Previous Next

Has SingStar's bubble gone pop? Not yet, but almost...

"McFly, eh Miquita? I'd rather McDie." "Oooh, Simon, you're such a bitch [giggle]." That's what we were hoping for when we discovered SingStar was co-branded with T4's Popworld (that's fancy talk for free advertising). Sadly not. It just rams home the new game's bias towards bubblegum ear-rot. With the law of diminishing returns - the first game scored 90%, the second 80% - surely it's over for SingStar, with a one-way ticket to 70%-ville. Is this the difficult 'third' album? Not quite... but only just.

The crowd-pleasing, playfield-levelling track list of songs bamboozles as much as it entertains. And as the songs are the core of SingStar, it's an uncertainty we could do without. Some are a perfect fit, such as Robbie and Kylie's Kids, which hits the duet notes; Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual, which offers just the right level of cheese and snappiness; plus dedicated Kylie and Robbie tracks (In Your Eyes and Let Me Entertain You, if you're wondering). Other well-placed maestros include McFly (but don't tell our mates we said that, 'kay), Dandy Warhols, and one-for-the-dads Manfred Man's Do Wah Diddy.

The vinyl seems scratched, though, when it comes to the vocal rollercoaster bitches (Natasha Beddingfield, Girls Aloud, Jamelia, Beyonce and Joss "I'm urban, mum, honest!" Stone). Nothing is more humiliating than trying to mimic them. Number one material they may be, but us oiks don't have the vocal gymnastics (or the help of a recording studio computer) to stay the course. Don't think you should get drunk before attempting them - our experience leans to sobriety. It's the only way to keep up.

You can't help but think that developer London Studio has tried to maintain its "SingStar isn't karaoke" maxim so much it's forgotten what social singing is all about. It may be a game with scores, ratings, grades and the buzz of competition - rather than public, badly-bellowed wailing - but you still expect to find songs you either know, like, can tolerate, at least sing regardless of those three, and for some of you a few songs won't tick any of those boxes.

But for now, we'll leave these doubts down to personal taste because, even at its most off-putting (a live version of a Good Charlotte track? You are having a laugh, right?) the core of SingStar remains unchanged. The brilliant, wonderful core which teaches you to sing by forcing you to modulate your voice to hit the notes, unlike the caterwauling of karaoke's social singing. No other game is like it. And by that regard, it's still an 80% - although more work needs to go into the songs for the next outing. (Ideally, we'd be happy to never, ever hear another Jamelia song on a music-based game ever, ever, ever again.)

Graphics 80%
Videos and a coloured bar. It's all we need.

Sound 70%
Don't try to please everyone next time.

Gameplay 80%
Typical SingStar stuff - irresistible.

Lifespan 90%
For birthdays, weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Overall 80%
It's still SingStar, so it's still brilliant. The track list threatens to derail the soul train, yet doesn't crash the party too much.