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Live out your dream as a singing sensation with Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2! Play with friends and family online using the brand new co-op head-to-head mode, or compete in front of all three American Idol judges and sing your way to stardom. Tailor your game experience with all-new enhanced and customizable characters, features and downloadable songs. Are you ready to be the next American Idol?

Genre: Music

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Blitz Games

Online Play:

Local Play: 8 Versus

November 24, 2008 –
Yeah; I can’t believe I’m reviewing this game either. Less than a year ago — less than ten months ago — I reviewed Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore and here I am in the same calendar year reviewing its sequel, Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2. You might be wondering how Blitz Games and Konami could possibly pump out another game so quickly, and the answer is deceptively simple: they changed next to nothing and ignored the problems people had with the original title.

Sigh. I really don’t know where to begin. This is nearly the exact same game I reviewed in February except 40 new crappy cover songs have been brought in to replace the last 40 crappy covers that were in the first title, downloaded songs are now a different color on the selection screen, three new venues have been added, and the new Karaoke mode allows you to sing without scores. Beyond those changes, we’re dealing with a basic rehash. Just like before, you’ll pick a song and take it into one of a handful of modes, but the gist is that you’ll need to recite the lyrics as they scroll by the bottom of the screen while you sing on key and in time to get the on-screen arrow to cover the pitch and timing bars. Pick an American Idol mode over a straight singing session, and your performance will be critiqued by Randy, Paula, and Simon.

Judge this video.If you bought the original KRPAIE, this sequel will be a slap in the face from the start because the menus are nearly the exact same. As you delve further into the title, you’ll find the same singing venues with slight variations and the ridiculous fact that Randy, Paula, and Simon are in the same outfits as the original game — Simon’s T-shirt and Paula’s necklace are different colors, but everything else is a carbon copy. The character customization tools are still extremely limited and don’t give you a chance to really create anything resembling you (sorry, fatties like me, you can’t change body types), your character still doesn’t react when you begin sucking at singing, and the animations for the judges still look like they were recorded by broken robots from Disney World.

Now, I know that releasing sequels with minor tweaks is common practice in this industry so you might be wondering why I’m making such a stink. The answer is that I’m disappointed in Karaoke Revolution because this game shouldn’t exist. Since the release of the original game, Konami’s been great about pumping out downloadable content — there are more than 140 songs available to download right now. Why wouldn’t you just put these 40 songs up as downloads and give the KRPAIE team more time to create a better game? Also sucky is the fact that the 140 songs you could download for the original game work in the sequel, but the DLC that’s being churned out for the sequel won’t work on the original. Basically, if you connected with the original title, you got eight months of use out of it but now have to upgrade if you want your DLC collection to keep growing.

With my anger over the fact that nothing has really changed in this game out of the way, I’m happy to tell you first-time KRPAIE players that you can do better than this game. Like I said in my last review, this title is a letdown on multiple fronts. The options for editing a character are extremely limited, you need a headset to communicate online even though you’re holding a frickin’ microphone, and — my biggest gripe — this doesn’t feel like I’m on American Idol. There’s no Ryan Seacrest; when people are cut, their names are just put on screen without any kind of cutscene or drama; and when you win the competition, you’re just given a lame screen. However, you can set up four- to 18-round American Idol tournaments, sing duets with a second mic, battle your friends and play online.

Look familiar?

KRPAIE 2 Songs

867-5309/Jenny
Apologize

Big Girls Don’t Cry
Don’t Know Much

Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
Enjoy The Silence

Eye Of The Tiger
Hey There Delilah

I’m Every Woman
I’m Like A Bird

If It Makes You Happy
Imagine

Islands In The Stream
Just The Two Of Us

Life Is A Highway
Livin’ On A Prayer

Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow
Losing My Religion

Maggie May
Maneater

Mr. Brightside
My Happy Ending

Over My Head (Cable Car)
Paint It Black

Pinball Wizard
Rocket Man

Seven Nation Army
Since U Been Gone

Speed Of Sound
Stayin’ Alive

Take Me Out
That’s The Way I Like It

The Sweet Escape
Vacation

Wannabe
Who Knew

Y.M.C.A.
Crazy In Love

It’s Not Over
Wait For You

Sure, the singing works, it can be fun with friends and there’s nothing broken in the game, but overall, this is a phoned-in attempt to have something new in stores for Black Friday. You can only buy this game with the microphone, and $50 is too much for a halfhearted sequel. Only seven of the venues support the Xbox camera; and even though you can have eight-person American Idol tournaments online, no one is playing this thing. You can’t import the tracks from the first game into the second one via a download like Rock Band nor can you easily swap discs like SingStar.

Closing Comments
Although I’ve stated several times that not much is different in Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol 2, that’s not entirely true. See, when the game came out on Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 2 in February, all of those versions were the same disappointing experience except for the PS2 entry, which let you put your face on a character and had a bunch of other nifty doodads. Rather than take these cool PS2 features to the other consoles for this sequel, Konami and Blitz made the only major change to this iteration of the title and dropped the PS2 SKU altogether.

Seriously, if you already have the original version of this game, there’s no reason to pick this one up unless you’re in love with the set list or aching for new DLC. If you didn’t pick up the first game, I still wouldn’t recommend getting this one. It works fine, but these are just lame covers of the songs you know and the American Idol name doesn’t add any value to this game. Plus, you could just buy the original game used and invest the money you’ve saved into downloadable songs that you actually want instead of the 40 tracks this game sticks you with.

IGN Ratings for Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2 (X360)

Rating Description

out of 10
click here for ratings guide

3.5
Presentation
Everything is nearly identical to February’s game. The judges are in the same clothes. The empty environments and unknown announcer voice remain. None of this makes me feel like I’m on the show.

6.0
Graphics
The visuals are sharp and the colors are bright, but it doesn’t matter because the stages/menus are bare and the models try to be realistic but come off looking like androids.

7.5
Sound
Just like the show, the cover band is lame, but you can hear yourself without a problem and the real judges are a nice touch.

5.5
Gameplay
The singing system works, but any excitement you’d have for playing will be sapped by the same issues (lackluster character editing, robo-judges, etc.) we saw in the first game.

5.5
Lasting Appeal
If you’ve never played the first one, you might enjoy this for a bit. Still, the generic feel of the game won’t wow you, no one’s playing online, and this isn’t a true American Idol experience.

5.5
Mediocre
OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

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