Not many people haven’t heard of Singstar. This is Sony’s attempt to take karaoke and make it mainstream entertainment. Surprisingly, they have managed to do it. Anybody who is shy of getting on the mic and singing will quickly find themselves forgetting their inhibitions as soon as the game gets going. In fact, anybody not getting on the microphone will quickly become alienated. The microphone pack is incredible good value at $99.95, with the microphones feeling sturdy and well made. The inclusion of two microphones is extra value as well, and makes the game much more multiplayer friendly.
The game play modes from the previous two Singstar titles make a come back. The pass the mic and Duet options return, as well as a new “rap scoring” option. This option is obviously inspired from Get on Da Mic and features a few songs which score the player on how well they can rap. The rap sections are the hardest parts of the entire game, but it is an inclusion which adds a bit of variety into the title.
There are also medleys which combine five different songs. This is a great mode because it challenges players to think quick. But they can move too quick, with only one line featured from a particularly song. We would have loved a medley mode that combined all thirty songs.
I just wanna live!
Studio London have also added a variety of new voice filters which enhance and distort a player’s vocal performance. This provides for a bit of entertaining fun after the song has finished, but often just hearing your opponent’s singing is humorous enough. For even more of a laugh, the Eyetoy camera can be attached and can actually show the player’s who are singing - now that is the ultimate embarrassment.
So how does the Singstar game judge a player’s skill? The microphones plug into the USB adaptor and they analyze the vocal skills of the player based on their pitch, tone and rhythm. However, the software doesn’t analyze the skills with exact preciseness, so just like in the previous two Singstar titles, players can simply hum and get points, or even win the battle.
There are thirty new songs in Singstar: Pop with each song featuring a video clip of the song. The game features some exclusive Australian tracks, as well as an Australian medley. For the unaware, the thirty tracks included in the game are:
- Savage Garden: To the Moon & Back
- INXS: New Sensation
- Evermore: It’s too late
- Delta Goodrem: Born to Try
- Bic Runga: Sway
- Shannon Noll: What about Me?
- Spazzys: My boyfriend’s back
- Missy Higgins: Scar
- Ashlee Simpson: Pieces of Me
- Avril Lavigne: Sk8er Boi
- Black Eyed Peas: Shut Up
- Beyonce: Crazy in Love
- Good Charlotte: I Wanna Live
- Hoobastank: The Reason
- Jamelia: Stop
- Manfred Man: Do Wah Diddy
- Natasha Bedingfield: These Words
- Robbie Williams: Let Me Entertain You
- Ronan Keating & Yusuf: Father and Song
- Sister Sledge: We are family
- Steppenwolf: Born to be Wild
- The Clash: Should I stay or should I go?
- Tom Jones: It’s not unusual
- Dandy Warhols: Bohemian Like You
- Fountains of Wayne: Stacy’s Mom
- Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue: Kids
- Erik B. and Rakim: Paid in Full
- Kylie Minogue: In Your Eyes
- Blink-182: What’s my age again
- Outkast: Roses
In our opinion these songs are better than the ones included with Singstar: Party, but not quite up to the standard set by the original Singstar title. Some of the songs have been included to benefit the new rap feature, but there really aren’t that many well known rap songs, so Erik K. and Rakim is an interesting, albeit average, choice. For some reason it also seems a little easier to get high scores on most of these songs - although that could just be us getting better. Cough.
What next? Singstar: Crazy In Love?
The game play in Singstar is much better with multiplayer. The single player aspects are really poor, and it seems Studio London don’t even bother attempting to create a lengthy single player career mode anymore. This is a shame, as not everyone always can access multiplayer games, and some encouragement or reward for playing single player would be appreciated. With multiplayer the game is fantastic fun, providing for extreme competition, as well as great battles. The ‘pass the mic’ mode is the best multiplayer option, which automatically creates a tournament for all players involved.
It is hard to comment on the graphics of the game, as in reality there really are none. There are some really simple menus and music videos which look good, the video clips could be a little better quality though, and sometimes look a little grainy.
The game will last for a very long time. If you own any of the previous two Singstar titles then you can hot swap the games so the track list increases up to ninety, which is a very impressive number of songs. Combining this game and the Eyetoy creates some incredible multiplayer fun.
The sound is obviously one of the best aspects of the game. Most of the songs don’t take too long to get used too, and Studio London have made a right choice with what songs to put on the disk. With the thousands of songs available, narrowing it down to only thirty songs would be a hell of a challenge.
One of the new rap songs, to compliment the rap feature
Singstar: Pop isn’t a new game, neither is it a expansion - it just feels like a small add-on. Those new to the Singstar series will be pleased with the song list and the value at $99.95, but those who are veterans of the game will feel a little like they are being charged a premium price for more of the same. Studio London need to change the game a little more to make the upgrade worth it. We anticipate in six months we’ll be reviewing Singstar: Rock and we’ll have the same things to say about the title then. Nonetheless, for a party game you can’t go wrong, but if you don’t have many friends you won't want to invest here.
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