Back when I was younger, I had the likes of The Jungle Book, Aladdin and The Lion King to sing along to. Rather impressively (well I think so at least) I can still remember all the words to half a dozen animated Disney films. Perhaps a useless piece of knowledge but it gives me a nice warm, fuzzy feeling. Now though, Disney music is all about Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers and High School Musical. The cynic in me might complain and lament the loss of ‘proper’ Disney music, but the kids like it so it’s obviously doing something right. This is where we come to Disney Sing It: Pop Hits. You see, if you’re over the age of about 15, this is your idea of hell. Worst of all is, if you’re a parent it’s a form of hell that you won’t be able to escape as your kids will love it.
Disney Sing It: Pop Hits offers 30 songs in all which is quite reasonable for the budget price. They range from the likes of Coldplay and Duffy to the popular tones of Miley Cyrus and, er, Demi Lovato who it seems is best known for Camp Rock according to my 9 year old neighbour. Yes I did feel very out of touch here although I did recognise a scary number of High School Musical and Hannah Montana tracks.
The basic one player Sing It mode was the preferred choice by my neighbour who so conveniently managed to appear at the relevant moment. It’s a simple mode where your aim is to have fun and try to hit the right notes every once in a while. Overlooking the initial feeling of self consciousness when singing in your living room, it became quite fun after a while although I did find myself enjoying the likes of Duffy and Coldplay a lot more than anything Miley Cyrus could offer! Of course the target demograph, in the form of my cousin, absolutely loved it and was a proper little diva dancing away at the same time. I was pleased to see that nothing was too hard here, meaning I didn’t have to risk any temper tantrums or microphone through TV incidents. The game is obviously designed to have fun rather than punish you for poor singing, which was very fortunate in my case!
After a short time we switched to playing against each other. Big mistake for me, as she wiped the floor clean with me. Run the Risk was the most fun whereby each player wagers how many points they’ll score against what the other player will achieve. Oh the urge to suggest a nice, ‘friendly’ game of Modern Warfare 2 to show her who’s best at games. It was a decent laugh though and would certainly make for a great party game once in a while, as well as a perfect distraction technique for when my young cousins come round.
For those wanting to learn to sing more ‘properly’, there’s the addition of the Sing It Pro mode where players are guided through a series of exercises. Along the way you learn how to breathe properly while singing as well as how to perform duets and harmonies correctly. As you improve, more lessons are unlocked which is a nice touch to encourage players. There are also a series of awards to collect in the main half of the game, much like achievements or trophies. Again, my 9 year old test subject loved this form of congratulations.
Disney Sing It: Pop Hits, as much as I didn’t really expect it, is actually a great way of spending a few weekend afternoons with younger gamers. It’s not really the sort of game you want to admit to owning for fear of wrecking any gaming credibility you may have, but it is the perfect way of entertaining kids while having a bit of fun yourself. Do expect to have all the lines of The Climb and Right Here, Right Now stuck in your head though. And I don’t mean the Fatboy Slim version either!
VideogameUK verdict: 7/10
