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So you think you know your Seinfeld? If you know the episodes word for word you could become the hero in Seinfeld TalkStar. Not to be outdone by the Beatles, the most popular TV show of all time is being crossed with today’s most popular video game genre. Seinfeld is being combined with rhythm-based games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band to bring you Seinfeld TalkStar – a game based on the actual dialogue of Seinfeld episodes. Set in Seinfeld’s apartment, the actors are rendered in full 3D animation where they perform each episode exactly as in the series – movement by movement, word for word. The game features the original audio from the series, with the exception of the response from the studio audience, you’ll have to work on that. The dialogue, in text form, flows across the bottom of the screen like a heavy river current. A cursor is positioned over the middle of the text in the form of a bouncing ball. Players manipulate the ball over the words in the exact rhythm pattern delivered by the actors. It’s tricky; each actor delivers different speech patterns, and there can be some rapid exchanges where you’ll have to think like four or more characters at once.
The better you do the more laughs a scene will get. If you miss cues, the audience will meet the jokes with an icy silence. If you don’t clean your act up in time, the director will yell “Cut” and the cast will all retreat to their dressing rooms until it’s time to redo the scene. If this happens too often, the cast will leave the show in disgust. For the rest of the season there’s… no show for you! Advancing through the episodes, things will start to get more challenging. Words will appear that were not used in the actual episode. You will have to identify and highlight that word with the press of the X button before it reaches the bouncing ball. At times other characters will attempt to steal dialogue. For instance, Newman will come into Jerry’s apartment and start doing one of Kramer’s routines. As quickly as possible the player will have to target Newman and press the A button to make him beat a hasty retreat back to his hovel. If you can pull this off fast enough, the scene can be saved. More advanced players will love the Jerry-oke mode. Using a microphone, you actually speak each actor’s lines attempting to sync the dialogue with the virtual actors’ lip movements. Higher points will be awarded to those that can perform impersonations. Seinfeld TalkStar is not only for Seinfeld fanatics, the addictive nature of the game coupled with the irreverent humour of the series is guaranteed to make a fanatic out of any player. Watch for it in stores this Festivus season. |
