Having a party? Don't forget the video games

Playing rock star
“Guitar Hero 2,” from Red Octane and Activision, suffered a similar fate with our testers. The rated-“T” game was well-received by our panel, but it was clear that mastering this game would take a whole lot of practice. The game, which sells for $49.99 or $79.99 if you want it bundled with a guitar, is very similar in style to “Dance Dance Revolution.” But instead of stepping on a mat, players press buttons and flip levers on a plastic guitar.

Game tester Jason Black, 34, said he lacked the hand-eye coordination — and the practice — necessary to master “Guitar Hero.”And Loken, our master boxer, struggled to press the correct buttons at the right time. But 34 year-old Tyler Landas, who plays the guitar in real life, liked feeling like he was playing a song — without worrying about hitting all the right chords.

Got a strong ego? Play 'American Idol'
Hitting the right chords is essential to win at Konami’s “Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol."  And to play this game, it also helps to have a bulletproof ego.

As with the reality TV show, you’ll sing in front of a panel of judges, including the famously acerbic Simon Cowell and the Big Dawg himself, Randy Jackson. Paula Abdul, who didn’t lend her likeness to the game, is replaced by “Laura,” who is pretty dull by comparison. All judges take turns pummeling players for tunelessness, lack of rhythm and poor showmanship. If you want to pay $39.99 ($54.99 with the microphone) to get your Hollywood dreams dashed, this is your game.

You can play the “E10+” –rated “American Idol” without the judges’ remarks, but our panel didn’t like that. They wanted — and waited for — the judges’ feedback even when they were being torn apart for their bad singing.

“I’d buy this game just for the insults at the end,” said Tyler Landas.

Spontaneous sing-a-longs
The good thing about “American Idol?” It got our crowd involved. In fact, the worse someone sang, the more the crowd wanted to “help out” with sideline sing-a-longs. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a fair share of laughter at the singer’s expense, though.

Fear of embarassment is what prevented our crowd from crowding around the microphone. That and being unfamiliar with the songs in the game, which included a pretty recognizable range of tunes including “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,’" “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Do I Make You Proud.”

“The songs that they had on (‘American Idol’) are not the songs that I necessarily listen to and know by heart,” said Swantek, who, along with his male compatriots, murdered a version of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” "Confidence goes way down when you have no idea what lyrics are coming,” he said.

'Wario Ware' just wasn't fun to watch
Knowing what to expect turned out to be important with our panel. That was a key problem with Nintendo’s critically acclaimed “Wario Ware: Smooth Moves,” which features a collection of mini-games that the player has to figure out in a split second.

The games in the “E10+”-rated “Smooth Moves” ($49.99) were funny — and weird. For example, players may have to sauté food, shave a moustache — or even pick a nose. And though it can be a lot of fun to play alone, Swantek didn’t think it was fun for parties. "It's not fun to watch," he said.

And ultimately, that's the key with these party games. The people watching the gameplay need to feel like they're having as much fun — and possibly even more — than those doing the playing.

So go ahead and laugh at your friends as they sing, dance or flail around like fools. Remember, they'll be doing the same when it's your turn.

MORE FROM GAMES

Games Section Front

10 best Wii games of 2009   Game designers take aim at Tiger Fitness video games are reshaping medium November video game sales slump at retail   Harry Potter is back, with a LEGO update Video games take bigger role in education 10 best PC games of 2009   'Avatar: The Video Game' crashes and burns   'Tony Hawk: Ride’ is an epic fail 10 best Nintendo DS games of the year Games Section Front   Add Games headlines to your news reader: