It's a lifelong dream of mine to be personally rendered into a video game—especially a fighting one. So of course, I was rife with jealousy at Florida-based powerpop band We The King's interactive music video for their latest single "Say You Like Me."
Part of an ongoing trend of interactive music videos, this is another notch in music innovation's belt. The surprisingly seamless combination of live-action and animation takes you through several levels of game play where you can chose to play with any of the four members--even the drummer (the drummer!) can get the girl at the end. It's no Call of Duty, but when a hot girl gets kidnapped by a gang of cartoon villains, you'll call it your duty to save her. My favorite part? At the end when the girl is freed, you have the option to play her against the boss character. Heck, I would want to beat him up too if I were in her position!
Shot in Tel Aviv, the game spoofs popular video games like Wii Tennis, Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat and of course, Guitar Hero. The interactive portion is fairly minimal; just a few clicks here and there will do. But any more game play would detract from the fact that it's a music video. I must say, "Say You Like Me" now resonates in my head much like how the repetitive Mario Bros. or Tetris theme songs stayed in the heads of anyone with a Nintendo.
For those of you here just for the music and band visuals, there is an option to watch a non-interactive version of the video. But it's almost exactly the same as the gaming version, so might as well play, right? Plus, if you beat the game using all four band members, you'll get a free song download and the ability to post top scores to a leaderboard like any other online game.
"Say You Like Me" is off We The King's latest album Sunshine State of Mind, out now.
So what are you waiting for, get to it!
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