http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/837/837033p1.html
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UK, November 21, 2007 - It's difficult to remember what house parties used to be like before games such as SingStar and Guitar Hero came along. Nothing quite brings people together and gets a night going like a co-op rendition of YMCA or a fret-slapping battle to Sweet Child O' Mine.
SingStar on PS3 has been a long time coming. Unlike most current-gen remakes of beloved older games though, this one isn't about power-enhanced gameplay or improved visuals. Nope, SingStar PS3 is, in truth, much the same game as its PS2 predecessors and, beyond its flashy customisable front-end and hi-def music videos, you'd hard-pressed to guess you're playing it on a new console. It has new features, of course, but the actual experience is exactly the same - pick a song, sing along and make a fool/star of yourself, depending on your vocal talents.
Before we tackle the new stuff though, let's backtrack a little and cover the basics for anyone who has yet to succumb to SingStar's charms. One or two players warble along to their favourite tunes, either competitively or as a duo, and the performance is rated on pitch by the game. There's also Pass The Mic, which lets up to 8 players compete by simply passing the microphone along at the end of each line. So far, so SingStar.
But where SingStar on PlayStation 3 ups the ante is its brand new online features, which suddenly seem criminally absent from the PS2 games when you go back to them. Indeed, in an age where individual songs can be downloaded from online stores it's hard to see why people buy compilation albums anymore, when all they're getting is CD half-filled with decent tunes and the rest rubbish filler material. This applies to recent SingStar releases such as '80s and Rocks. Why pay 20 quid for 30 tracks when at least a dozen are about as appealing as a dwarf in a jockstrap? Admittedly Sony has rarely been guilty of including deliberately duff songs but, at the end of the day, the enjoyment you get out of SingStar all boils down to personal taste - it's not ideal if you want to sing along to Bloc Party and you're lumbered with The Offspring.
That all changes with SingStore, which is a breath of fresh air for the series. Sure, you get the standard 30 tracks on the disc (most of which are pretty decent), but there's also a wide selection of songs available for download, and for a decent price - 1 GBP / Euro 1.49 - too. This essentially means players can create their own karaoke compilations, so playlists become packed with genuine classics and not the occasional dud that everyone skips past. Some may say it's been a long time coming but it really does revolutionise the Singstar experience, especially if you're playing with friends. Can't find a song to sing? Hop online, browse through the 70-odd tracks on offer (with more to follow soon), fork out the cash and, in around five minutes, you're away. Downloads take place in the background too, so you can keep playing while new tracks are saving to your PS3.
EyeToy support is a much more integral part of the experience now, too. Before, you could record your audio performance and save it to memory card, but that was about it. Now, using the PSEye, your best performances can be uploaded to your SingStar profile and shared YouTube-style with the rest of the world. This incentive to put on a show, rather than simply hitting the right notes, adds a whole new dimension to the game. With the rest of the SingStar community able to look at and rate your efforts, there's plenty more reason to chuck in the odd dance move while you sing.
Closing Comments
Aside from additions like the Rap Meter and Duet mode, SingStar hasn't really innovated much since the first instalment. Some might have expected this first PS3 foray to improve more within the core game but, for fans, it's hard to see how Sony could make it better. It's difficult to know without the community in place just how big SingStar's online features will be, but the tools are certainly enough to make it massive. SingStar is really a game for everyone - all ages, gamers and non-gamers and a YouTube generation more than ready to take performing in front of friends, and indeed the world, to the next level. SingStar on PS3 doesn't pack in cheap gimmicks, it simply refreshes and updates a winning idea, and it does that well enough to ensure no one will be disappointed with its efforts.
| Rating | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide | |
| 7.5 | Presentation Menus are slick and easy to navigate, if a bit underwhelming but the customisation feature is a neat one. 30 songs are included with the game to get you started. | |
| 6.5 | Graphics In-game, it's the same as usual. High-def and proper widescreen is supported and even older videos look decent on a big flatscreen telly. | |
| 8.5 | Sound Still the only karaoke game to offer all the original artist recordings, with a massive selection of brand new tracks and classic hits. | |
| 8.5 | Gameplay Masses of fun with friends. Head-to-head sing-offs are great, plus the opportunity to share your videos MySpace-style is hugely appealing. | |
| 9.0 | Lasting Appeal The 30 tracks on the disc are just the tip of the iceberg, with 350 songs promised by the beginning of next year. The only limit to how long you play is vocal stamina. | |
| 8.5 | OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
Sounds pretty good, although for anyone playing offline - the experience seems to be the same as the PS2 version. Should be a solid driver of software/hardware once the PS3 gets even cheaper.
Pity to only have 30 songs on the disc though - thats 20Gigs of space...right? Guess they want their DLC revenue :P
(30 .mp3 songs fillsabout 120MB of space - they could have added upwards of 1000 tracks on one disc!)
EDIT: and I'm personally NOT impressed with 1 pound = 1 track. That comes to about $2.50AU per track (not sure what the pricing will be here in Australia, but hopefully no more than $2/track).
At that price, its actually more expensive than buying an album/CD from a music store (15 songs = $37AU, 12 songs = $30AU) - and tracks should be simpler to process than something like Rockband or Guitar Hero (shouldn't they)?
Gesta Non Verba
Nocturnal is helping companies get cheaper game ratings in Australia:
Wii code: 2263 4706 2910 1099
