E-Mail This Article to a Friend Revolution rock Konami brings karaoke home BY MITCH KRPATA
	Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 Published by Konami. Developed by Harmonix. For PlayStation 2. Rated E for Everyone.

If watching American Idol has taught me anything, it's that my dream of becoming a successful, shiny pants-wearing pop singer probably isn't going to happen. Not only do I have a lousy singing voice, but after five seconds of absorbing the withering barbs of a condescending British twit, I would probably cry. Fortunately, with Karoake Revolution Volume 3, I can indulge my wildest Robbie Williams fantasies and punch out anyone in the room who's got a smart-ass remark.

This is the third in the surprisingly popular series of karaoke games from Konami. As before, you'll need an input device in order to play the game. I used the Logitech USB microphone, which retails for $19.99. It's lightweight, but has a long enough cable that you can jump up on the furniture and swing it around like a windmill without running out of cord. You can also use Sony's proprietary headset, which sells for $29.99. Given the choice, the microphone seems to me the better option, but if you already have the headset for other titles, it may not be worth investing in the mic.

The gameplay in Karaoke Revolution should be familiar to anyone who's played similar games such as Parappa the Rapper or Dance Dance Revolution (or, I suppose, to anyone who's ever performed karaoke). As the song plays, the lyrics scroll across the bottom of the screen, along with bars indicating the length and pitch of each syllable. The more closely your vocals match the song, the higher your score will be. The microphone does a fine job of accurately interpreting your rhythm and tone (adjusted for your own vocal range), but it can't discern what words you're saying. It is possible to get a high score by slurring the lyrics, or singing outright gibberish, but it's also less fun that way.

You have a few game modes to choose from.

There's straight karaoke, in which you simply sing along to the song and nothing much else happens. In single-player mode, you start off as a singer with a dream and nothing much else. Selecting one of several characters as your avatar (there's the sensitive rock god, the goth chick, an Elvis impersonator, and even a robot), you start off singing in a garage. If you get a high enough score, you unlock new venues and new songs, and eventually perform for an arena full of screaming fans, at the end of which a blimp bearing your name flies overhead. It takes about 20 minutes to unlock all the levels – not the biggest challenge in the world (though getting high scores on each song will also make available new characters, such as a guy in a microphone costume and a pirate, and new outfits for existing characters; make of that what you will).

So what makes single-player fun? There are some nice details in the levels. If you do a good job in the garage stage, for example, the sliding doors open and the cars outside start bumping like they were in a Snoop video. Later, you'll find colorful light shows and massive balloon drops. Character design tends toward the super-deformed anime style, giving the characters blunt, spiky hair and oversized heads. And the backing band is always there, rocking away. In particular, during guitar solos, your lead player does the whole guitar-as-penis thing, the Pete Townshend windmill, and various other self-indulgent bits of wankery. I may never get tired of that guy.

But the true allure of Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 is in its multiplayer modes. For the first time in the series, you can hook up two microphones and sing duets. There's also a competitive two-player mode, where the better singer can knock their opponent out of the game. (The only problem with this is that Karaoke Revolution is the first video game my girlfriend's ever been better than me at. It's probably her revenge for when I made her play me in FIFA 2005.)

This is probably the best party game available on the PlayStation 2, and the type of game that even people who don't like video games can get into. While I have yet to play the game in a room full of drunk people, I can only imagine that that's where the real action is.

With a decent song selection, including recent hits like Hoobastank's "The Reason" and Usher's "Burn," plus karaoke standards such as "Unchained Melody" and "Respect," there's something here for just about everyone. I wouldn't have minded seeing some Radiohead in there, but I guess that's a little much to ask.

Regardless, Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 is a blast, even if your friends aren't terribly likely to throw panties at you while you belt out the chorus of "Twist and Shout."

Score: 7.5 (out of 10)