Game reviews: High School Musical 2: Work This Out

If you’re unfamiliar with the Disney movie High School Musical, you’re not missing out. However, for the sake of this review, a brief synopsis: teens in skanky outfits dance and bash out songs. It’s horrific and its sequel is more of the same, only the kids have had plastic surgery (really). Still, we’re talking about a multi-million dollar franchise here, one with a gigantic tweenie following.

The game loosely follows the events of High School Musical 2. The Wildcat High School kids are on summer break and working at the Lava Springs Resort – in between more of that charming performing. The objective is to unlock arcade games and the film’s songs by completing easy tasks (such as collecting music sheets), following a map and taking on different character roles. It sounds lame, and it is lame. But I love it. It’s totally addictive, which is fortunate since it takes so long to complete.

Clearly music is a theme, so the arcade games are beat oriented. For example, you have to make as many sandwiches as possible but only pick up the ingredients on the beat. If contemplating purchasing the soundtrack, don’t, because all 10 songs are on the game – and that’s not a good thing. Right from the get-go you are treated to ‘You Are the Music In Me’ over and over and over again. You will feel angry. As for the graphics, they just aren’t detailed enough and are grainy. Still, I’m being picky considering I’m hardly the target demographic. And at any rate, addictive gameplay with a Hollywood tie-in is what HSM2 is all about, and that’s what the game does well.

JESKA INNES