KIDZ BOP is a game that features a series of songs that are remixed and performed by children of pre-teen age and not actually performed by the original artists. Songs cover a wide range of genres from “What a Girl Wants” to “All Star” to “Livin’ the Vida Loca” to “Thriller”. All together there are 24 songs. It’s good that the game covers such a wide variation of music which insures that nobody gets left out completely. For me, Thriller was my favorite song.
The game opens with options for your character: You can customize your avatar to be male or female, wear glasses, fix its hair style and of course give it a name. There are options as well for choosing hair color, clothing, shoes, accessories – but these cost money which you earn while dancing. The more you have to spend the more choices you have for customizing your character.
In the one player mode there are 24 different songs to choose from. Dancing consists of holding the Wii remote sensor and either mimicking the actions of the dancer on the screen or moving the remote in the displays pattern. The more successful “moves” you make the more points (money) you earn. You can also choose the challenge mode in which you have to complete 5 dances to win the amateur Bronze medal. Success is determined by obtaining a minimal score on your dance moves (the minimum score needed is listed next to the dance). If you don’t make the minimum score you can choose to try it again. Once all 5 are completed, or cleared, you win the medal and get to advance to the next round, going for the amateur Silver (dances are harder) and then the amateur Gold (dances harder still) and so on and so on.
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You can also choose a 2 player mode and go head to head with someone. My son and I did this – it took a few minutes to realize that only one character showed on the screen dancing but we were both supposed to move our Wii remotes at the same time. Our scores for dancing did not show up until the end of the round. The only thing we really needed to be careful of was to not be too close to each other – the dancing does take up some space!
Kidz Bop is a very physically interactive game. The way to score highest is to actually stand and dance along with the moves while holding the remote. You can just point the remote and move it around (as I did a few times while sitting down, to rest) but although you can get credit some times it doesn’t work as well.
Conclusion:
All in all KidzBop certainly is a fun game to play with your children, however graphics are a bit subpar. That said, with 24 songs to choose from, there is enough to entertain your child for a few hours. However replay may be slim once you are done and chances are that your older kids will realize that the original artists sound a whole lot better than these kids. KidzBop retails for $38.99 on Amazon.
The Good: Energetic game that involves more than just sitting around and pushing a few buttons. 24 different songs to choose from (and with three different backgrounds as well – concert, stage and studio). Enough variation to keep amused for a few hours.
The Bad: Graphics are less than spectacular. Although the characters do dance and sing specifically to a song, kids in the background audience however do not match the feel and look of the game and resemble Mii people. Two player mode is a bit odd.
