I don't think many youngsters nowadays will be aware of the Singstar game - too many games have taken over such as 'Just Dance'. Back in the old days when we all owned a Playstation 2 (a slim one if you were lucky enough!) owned or wanted to own singstar. It was a must have game when I was younger and if you didn't have it - you simply weren't cool.

We still bring this out when we have our pre-lashing sessions and it gives us endless giggles. It turns into a game of fun not point scoring when you get drunk though. Usually it is supposed to be a much more competitive game - but I've never used it for this reason except to unlock songs on the High School Musical version.

Since the first Singstar came out, there has been loads of expansions I guess you would call them. You can now buy CD's which are specifially bands, american, british, 90's and so on. I have also come across High School Musical and disney versions which are fun if you grew up in the 90's listening to those songs in your favourite films. Each expansion has different songs under the title genre which I like because you can pick the right songs for your mood without changing disk after every song! Myself and my friend between us own all of them which is quite lame but its so much fun and something we always do when we're together.

I brought my first ever game with the two microphones which are required for game play. One has a blue band and the other has a red band - these match the 'team' colours on the screen. If you're playing alone you just pick which ever controller you want. The microphones have an adapter which plus into the controller slot (be careful not to loose this because without it you can't play the game!).

The games cost around £15 pre-owned on PS2 now and in my local game store they don't sell them brand new unless you are after the PS3 version which I haven't tried. Neither my brother or boyfriend will let me near their precious consoles with a ridiculous non-violent or football related game. I have managed to sneak other games in there - but me attempting to sing is deafening.

The games can all be brought alone or with the microphones which is quite handy. I wouldn't like to think I had to buy one specific game just for the microphones - I'd rather have the choice of owning just one game with them!

There are a few modes of game play, this means you can edit your game depending on your use. For example if you're alone, with a friend, girls night in or a party - each will want a different mode! From my memory the modes are solo, duet, verses and party. There is no option to play the game competitively like with guitar hero where you need to unlock songs by playing well etc. Speaking of which I want to re-buy guitar hero, I loved that!
Each of the modes acts differently. I prefer party mode as this is one of the only times it gets used. You can split into two teams (red and blue based on the mic colour). We always do winner stays on and it can end up in some serious competition! You basically choose a song and the game picks the team member to play the song. The teams points are added up based on the notes they hit throughout the game.

When it comes to picking the song, the screen is like a jukebox and you can scroll through the album artwork and pause on the cd to listen to the song. I quite like this feature and its very similar to the iTunes layout where you can flick through all of your songs. You then choose the short or full version of any song and play. If you're undecisive then you can do a medley which is a bunch of songs which they think are good together and you sing a shortened version of each of them in a row.

On the song you have bars going across the screen. You need to sing in tune in order to hit these bars and you get bonuses if you reach a certain number of notes hit in a row. The screen has blue and red bars top and bottom so be careful to watch your own bars not the other persons. The music video to the song is playing behind which I like because it means you can sort of watch it whilst you're singing so you don't get bored.

The scores are displayed at the top and lyrics at the bottom so don't worry about knowing the words - we certainly don't half the time! I find the funny part to be seeing the scores because everyone on your team will be egging you on when they look and your loosing or winning. At the end of the song it tells you you're score. Depending what you get they name you. I've been 'tone deaf' or 'rockstar' a few times - proud.

This game is excellent if you're wanting something to bring some fun to a party, pre-drinks, night in or just by yourself really. We don't get it out much anymore but in 8/9 years it has been well loved and will remain in the family.

I really recommend this to anyone willing to have a good time, you won't regret buying it and even if you do? Just bring it out when you're drunk!