Yoostar 2 Updated Preview

Most people seem convinced they sound great belting out a few bars in the privacy of their own bathroom recording studio. And let's face it, who hasn't been to at least one party and heard an atrocious impression of a classic film line? Hey you, party mood wrecker, it's time to put your money where your mouth is and find out if you should really follow through on that dream of dropping out of school to become a professional Peter Sellers or Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator.

When the original Yoostar launched on the PC and Mac in North America in 2009, it came bundled with a stack of stuff to re-create the film studio experience at home. It packed a video camera, a stereo microphone, a home green screen, accessories, and software. Two years on, and technology has caught up with our desire to be in the middle of the film universe. When the sequel, Yoostar 2, launches globally in the coming months, it will consist of a modest piece of software that interfaces directly with either Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing camera or Sony's PlayStation Eye USB device. We recently got the chance to put on our best acting face and step into the scene with a work-in-progress version for the PlayStation 3.

Gameplay focuses on either solo play or acting in pairs. In solo scenes, you take on the part of a lead actor or actress who has been digitally erased to make room for you. Tag-teaming a scenario with a friend allows you and a partner to take turns delivering alternating lines of dialogue. Text appears onscreen before it needs to be delivered, and like karaoke games, you'll need to wait on the bouncing ball to sync up timing with the source. There's no penalty for launching in early or missing a beat because you're not singing to backing music, but if you nail the phrase timing, it will be reflected in the star rating score that the game uses to rate your performance at the end of your turn. Because it is unlikely players will be familiar with every line of every scene included in the game, you can watch the original to get a feel for it before superimposing yourself.

Before each scene is performed, you’ll need to empty the frame by moving out of view of the PlayStation Eye camera or the Kinect sensor. Your room's layout will determine how easily this can be done, as we found ourselves needing to lie down on the floor for it to work in a small space. Once you're no longer visible, the game snaps a still photo to use as the background for the scene. When prompted, you put your body into a dotted outline of the character you will be replacing. You don’t need to be too precise with distance to the camera, though we did notice that if your room has a glass wall and someone walks past when you’re emptying the frame--or there's someone sitting on a couch watching--people and objects can become trapped in the background image. This leaves eerie unblinking faces and items as part of the environment.

Quickplay mode is designed for parties and gets you straight into scene selection, but if you're after something with a little more structure and progression or want to bone up on your one-liners before your guests arrive, there's also a loose story mode available. Every performance you give is recorded on your console and is viewable for replay and critique. Should you want to play the blackmail card, there's also an obligatory social sharing option, which lets you export the clip to Facebook, Twitter, and the Yoostar portal hosted on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

The game will ship with about 80 classic film and television scenes on disc at launch, with plans for "hundreds more available online" as downloadable content. Exact details are still being ironed out, but it looks like they’ll be available as both individual purchases and as value packs by grouping similar content.

The film studios look to be throwing some weight behind the product, and in our demo, we saw such titles as 300, Terminator, Tropic Thunder, The Karate Kid and American 1960's ad agency drama, Mad Men. With such a diverse range to choose from, there's bound to be a selection of content to suit your tastes and the interest of your audience. Once you get past the nervousness of performing before your peers, there's a lot of fun to be had hamming it up onscreen. While it might not replace Guitar Hero or Rock Band with the younger crowd as the go-to party game of choice, it is fun and the barrier of entry is low enough for anyone to play. We're looking forward to donning our thespian cap when Yoostar 2 hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March this year.