UltraStar Deluxe 1.1

As an evolution to classic Karaoke, UltraStar Deluxe puts a score on your singing. It's not that the look on your friends' faces isn't enough info to gauge your performance, but numbers are objective, and we naturally aim for objectiveness when we get drunk and feel like singing.

UltraStar Deluxe is for PC's what Singstar is for the PlayStation system, only much, much cheaper. Up to twelve players can join and compete in either solo or party mode, which features several sub-modes, including a ranked tournament.

Your timbre may not count for much, but a good voice pitch is what's needed to impress the UltraStar musical judge. While a song is playing, you will go through pages of colored bands at different heights, from which you should deduce how high you should squawk. Don't worry, the bands fill up as you sing, so you're never left out of the loop.

UltraStar Deluxe comes with a decent selection of songs, but you can also import files or compile your own. There are plenty of sources on the Internet, including ultrastar-base.com, where you can download songs and read tutorials (if you read German).

I probably don't need to mention this, but Ultrastar Deluxe is useless without some hardware to back it up. You will need a decent sound system to plug the microphones in, and a big enough screen to make out the details while intoxicated, which you most likely will be.

As far as the interface goes, I can't bring enough praise. The menus and animations are very well done. Controls are clear, and it's simple to navigate through the screens, even though there's a fair amount of them.

Features

• Organized games with up to 12 players
• Free and Tournament modes, featuring 1v1
• Importable tracks
• Includes 48 default songs

Final Thoughts

UltraStar Deluxe is a fabulous free little party game. If you have a handy microphone lying around, you probably should check it out, as it might spice up the atmosphere during sittings and whatnot. German software engineering at its best!