We Sing Rock

I have many skills. One of which is that I can draw. I also can play the saxophone and I can even fly gliders. Another skill of mine is the ability to write words… like these words… like these words that you are reading right here. One of my many ‘non-skills’ is the ability (or inability) is to sing like an angel (after having her wicked way with X Factor’s Gary Barlow). This meant I was not only shameless, but that I was a perfect candidate to try out Nordic Games newest singing game We Sing Rock.

Obviously I couldn’t go without my partner in singing crime, Susan (In the event of a singing event that Susan and I both attend, the safety glass may shatter itself). The event was held in a Karaoke Bar called Lucky Voice, which was underneath a Yo Sushi. Because it was underground it looked like a dingy cave. To Susan and I it looked amazing. Exactly the sort of dingy dive that we like to get our song on in (try saying ‘song on in’ fifty times when you’re drunk)!

When we were shown into our Karaoke room, it was like they knew we were coming. Not only was there the singing game, but there was also a box of wearable props. Obviously, I went straight for the wigs and the novelty cowboy hat and Susan went straight for a hat that looked exactly like one she already owns. She could have walked out with it and people would have just assumed that it was hers, but she didn’t. Honest. A true paragon. If she wanted it, she would just have walked out, and if anyone had asked questions, she would have just used her Filipino glare that she inherited from her mother. I think it turned someone to stone once! It even scared the tills in Superdrug when it didn’t show up her multi-buy discounts!

But, you’re not here to read about hats; you would be reading ‘hatter-up.net’ if that were the case. You’re here to hear about We Sing Rock, and what is the most important thing about a singing game? The songs. Fortunately, this game has a great selection. It has some really good songs that you might not expect from a Wii singing game, like ‘I Believe In a Thing Called Love’ by the Darkness (that really did take our voices glass shatteringly high); ‘Eye of the Tiger’ by Survivor, which you must have on a Rock singing game by law, I think, and the awesome ‘Final Countdown’ by Europe.

One song in particular stood as as a Karaoke favourite that Susan and I have taken pleasure in massacring in singing sessions before. The anthem, the awesome ‘Alone’ by Heart. After I epically squealed my way through the song in our We Sing cave, without noticing that the door was open and everyone could hear my slightly less than dulcet tones. Still, what I lack in pitch perfection, I more than make up for in terms of passion and epic arm movements!

I kinda panicked when I wondered what other people would think of my singing, but at least I got to see what the game thought of my singing. And the game was part of a Wii, and Wiis are my friends. Or so I thought. The game asked ‘Did any glasses shatter?’. Of course, I was horrifically insulted by that comment, (it’s fine if I say it about myself, not so much if non-sentient devices chip in) and was tempted to shatter the glass of the TV screen but it wasn’t the poor TV’s fault, it was just the middleman, a pawn in this singing game.

I got to see Kevin Leathers, the senior producer of We Sing Rock, who said that he was the brains behind the game having insults but when he saw the Fran glare (not to mention Susan’s ancient Filipino death look) he quickly added that he just had the idea, he hadn’t written any of the insults himself. We asked him the obvious: why did he pick Rock as the genre for the next stage of the We Sing franchise. He said that they gave it to the public to decide, asking on forums and on social network sites what they would like, and the public yelled back “We Want ROCK”!!!

One of the features that can actually help you get better is the fact that the game actually has singing lessons built in, so if I got the game, I might eventually move down from shattering glass and may only shatter plastic rulers instead (shatterproof my pert arse)! Kevin said that it was mainly to help people learn the game, but also to add more to the single-player element, making We Sing Rock a karaoke game that you can play by yourself without needing friends. Not that my friends always stick around when I get stuck into ‘Alone’ for the third time in an evening.

I asked him if I played the game non-stop from now on, would I be able to get on X Factor and meet Gary Barlow for next year’s auditions. He told me that I would definitely get on X Factor (Yay!) but that it wouldn’t be for the right reasons (Boo! Sorry, that gets four ‘Nos’). Still, it’s probably just as well, otherwise this time next year I would be in prison for molesting Take That band members who have really grown into their looks. He said that I didn’t need to sing to get that far, but I want to get to judges’ houses. Well, who wouldn’t want a free holiday in LA with Mr. Barlow?  Still, I do have an incentive to get better, Kevin did say that if I won the X Factor, he would make a game about me… ‘We Sing Fran’… so I’d better get cracking on that music lesson mode then. Fame, fortune, tie-in video games and that hot piece of ass Gary Barlow… Muhahahahahaaa!

We Sing Rock is out next month, so keep an eye out for our, hopefully not so glass shattering review.