Singstar Review

  • Posted December 28th, 2007 at 18:57 EDT by James Gordon
  • 7,921 views
  • 10 Comments

Review Score

SingStar UK

PSU Review Score
7.0
Avg. user review score:
6.8

Add your rating

Summary

Not the best game to have if you’re a recluse with no mates, but for a good laugh with a few friends, or for a Christmas party, Singstar is ideal.

We like

  • SingStore
  • Great entertainment value
  • Multiplayer fun

We dislike

  • Repetitive after a while
  • Not the sort of game to play on your own

See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings

Fancy yourself as the next American Idol winner? Maybe you’ve got an undiscovered talent that’s hidden away in the shower? Well fear not, you can sing to your heart’s content in PS3’s exclusive new release, SingStar.

Singstar games have never represented the most value for money in terms of longetivity, but that looks certain to change thanks to a new feature in the recent PS3 release.

There are numerous PS2 versions now floating around the stores, ranging from pop music to R’n’B and more. But a key element of the next-gen version is Singstore, which allows you to pay to download songs to add to your collection.

 
The game itself comes with a total of 20, somewhat random, songs ranging from Britney Spears’ “Toxic” to “She Bangs the Drums” by The Stone Roses.

But for the first time ever, you are not just limited to these songs. Although not available just yet, you will be able to download the vast back catalogue of songs featured on PS2 games, which is in the range of 300 songs, as well as the latest music and other songs that may take your fancy.

Don’t expect everything you want to be available though. When accessing the store for the first time, I found 41 songs available, all as random as the initial 20 on the disc. There were a couple of decent ones there though – it’s all a matter of taste I guess – but the beauty of it is, you can simply select, pay and download the songs you want and enhance your collection.
 

In time, we hope that Sony will get plenty of songs available, so that there’s plenty for everyone’s taste. After all, at £0.99 a download, the wider range of content they have, the more people will download, and the more money the Singstore will make. Is 41 good enough for the time being? Probably not, and will probably lead to some people, like myself, feeling slightly underwhelmed by their first experience of the store.

A week after the game’s release, that number was up to 63. Maybe they’re cleverly biding their time by tempting people to buy songs that wouldn’t necessarily sell if there was a wider collection. Or maybe it’s just down to a lack of decent licensing so far.

The price was as expected, and it’s fairly reasonable. Considering you’re getting the full download, complete with the full music video and obviously the settings and features that make it work with Singstar, it’s certainly worth the money. With the game on its own retailing at half the price of most other games (assuming you’ve already got the mics), then you can double your collection of songs for the same price as buying a different game.
 
 
And it’s not as if you are forced to download. Just download the songs you want. You’ll just have to hope that none of the Spice Girls hits take the fancy of your friends. But each to their own.

The problem is what about those who cant get online through their PS3? There aren’t many people out there who aren’t set up wirelessly through their next-gen console, but for those who aren’t, then they’re stuck with the 20 original songs.

So enough about the songs, what about the game itself? Well there are the usual game modes – you can battle with a rival, sing a duet with your partner or just go solo, for those times when you fancy a sing a long all by yourself. You know you love it. You can choose from short or normal versions of songs, and even a couple of medleys. The same old SingStar style appears whilst singing, as you read the lyrics to the matching notes with the record’s video playing in the background.
 
 
Your score goes up as you hit, or fail to hit, the right notes, and you can see all along who’s winning. It’s fairly effective in close battles with someone, but if you’re competitive, like me, you’ll soon get bored if you find yourself thousands of points down, as I did when pathetically trying ... (continued on next page)

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Comments

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What are your thoughts?

  1. Mecha_Daddy | mecha_daddy

    • 7:16pm GMT - December 22nd, 2007
    • 1

    I may give this a rent if I can find it with a mic.  The wife would like to try it.

  2. 1solidsnake | solid1snake67

    • 8:48pm GMT - December 22nd, 2007
    • 2

    lol. this game is just for the american idol retords or watch the show. i would rather spend 169.00 on rock band. atleast it has better songs on it

  3. Deldwen | Deldwen1

    • 9:36pm GMT - December 22nd, 2007
    • 3

    lol its cool just not for me im glad playstation covers EVERY ones needs lol

     

    not just tons of bland sci fi shooters =]

  4. yoboyrob9041226 | BIGROB904

    • 11:52pm GMT - December 22nd, 2007
    • 4

    i would never buy a singstar game

  5. humanputting

    • 6:25pm GMT - December 29th, 2007
    • 5

    man i cant wait for this game to come out.   gonna have some many drunken singstar parties.

  6. Joe1690 | Joe1690

    • 8:27pm GMT - December 29th, 2007
    • 6

     B J K

  7. encryptioncsta | csta

    • 9:02pm GMT - December 29th, 2007
    • 7

    i own this game n iv gota say its great!...theres alot of rock songs up for download in the sing store in over all theres over 100 songs now, if u like to sing n wana have fun with m8s at partys this is brill

     

    dont comment on a game u have never tryed!!!

  8. Wuffer | Fodkoen

    • 7:53am GMT - December 30th, 2007
    • 8

    I just got it for our new years party. Hope its a lot of fun :)

  9. hakuseki | hakuseki

    • 9:08am GMT - December 30th, 2007
    • 9

    Its perhaps my age but I can't say I recognize any of the songs except for a few...

    Where have they digg them up? You get better line-up if buying PS2-versions instead. This PS3 release sucks big time in songs. And then you need to buy them AGAIN if you already have PS2-releases of Singstar.

    I'm really disappointed

  10. LambBeast | LambBeast

    • 4:38pm GMT - December 30th, 2007
    • 10

    wheres the us version!

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Related information

  • Related game: SingStar UK

    Release date (US):
    May 20th, 2008
    Developer:
    SCE Studios London
    Genre:
    Misc - Music / Dancing
    Rank:
    84 of 1,378 Games
    Up 0 places (in last 7 days)

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