CMT Presents: Karaoke Revolution Country
Gameplay:
For those of you that have already partaken in the Karaoke Revolution craze you're no doubt looking for some new songs to brush up your vocals with. CMT: KR offers a wide birth of tunes to choose from with 35 in total. The tracks all range in age from stuff like Dolly Parton "9 to 5" to "Wide Open Space" by the Dixie Chicks. No matter how old you are and no matter what your preference is, there are songs here you know even if you don't like country music.
The gameplay modes are pretty standard but before you can get into that you have to decide whether or not you want to use a preassembled character or create your own. The pickings are kind of slim as far as options are concerned but there are enough items in place to ensure that everybody playing has a unique looking avatar. My particular one was a guy named Billy Bob with a Chuck Norris-esque moustache, a blonde mullet, and a beer gut that protruded from a pink shirt with a skull on it. There's no rule stating that you have to play as someone that just crawled out of a trailer park, but for some reason I just couldn't resist. Once Billy Bob was ready to perform I figured it was time to get him on stage and start causing some damage to my vocal cords.
The modes here are pretty much the same as any other Karaoke Revolution game though the Showtime career mode is absent. The first game option you have is Quick Play. In that particular mode the game guides you through each song, much like DDR. There are on screen cues (aside from just the lyrics) that give you some sense of the needed pitch and duration of the note. A little arrow next to the bar indicates how well you are doing and tilts one way or another as you adjust the pitch of your voice. After a verse you are given a quick rank to tell you how well you did but the song doesn't let up to let you celebrate your greatness. There is also a meter that tells you how into you the crowd is and an overall score that accumulates while you perform.
There is a Karaoke mode where you can simply sing along to whatever song you want to without the stress of hitting that perfect note. This mode was just as decent as the Quick Play one though I do have say that Karaoke was a lot more relaxed, whereas the former felt like it was trying to develop my singing capability. Then again if you're the type that doesn't want to be caught singing by yourself in the living room you can always have some friends over for a group session.
The idea of getting a bunch of people together and playing through sing offs, knock outs, and such is nice, but I couldn't help feel that things were better just by playing the normal Quick Play or Karaoke modes. A couple of mini games helped spice things up though I found my commands to be ignored at just about every turn. In particular while playing the volleyball game no matter how many times and how many ways I tried getting my team to move up or down they wouldn't budge. You can only scream into a microphone so much before you get tired of the game and move on. Luckily the rest of the game is solid and the game seems to only be unresponsive during these minor diversions.
Despite the overall enjoyable gameplay and potential that CMT: KR has it's hard to deny the fact that it has a very limited audience. You have to enjoy karaoke, want to play it on the PlayStation 2, and like country music. If you don't meet at least two of those criteria then chances are good this game isn't right for you. Fans of Karaoke Revolution will definitely want to be on the look out for this title though. It's more of the same with a new roster of songs and a nice change in atmosphere.
Graphics:
Compared to other Karaoke Revolution games the CMT edition looks decent enough. Compared to other games in general it fails miserably. That seems to be a common theme with the rhythm genre and an obstacle that doesn't seem to be anywhere near being passed. Character models are rather limited in terms of design and animation. Movements are often awkward and the background characters don't help matters much either. The environments are decent enough but the baggage that comes with them gets rather distracting. Once you get into the song though you won't really pay attention to what's on screen, so in that sense you probably won't notice the graphics.
Audio:
You might think that 35 songs is a lot, but considering the range in quality of them it's really not. I'm sorry, but there's no chance that I'm going to sing "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" or "Stand By Your Man". Still, there were quite a few songs here that I did like and they are presented well enough with optional volume control for vocals and music. Like the game in general, your appreciation of this release will rest solely on where you stand with country music.
Conclusion:
It's not the strongest release in the Karaoke Revolution line up but CMT brings a welcome expansion to the table. The atmosphere and songs are undeniably country (for better or worse) and true fans of both the music genre and the KR franchise will definitely want to pick this up. Everyone else can skip it without a second thought since this particular brand isn't as accessible or popular as DDR.