Get On Da Mic – Review

“I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, you don’t stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.” The Sugarhill Gang’s Rappers Delight makes it sound so easy to rap along, but as soon as you really need to rap in the PS2 game “Get On Da Mic” you’ll get in trouble! Never knew that rapping was so difficult… In February 2005 this sing-a-long, karaoke game has been launched in Europe. Instead of using regular pop songs, Eidos decided for a more American approach with publishing a karaoke hip hop game. And the question is; are you going to be the latest hyped hip hop star? Grab that microphone, plug it in, start the game, take a deep breath and try to keep up with the rhymes and song text. It’s a kind of “wannabe a star” rapping game with lots of songs, characters and game modes.

A girl with a mission
There’s got to be a mission in the game and to me that was to become as famous as Missy Elliot. I started the single player modes which features 4 features; career, exhibition, practice and freestyle. As my goal was set already, I chose for the career mode. Who needs practice anyway?! Up to eight characters are available to choose from and yes four of them were female. Yeah! Tricia Allens was going to be my virtual rap star, that was my master plan. Tricia was in the bathroom when the song started and she even was trying some dancing moves, while I tried to keep up with the lines and rhythm of Missy Elliots’ “pass that Dutch”. Forget it baby, it was way too difficult. I couldn’t keep up with the words displayed on screen, didn’t have time to watch Tricia dancing or even to breath. But at the end of the song I had earned 14 dollars and could leave the bathroom behind to focus on a new level. A “spend” button appears. Hummm, shopping? Why not? I peeked into the spending feature and found lots of beautiful things I would like to buy. From jewels, clothing to houses, rides, luxury and even bizarre Rock Da Mic moves. But what can you buy with 14 bucks? Exactly, time to move over to a new level, a new song and perhaps more money at the end. My intention of becoming world’s famous rap artist changed into the world’s famous shopping rap artist. It was the drive to move on and again grabbed the mic and tried and tried. After a couple of levels I could change Tricia’s look and my rapping skills increased. Due to some famous guests, which I tried to please and impress with my rap style and dancing moves, I was able to record a song, make a video clip and finally ended on a world tour performance. That really cashed out and I could buy even more luxury goods. But after the last world tour performance it was all over, what more to achieve?

Music
Get on da Mic includes 40 rap songs, from the “classic” era of hip-hop, spanning from the early ’80s to the mid-’90s. Here’s a short list of songs I tried to rap on:
“Rapper’s Delight” – Sugar Hill Gang
“Baby Got Back” – Sir Mix-A-Lot
“Don’t Believe the Hype” – Public Enemy
“Push It” – Salt-n-Pepper
“Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” – Dr.Dre
“Get Busy” – Sean Paul
“Gin and Juice” – Snoop Dogg
“Get Ur Freak On” – Missy Elliot
“Pass that Dutch” – Missy Elliot
“Posse on Broadway” – Sir Mix-A-Lot
It looks impressive but it was a big disappointment to hear some covers of the original soundtracks with sound-a-like artists. Also the “dirty” words have been replaced with # as you can see on the screenshot, which makes it more complicated to sing along to.

Controller / Mic / Eyetoy
With the USB cable you can connect your mic, with a very long cable, to the PS2. That’s the same procedure for the Eyetoy. As you’re going to sing with a mic in your hands, I wouldn’t expect to control the PS2 controller as well during the game. The mic can only be used for the rapping but menu’s and features can only be changed with the controller. This results in having two controllers in your hand, the mic and the controller. Why haven’t they produced a mic with buttons on it, instead of using the extra controller. And what to think of the mix up of controller cables after you’re finished playing. And then there’s also the Eyetoy connected. Let’s bring it on, let’s make an even bigger fool out of yourself by singing and being on screen at the same time. I’ve tried it, but it wasn’t fun at all. Actually quite embarrassing and boring at the same time. No extra background features, it’s just you, your own background and the two lines to sing to. No mini Eyetoy games are included compared to Eyetoy features in other games.

Multiplayer
If you’re not playing alone and don’t want to be the only embarrassed person in the room, why not try a multiplayer option. You can do co-op, battle, etc. But the best multiplayer option is the Freestyle Rap-Off. Two players can rap against each other and the rest of your friends, which don’t dare to rap, can judge the players’ performance who are probably ashamed by performing in a bad way. The other multiplayer options are based on the single player modes; rap on a song till it’s finished and then the another player can try it. Who has the most points at the end is the winner.

Female gaming angle
Thrilled I was about choosing between different male and female characters. Of course I picked out a female character to play along with and chose Tricia Allens, the one with the cap on. She looked more like a rap star then the blonde one and thought Tricia would have more success. What an imagination as the gamer needs to make sure by rapping who’s going to be the next rap superstar. The game also includes some female rap artists like Missy Elliot and Salt ‘n Pepper rapping ”push it good”, “get ur freak on” and “pass that Dutch”.

Conclusion
Get on da mic is a karaoke game which compares your rapping skills to the original rap song. The better you can hold to the lines and rapping the words in time as visualized on screen, the more points you earn. There’s a Rock da mic status bar which will be filled up if you’re really doing good. As soon as this bar is filled, special moves and an impressive show starts. Of course this will impress the special guests which could change your future. Four gaming modes are available but career, practice and exhibition are quite equal. The difference is the money making career mode, where you can buy all sorts of things to spice up your style, performance and dance moves. If you’re really creative, start the freestyle mode to rap your own made up lines on eighty different beats. Although 40 songs are included it’s rather disappointing to find out that some of them are covers of the original soundtracks. Anyway, Get on da mic is a pretty tough karaoke game and you need to rehearse songs over and over again to learn the lines , words and when to rap them. Even the more common songs can be tough although you thought it would be easy to start with a song you know. Forget it, you really need to rehearse it several times. It’s fun to play for a couple of hours, as long as you still have a voice and can breath. But as soon as you have finished the career mode, the rapping spirit is over and the game shall be placed with other older games which I hardly touch anymore, until some crazy friend want to give it a shot.

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.