My favourite Singstar yet (Singstar '80s (PS2))

Member Name: candyfloss89

Product:	Singstar '80s (PS2)
Date:	07/07/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun for parties, diverse tracklist with universal appeal

Disadvantages: No new features

Singstar 80's offers 30 classic kareoke worthy tracks from the 1980's. Great for nostalga for older players and the songs are so catchy that the kids will be singing along to!

TRACKLIST
Alice Cooper - "Poison"
Belinda Carlisle - "Heaven Is A Place On Earth"
Billy Joel - "Uptown Girl"
Blondie - "Atomic"
Culture Club - "Karma Chameleon"
The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
Dexys Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen"
Dolly Parton - "9 To 5"
Duran Duran - "Rio"
Erasure - "A Little Respect"
Europe - "The Final Countdown"
Fairground Attraction - "Perfect"
Foreigner - "I Want To Know What Love Is"
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - "The Power Of Love"
Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill"
Katrina And The Waves - "Walking On Sunshine"
Madness - "Our House"
Madonna - "Material Girl"
Marillion - "Kayleigh"
Nena - "99 Red Balloons"
Pretenders - "Brass In Pocket"
Run-D.M.C. - "It's Tricky"
Simple Minds - "Don't You Forget About Me" -
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
Starship - "We Built This City"
Survivor - "Eye Of The Tiger"
Tears For Fears - "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"
Tina Turner - "The Best"
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
Wham! - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"

MODES OF PLAY
If you haven't played a SingStar game before, all of the ones released so far for the PlayStation 2 offer an identical menu setup and system that lets you play individual songs for score, as well as engage in a number of competitive and multi player party games such as song medleys, duets and pass the mic, which I have described in previous reviews.
And again as always, there's the playback ability where you can playback your performance using voice filters to create amusing sound effects. If you've played Singstar before this set up is familar and wont cause any issues. For new players, you'll soon learn how it works without too much difficulty.

HOW YOUR SCORED
The same familiar scoring system exists as in previous game. It's not the best singer that's going to win. It's all about matching the pitch and hitting and holding the high notes for that particular song.

A slightly different system exists for songs like Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice baby" as this is a rap song. As you rap along to the song, your performance is measured on screen by a "rap metre". This isn't quite as easy to follow as the normal performance metre but the prinnciple is the same. Rap well and your metre will fill up, perform poorly and it wont.

ADVANTAGES
Again this is a really strong tracklist. Singstar tracklists can be a bit hit and miss at times, they often leave out well known songs and chose less obvious choices which can be annoying. However this isn't the case with Singstar 80's. With this tracklist, you've not only got a soundtrack that is focused on 80s music, but one that covers everything from new wave to pop to adult contempoarary so there's plenty for everyone. I was born in 1989 so know very little about 80's music but the tracks chosen on here are well known enough to appeal to me anyway.

As always, the game is lots of fun, great for parties and girly nights in. Songs such as Ice Ice Baby and Come on Eileen are so hard to sing and require such specific accents and voices that they offer an amusing challenge and will have you and your friends in fits off laughter as you try to match them. The variety of songs offers a challenge for everyone so even on easy mode, your not going to be knocking up constant "Singstar" scores, which is good for those who enjoy a challenge!

DISADVANTAGES
The biggest disadavantage is the fact that the set up and modes of play are exactly the same as previous versions. This can be seen as an advantage because it means previous players are familar with the format and so can navigaste their way around easily. However, it would be nice to have some variety by now with some different party games, different features. Even just a couple of new features would keep the game fresh and interesting but Sony roll out the same game over and over just with a different track list. With new kareoke style games being released that support downloaded music, meaning its possible to customise a kareoke game full of the players favourites, Singstar is beginning to look outdated.

Summary: Full of 80's classics, great for parties or fun nights in.