sound of computerized violins playing is heavily predominating and tends to tune out the other musical elements of the songs. I found it increasingly annoying as I continued singing to the song and also found it hard to match my pitch, regardless of the meters there to help me become in tune with the song. 

Graphics: The graphics for Just Sing 2 are okay. They are not something especially spectacular, but are just okay. They are exactly like its predecessor with a few pixilation problems for the general animation of the game. There is a brunette female dancing on stage this time in Santa clothes. The previous title had a blonde one, but I felt that no matter what they put up on that stage to dance around and amuse me, it was not entertaining and was an eyesore. The general animation of the character was pretty good, but when it came down to the graphical structure, the edges were pixilated and the dancer’s body was disproportionate to her other limbs and torso. 

Replayability: The lack of a variety of holiday songs eliminated any chances this game had for replayability. Merry Christmas and Deck The Halls are great Christmas songs, but I do not see why I must download new edition of Just Sing just to play more holiday songs. I would have liked to see a solid Just Sing: Holiday Edition game with an entire collection of Christmas songs to sing rather than downloading a new version. I feel it’s a waste of time and taking up valuable space on the DS.

Pros:

• New songs to sing along too

Cons:

• Lack of variety of songs to sing too
• Lackluster graphics
• Brunette dancer is a distraction in a negative way
• Audio has not improved

 Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

2/10 – Tolerable

(Value: Skip no matter the price)