When Freddie Mercury first penned Bohemian Rhapsody back in 1975, there's no way he could possibly have known the monumental challenge he was laying at the feet of Let's Sing Queen players some forty-five years down the timeline. Fair enough, the first half of the song isn't so bad – and let's face it, we've all cranked out "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all" whilst hungover and crying in the shower – but that second part, well now, you don't really know yourself until you've bellowed "I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?" at high speed into your phone – here acting as a makeshift mic – in a desperate attempt to best a friend or climb the song's online world rankings. Freddie, you absolute monster.
Let's Sing Queen sticks resolutely to the tried, tested and tidy formula of Voxler's long-running franchise, with players singing along to thirty tracks across a variety of modes that cater to both solo and multiplayer warbling action. While there may not be the same breadth and variety of tunes here that comes with one of the big yearly releases in the series, or in the likes of the recent Let's Sing Country, the magic of the British rocker's decades-spanning back catalogue manages to compensate rather adequately.
With stone-cold, stadium-rocking classics such as We Will Rock You, Don't Stop Me Now, I want to Break Free and Radio Ga Ga sat alongside the likes of Under Pressure, Bicycle Race, Who Wants To Live Forever and A Kind of Magic, there's no arguing that this is a band who were wildly eclectic and consistently excellent in their output. Whether you're a hardcore Queen fan who can blast along to Fat-Bottomed Girls with your eyes closed or someone who only knows Bohemian Rhapsody from a certain scene in Wayne's World, there's plenty of top-tier tunes to keep you crooning along here.
In terms of modes to play around with, if you're familiar with the series, there are absolutely no surprises on offer in Let's Sing Queen. 'Classic' play sees you, and up to three other human or AI performers, sing along to Freddie and Co. as the original music videos for each track play in the background. 'Feat.' mode challenges you and a partner to perform a duet together in order to receive a compatibility rating indicating just how well you worked together, 'Let's Party's' team-based action throws random spanners into the works – try singing along when the words or blurred out or holding a note perfectly in order to collect Mario-esque coins – and 'World Contest' sees you go head to head against opponents in online leaderboard battles. Rounding these modes out are 'Mixtape', which pits you against megamixes of Queen tracks or allows you to create your very own bespoke selections and a 'Jukebox' mode where you can put you diamante-studded boots up and chill with the game's playlist and video selection, unlocking more as you complete them in Classic play.
All of the modes included here, except for World Contest, allow for up to three other friends to take part in the action (this rises to eight in Let's Party's team-based battles) or you can choose to fill spaces with the game's rather easy-to-beat AI if your pals can't take the heat of trying to keep up with Freddie Mercury's frankly bananas vocal range. As with previous versions of Let's Sing, if you've picked up the digital version and don't have a couple of USB mics at hand, there's a clever mobile phone app available for download that does an impressively solid job of picking up on every little modulation in your voice as you struggle to align your pitch with the note boxes streaming at speed across your screen. Should you find your phone isn't quite keeping up to speed, there's also a quick and easy to use calibration tool built into the app to get you back on track in no time. Classic mode also includes online leaderboards that give the whole thing a little bit of longevity, and we definitely had fun repeating and perfecting difficult sections of the likes of Bicycle Race in order to climb the world rankings.
There are a few legacy issues that still raise their head in this addition to the franchise, the most notable of which being that, as good as the microphone is at reading your notes and pitch, it doesn’t have a baldy clue what lyrics are coming out of your mouth at any time and so you’re free to pretty much sing what you want and still score big points as long as you keep things in tune – an unexpected boon for Aunt May who has made up her own absolutely wild lyrics to every song she’s ever heard. It’s not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things – you’re only really fooling yourself if you trick the system – but it definitely zaps some of the tension from proceedings, adds an element of distrust to the online battles and makes Let’s Party’s blurring of lyrics gimmick pretty redundant.
Besides this, however, what’s here is all very slick and easy to use stuff and while it's a definitely a rather slim, no-frills package, it does what it does well and in no time you and a bunch of pals – this one really is at its best in a party environment – will be racking up multipliers and combo scores as you hold breathlessly long notes during We Are The Champions or manage to fumble your way through a complex series of Um Ba Ba Be's with David Bowie in Under Pressure.
There are new Queen-themed avatars to unlock for every level you rank up to as you play – a rather pointless but undeniably cute feature – and really, there's not much more to it than that. This one does exactly what it says on the tin; it performs perfectly in handheld and docked modes and we even enjoyed rocking along with a pair of headphones plugged into our Switch Lite – and you really will need headphones on Lite as the default volume on the diminutive console is annoyingly low here through its built-in speakers.
Overall then, if you're in the mood for some Queen-flavoured karaoke, Let's Sing Queen has got you more than covered and, although it may not have the most wide-ranging mix of tunes the series has seen thus far – and in some respects, this offering could really have been made available as DLC – there's still more than enough good stuff in the thirty tracks selected from this legendary band's eccentric back-catalogue here to get just about any Saturday night karaoke or Freddie-flavoured super party well and truly started.
Conclusion
Let's Sing Queen is a straight-up, no-frills entry in the series that throws you into the legendary super group’s awesome back-catalogue of hits across the same selection of modes you'll be accustomed to from previous titles in the series. There are absolutely no surprises here and a definite lack of variety when compared to other offerings in the franchise; however, with thirty (mostly) excellent tracks, accompanied by their highly entertaining original music videos and an official app that turns your mobile phone into an impressively robust mic, this is a solid good time for fans of the titans of rock, karaoke fiends and anyone who just loves to warble along to some classic rock anthems while re-enacting the best bits of Live Aid 1985 in the comfort of their own sitting room.
