Yoostar 2 Review

Yoostar 2, like its PC predecessor, is a unique experience designed for movie buffs, aspiring stars, and everyday gamers alike. Its Kinect-enabled console debut uses the sensor bar's camera to place players in classic scenes to deliver lines with a karaoke-style interface. While the concept of turning everyday people into actors makes for an amusing time, technical issues stand in the way of making the latest Yoostar a blockbuster hit.

Yoostar 2 offers single- and multiplayer options, but the game is most enjoyable in a group setting. You can fly solo in the challenge mode and perform scenes like hitting the road to Chicago in The Blues Brothers or reporting a problem to Houston as Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. However, scenes where the default actor you replace only has a few lines become tedious. You get credit for patiently waiting your turn to speak, but the sensor occasionally picks up sounds other than your voice and docks points from your score, hindering your progress across the map to Hollywood. Sound recognition issues continue when a line is delivered as prompted, but is unrecognized by the game. This becomes less of a problem in the quick play mode, where you're playing more for fun and less for high scores.

Quick play offers 50 movie scenes for you to perform alone or with friends. The selection is impressive, with a wide range of genres for film and TV fans of any generation. Sing "In The Air Tonight" while throwing down air drums and delivering a punch as Mike Tyson in The Hangover, shout "This is Sparta!" in 300, or "make him an offer he can't refuse" in The Godfather. Watching yourself and a friend in these scenes and delivering lines is hilarious, and the ability to save the clips and upload them to social networking sites is a nice touch. However, even in the ideal Kinect play space you have to awkwardly position yourself to fit perfectly in the film frames, and the grainy picture quality mars your celluloid performances.

Despite its technical imperfections, Yoostar 2 can be enjoyable if you step out of your shell and be a total ham. Bring in some friends for a full cast, and you'll get some laughs during your acting debut.