If you’re a fan of the SingStar series, you already know the formula. SingStar is about music and is designed for music lovers. This is a sing along game in the format of DDR or Guitar hero. There are colored bars that measure your pitch as you sing into the SingStar microphone. Pretty easy right? Sure… give it a try.
Instead of animated avatars behind the on screen action, SingStar features the music videos of the songs you sing played behind you. In some cases that can be a bit of a distraction (if you really enjoy the video), but it also makes it a lot more enjoyable for people who are watching as you play.
The tracks in this volume include:
- 3 Doors Down – “When I’m Gone”
- Ashlee Simpson – “Boyfriend”
- Avril Lavigne – “My Happy Ending”
- Boys Like Girls – “The Great Escape
- Cartel – “Lose It”
- Colbie Caillat – “Bubbly”
- Dixie Chicks – “Not Ready To Make Nice”
- Duran Duran – “Ordinary World”
- Evanescence – “Bring Me To Life”
- Fall Out Boy – “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
- Fergie – “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
- Gwen Stefani feat. Akon – “The Sweet Escape”
- Jennifer Lopez – “Jenny From the Block”
- Lifehouse – “First Time”
- Lily Allen – “Littlest Things”
- Lloyd – “Get it Shawty”
- Maroon 5 – “Makes Me Wonder”
- Matchbox Twenty – “How Far We’ve Come”
- Michelle Branch – “Breathe”
- Nelly Furtado – “Promiscuous”
- Norah Jones – “Don’t Know Why”
- P!nk – “Who Knew”
- Peter Bjorn and John – “Young Folks”
- Plain White T’s – “Hey There Delilah”
- Rihanna – “Umbrella”
- Santana feat. Chad Kroger – “Into The Night”
- Steriogram – “Walkie Talkie Man”
- Sum 41 – “Fat Lip”
- The Hives – “Tick Tick Boom”
- The Outfield – “Your Love”
How does this stack up against other SingStar titles? Well, it’s pretty much the same thing in a new volume! If you are a PlayStation 3 gamer, you probably won’t be too excited about this release. Most of these tracks will be available for download in the SingStore online in the near future. They aren’t available yet, so if you’re impatient, you can get this title for about $30 online. That’s a better deal than buying tracks on an individual basis, so if you like most of these songs it’s a pretty good deal. Also, pay attention to the format here… this is still a PS2 release. PS2 gamers don’t have access to the SingStore at all, it’s good to see Sony showing some love to their older console as they continue to develop their products into the future.
Some may argue that the future of music gaming is in titles like Rockband, but I beg to differ. While Rockband is a great title, some purists prefer the simplicity of a Karaoke game without all the extra controllers and features. In the ever expanding music game market, Sony is doubly smart for releasing games like SingStar. Not only do they benefit from their own music catalogue in how cheap it must be to license artists that are on Sony record labels… but it also acts as a cross platform promotion for more obscure tracks. Fans of artists like Pink and Gwen Stefani might be exposed to artists they don’t know as well. I say it’s a good thing!
The bottom line? This is a fun game in a series of equally fun games. Its good to get some new songs to add to my SingStar collection (this is my second SingStar game). This will be a fun title to bring out at parties, and it’s fun to play when the urge to feel like a rock star hits. For around $30, this one makes a good addition to your collection.