Comments 36
Wow I am surprised that they included Who Wants to Live Forever and It's a Kind of Magic. I guess the studio the owns the Highlander rights doesn't have the rights to those songs anymore. Wonder if they have Princes of the Universe on it.
WE WILL WE WILL use a phone app instead of requiring you to get a USB microphone. And i really appreciate that!
I have never bought one of these games, but this one piqued my interest when I saw it on a release list. I might be a fool to think that I can even try to sing QUEEN. : P
I don't know why, maybe because I just woke up, but I thought this was an article about Super Metroid when I saw the thumbnail; I was seeing Phantoon in the lower center, Ridley on top, and Kraid and the one whose name I can never remember on the sides. Anyone else see it? You may have to squint a bit...
Joys: Regardless of how tone-deaf you are playing this game, you’ll sing Queen songs better than Adam Lambert.
@Tasuki The version of A Kind of Magic from the Highlander end credits is probably my favourite Queen song. I much prefer it to the version released as a single.
Where the heck is FLASH!?!?!? (Although having all the best tracks from A KIND OF MAGIC is a wonderful surprise.)
has anyone played any of these and used the phone app. My wife loves queen but dont want fork out for the microphone set as its stupid price
Aww, just checked the track list and it doesn't have threat of nuclear war classic Hammer to Fall. That song is an absolute anvil.
@Anguspuss As I mention in the review, the phone app works really well, I was very impressed with it.
@PJOReilly thx was watching the football while reading it
Hey, Queen is Queen.
I'd personally prefer a collection of the first threw records, but as me and a friend used to sing Queen songs for hours, this still sounds like a good time.
@Tasuki All them songs were released as standalone Queens songs right? I remember having Hammer to Fall and Princes of the Universe b-side picture disc/record and it was branded under the Kind of Magic tour imagery.
I hate that they hadn't bothered to remaster the videos. Of course, the onus of such an effort would rest with the Queen proprietors and not the developers of this game.
It wouldn't surprise me if some were shot on videotape, but surely some of their videos were shot on film?
“thirty (mostly) excellent tracks“?
I even love “Hot Space” so I found that “mostly” mostly unnecessary my dear gentleman.
This is the only lets sing game that I could find remotely interesting.
Checking the tracklist, I see that most of the usual suspects are present. But I would have loved a few more epic rockers (Hammer to fall, Ogre battle, ...), fun oddities (Flash theme) or some of my favorite deep cuts (Bring back that Leroy Brown, Was it all worth it, Nevermore, Dreamer's ball, ...)
@nessisonett Aw, don't be so hard on Adam Lambert. He's doing his own thing instead of trying to imitate Freddie, and I think that's the right call.
@Tasuki The band always owned the rights to those songs.
@AlienigenX Hot Space is my favourite Queen album.
I'll see myself out.
Great review as always PJ! Like others here, I'd be tempted if they included some deep cuts. Not so bothered about the hits when I can belt them out on Rock Band 4 for my Xbox instead.
Just gimme the prize!!!
Tell me “Mustapha” is included
@brunojenso @nessisonett Right it was Released as singles and the even had an album Tilted Its a Kind of Magic, but if you look they didn't have Queen on the cover. Also if you notice those songs have never been released on any Queen compilation album.
@antster1983 Not really. They couldn't release them on their own without permission as they were wrote for Highlander.
@Tasuki what do you mean by the album not having Queen on the cover? My copy does.
@FraserG I always had a soft spot for Back Chat
How do you sing Freddie Mercury? No one can sing Freddie Mercury,
I wish this game was on Wii U so it could be called Wii Will Rock U
Cue the video of some guy 100% expert with just falsetto tones and no words.
I'd give you my take on the review but since there are some guys thrashing songs and albums I and my mates worked our asses on with so much love, I'll keep mum.
And let's all let Adam do his work. He's such a superb singer in a position few people in the world would be able to perform well.
I've never shared vocals with my band mates but sure I'm gonna buy this one to sing with them at home!
@Kochambra That's one of my favorite songs considering the ones I wrote. I especially like the words and the guitar line Brian plays on it
@StefanN Guitar Hero Live did that too. Annoying that the companion app was only available for ios though. I've never been an iPhone guy, so I still had to use a USB mic to sing in that game regardless.
Oh man, I love Queen.
@John_Deacon In theory, you would expect that Brian's guitar would be at odds with the song's disco vibe, but I think they actually complement each other perfectly. I can see Michael Jackson taking notes for Beat It.
I wear hearing aids, I'm part deaf in both ears, and I'm STILL really enjoying this game! Sing loud and it's actually a bit of a cardio exercise workout. I recommend the game bundled with the double mic set, they really add a lot of atmosphere, but drama and clarity and they keep your voice connection to the game constant whereas the phone connection can drop when your phone screen goes dark in screensaver mode. The double mic set doesn't cost much - only a tenner more than the base game - it's a bargain really when you consider the double mics alone could sell for twenty. I used amazon prime day generic tenner off and fiver off vouchers and so got the mics free and the base game cheaper. Well worth it. And awesome fun whether by yourself or with friend/s. With the double mic you can add up to 8 friends and don't think you can do that with the phone app. Happy singing! Sing loud! Sing joyous! Sing to forget 2020!
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