Disney Sing It: Pop Hits Hands-On Impressions

Let's face it, you've always wanted to be a Disney Channel celebrity. You may not have realized it yet, but at some point down the line that sudden desire will hit you like a bag of bricks. When that moment in life comes, where will you turn for release? The answer may just lie in Disney Sing It: Pop Hits. This upcoming karaoke game for the Wii and PlayStation 3 features a roster of Disney artists to go along with a tween-friendly look and feel. We recently had the opportunity to belt our hearts out in a hands-on session with Pop Hits at a Disney press event.

The basics of Disney Sing It: Pop Hits should feel familiar to anyone who's played a game like Sing Star or picked up a microphone in Rock Band. You pick a song, you sing the provided lyrics, and the game judges how well you're matching the pitch of the melody with live feedback. At the end of the song, you're given an overall accuracy score in addition to a few other stats, such as spoken words hit and highest note achieved. The core doesn't deviate much from what you'd expect from a karaoke game, though we will say that it does an abnormally good job with friendly feedback. We had the chance to sing Colbie Caillat's megahit "Bubbly," and despite a final score that could be generously described as lackluster, the game made sure to throw a "Good Job!" our way at the end.

For those as tone deaf as us, there are a few added features to help improve your singing. There's a suite of vocal lessons built into the game hosted by Disney star Tiffany Thornton that run the gamut from breathing techniques to harmonizing. Sing It Encore is a feature that takes the song you just performed and plays it back for you with your vocals so you can get an idea of how well you're doing while removed from the stress of performing a song. Once you improve, You're On Your Own will let you play a song of your choosing without the usual lyrics and pitch information on the screen, while still dishing out a score at the end.

Pop Hits will offer a tracklist that clocks in at about 30 songs. The theme is right there in the title--radio-friendly top 40 artists--so don't expect anything too edgy or underground. Some of the game's Disney roster includes Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, and Taylor Swift. In addition to these artists, a number of more mainstream bands are in the mix, including Coldplay and One Republic in addition to the aforementioned Ms. Caillat.

Finally, there are a number of multiplayer modes that will let you spread the fun around between one and eight players, including competitive modes and friendly duets. Disney Sing It: Pop Hits is on track to be released this fall for the Wii and PlayStation 3 (no Xbox 360 version is currently planned).