I don’t usually think I have a lot in common with Beavis and Butthead, but after playing Yoostar on MTV for Kinect, I know there’s at least one thing: We’ve all seen way more Jersey Shore than necessary.

Game: Yoostar on MTV
Publisher: Yoostar Entertainment Group
Developer: Blitz Games Studios
Genre: Kinect / Video Karaoke
Price: $29.99
Pros: The basic mechanic works very well, and some weird clip choices are surprising bright spots.
Cons: Unless you really like MTV, there’s almost nothing for you here.
Verdict: With a game this specific, you know what you’re getting into. Jersey Shore and Hills fans have a great time.

Acquired via Developer

The basic conceit of Yoostar – whether it’s on MTV or not – is simple and works pretty well; The Kinect captures an image of the player’s room, and then the player steps in and reenacts a scene of some kind. The game cuts the player’s shape out of their room and drops them into the clip: “Video Karaoke.” You can be any number of spikey-haired gentlemen, such as the Terminator, Edward Cullen, or in the case of Yoostar on MTV, The Situation. Like I said, it works pretty well. Yoostar does a great job of taking the player’s image out of their room in real-time and dropping it into whatever clip they’ve chosen.

Instead of going with the usual general pop-culture schtick, however, this iteration of Yoostar focuses specifically on, you guessed it, MTV. Modern MTV, that is; not MTV back when they still had music videos to play. You can be The Hills’ Spencer, and his creepy flesh-colored beard. You can be X-to-the-Z Xzibit on Pimp My Ride. The Situation might even ask you to jump on a grenade. As if it wasn’t enough to act like an idiot on camera (which I encourage), you get to act like an idiot on camera acting like an idiot on camera.

Most of the content on the disc is stuff I find entirely reprehensible. Yoostar on MTV is, largely not for me. There are people who like these shows and watch them religiously. Those people will LOVE the game. I think there must be a few older geeks on staff over at Yoostar, because some really weird stuff made it onto the disc. MTV’s The State and Human Giant, specifically! This was, far and away, the highlight of the disc. The State is an ancient show by TV standards, hailing from the early ‘90s, while Human Giant is a bit more modern (and one of the first shows to feature Aziz Ansari from NBC’s Parks & Recreation). Both shows are really funny and the clips chosen are great. Better yet, even more clips from the shows are on sale as downloadable content. Who’d think I’d be considering buying DLC for an MTV clip game?

There are also a number of music videos available for an experience a bit closer to tradition karaoke with artists like Lady Gaga  (ba-ba-ba-ra), Weezer (Pork and Beans), Snoop Dogg (Drop It Like It’s Hot), LMAFO (Party Rock Anthem), and that 50 Cent guy.

Like I said, there’s so little for me here, and so little for anyone who isn’t a big fan of MTV’s recent and current programming. Yoostar on MTV is a perfect example of something made just for its fans.

GrE Grade: C-

Popularity: unranked [?]