Fun, but Cheesy

American Idol Encore was one of  the first games  I got after I got my Wii, and it was fun at first. Being a "child of the 80s" there was a lot of songs familiar to me. Billy Joel's, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," Celine Dion's, "My Heart Will Go On", Madonna's. "Holiday." My teens were less impressed, as the songs were pretty tame compared to Rockband. They play Rockband on the XBox 360 at their grandmothers, so I hope they'd like it, but they tired of it quickly.

The graphics are a bit cheesy, and more representative of game systems like the N64, or other's from that timeframe. The "critiques" from Simon. Paula, and Randy also do not always seem to match up with the general quality of the performance. The upside is you can skip the critiques once you've heard them all-- which won't take too long.

I liked how it was easy to vary the background music, and could hear another singer in the background as you got used to a song. You can vary the microphone volume so you can hear yourself better, or not-- depending on your preference. It's also fun to pick a character and dress them in different outfits for the stage.

For the typical teens and twenties "gamer" I would not recommend this game. It is much better suited to their 30s and 40s parents, who might not care as much about graphics, and enjoy singing softer rock and pop.