American Idol is a television show that just seems to get bigger and bigger every year. Each episode is supposedly gaining millions of votes more then the previous week after week. Once it's all said and done another "Pop Star" is born and the world is a better place, supposedly. So if it's so huge on television why not make a game about it? Heck lets make two of them.

Encore is the first Karaoke Revolution title on the 360. Unfortunately due to most likely good sales by the mass market, it will probably have a few sequels to torture gamers for years to come. There aren't many choices for singing titles, though on the 360 and as a party game it shows merit.

There are over forty songs on the DVD to get you started with. They range from songs by Barry Manilow and Madonna, to newer songs from Hinder and Rihanna. That's quite the range of songs, most likely designed to cater to the various people that will end up playing this. A little bit of rock, pop, and well, garbage to keep everyone entertained. The good news is that there are a ton of downloadable songs in Xbox Marketplace to make the game last a bit longer, more likely though to attempt to make it more playable. Well let's face it - not everyone really wants to sing Elton John over and over again so there is at least an option.

The game interface for those that have played previous titles is exactly the same. The game is suppose to verify the words and pitch, but pitch and timing is about all that matters as you hum your way through songs. The graphics look like they are straight off of the PS2, but look at it this way - you really don't want to look at the graphics anyway as the animations look like the figure is having a seizure. It's almost comical if you turn down all the song effects and watch the character flail about.

Paula, Randy, and Simon are all there to give you their opinion of your ability to sing. They have Paula's goofiness down, Simon is still an ass and well Randy is as annoying as ever, dog. The good news is that you can skip over their comments as by the third time hearing them is more then enough to last a life time. They add little to the game, unless you are a huge fan that needs to have the comments from the trio to give yourself worth.

As for achievements, if you actually "play" the game they are going to be tough as you need to get perfect on every song. You can trick the game by turning down all the audio minus the vocals, which are not even close to the real singers, and put the microphone by the speakers. With that trick it's actually a good game for points, but it still takes a bit to get through it. At least the poor animation gives you some laughs.


Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB for Content Descriptors. This game can also be found on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation 2.