About.com Rating



Lips: Number One Hits is Microsoft and developer iNiS’ follow up to their 2008 karaoke title, Lips. Known as much for having the best microphones on the Xbox 360 as it was for having great party gameplay, Lips was a decently strong contender in the increasingly crowded music/rhythm genre. Number One Hits polishes up the formula a bit to produce a better game, but stumbles when it comes to overall value.

Find out all of the details right here.

Game Details

• Publisher: Microsoft
• Developer: iNiS
• ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
• Genre: Karaoke
• Pros: Nice presentation; Avatar Awards; great microphones; fun party game
• Cons: Only 250 GamerScore; disc swapping with first Lips; full price for only half a game

Lips: Number One Hits is a stand-alone music game, but it is clearly just an expansion pack for the first Lips. The Achievements for the game are interchangeable with the first Lips (as in, they are the same in each game and you only earn 1000/1000 between them) but #1Hits does have 250 GS of its own. Pretty disappointing that owners of both games can’t earn a full 2000GS. Heck, your Xbox 360 can’t even distinguish between the two games and just calls them both “Lips”.

Number One Hits does come with 40 brand new songs as well as a DLC code to download 5 more, so in terms of getting new stuff it isn’t bad. There is also tons of DLC available so you should be able to find a decent number of songs you like.

One not so good feature is that songs from the first Lips are available to play in #1Hits, but to actually play them you are prompted to switch discs to the first game so you have to switch discs all the time which sucks. That aside, the music list overall is varied and players of all music preferences will find songs they like. Par for the course for most karaoke games.

The value of #1Hits is hurt a bit as the original Lips was $70 and came with two microphones and this new game is $60 and only comes with one. Considering the overwhelming “expansion pack” feel of it all, that is pretty disappointing.

The microphones themselves are pretty easily the best microphones for the Xbox 360. They are wireless, motion sensitive, and are now compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero games so you can get a lot of use out of them beyond just playing Lips. For this reason, if you want a newer/better microphone for the full band games, picking up Lips: Number One Hits isn’t a bad option instead of buying the mic by itself for $40.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty typical karaoke game fare. The words appear at the bottom of the screen as well as in a horizontally scrolling track in the middle of the screen that also has “tubes” which are where your pitch is supposed to be. Sing the words at the right time and keep your pitch in the tubes and you earn more points. Pretty simple. The motion sensitive microphones let you do things like add in tambourine shakes or drum beats as well as match movements in real life that your avatar performs onscreen. All in all, it feels roughly the same as the singing parts in other music games, so you can’t really complain.

Where Lips: Number One Hits has those games beaten is in the pick up and play nature of it all. You can set the game to just play music, such as during a party, and if people want to sing they just shake the microphone to activate it. Very cool. The way the microphones light up and make different sounds if you shake them or hit them makes the whole experience a lot more active and interesting than typical karaoke experiences. It is easy to get into and really fun given the right group of people.

Other features in the game include modes where you “fight” with opponents onscreen by singing better than they do or fill a glass with water by singing well and then turning the microphone to pour the water on the lit fuse of a bomb. You can also play a freestyle mode where you load music from your iPod/Zune/MP3 player, 360 Hard Drive, or stream it from your PC and can sing along. There aren’t any words onscreen in this mode, but it lets you sing whatever songs you want and if you already know the words to the songs it is a nice addition.

Presentation

Lips: Number One Hits is a nice looking and sounding game. The menus are attractive and easy to use and selecting from the huge number of songs is quick and easy. I like that all songs – #1Hits, original Lips, and DLC – are all presented in one menu, easily differentiated from one another by different colored logos, and easy to pick from and play.

One additional presentation note is that this is the first game to have Avatar Awards. You earn some goofy looking hats and sunglasses and stuff, but it is pretty cool. My Avatar is rocking a big, tall, poofy top hat now and I couldn’t be happier.

Bottom Line

All in all, Lips: Number One Hits is kind of a mixed bag. In comparison to the original Lips, it is a bit of a disappointment in terms of value and features since they are basically the same game. There are a few tweaks and improvements that make #1Hits better, but in terms of overall value it can kind of be hard to justify the $60 tag if you already own Lips. On the other hand, if you don’t have the first Lips and want a game, #1Hits is pretty awesome. Likewise, if you want a new microphone to use with other music games, the Lips mic is easily the best on the Xbox 360 so getting one along with the game is a pretty sweet deal. If you are a karaoke fan, you should buy it. If you are just looking for a new music game, you should buy it. Keep in mind, though, that Lips and Number One Hits are basically the same game (just with different track lists), so if you find the original Lips with two mics for cheaper than you can find Number One Hits with one mic, the original is the way to go. It isn’t a question of quality, just value, but whether it is the original Lips or Number One Hits, one or the other (or both) are worth picking up.