For Anyone Who's Ever Sung Into Their Hairbrush (Singstar (PS2))

Member Name: kaosdaq

Product:	Singstar (PS2)
Date:	10/06/04 (311 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots and lots of fun, decent value for money, a versatile game

Disadvantages: you might get bored with the songs

Have you ever been to a karaoke night in a pub? Did you get up there and start singing your heart out, or were you paralysed with fear at the thought of embarassing yourself in front of a load of strangers?

I?m more the second type. Even with several drinks inside me, I?ve never quite had the guts to get up there and sing, even though it looks like a lot of fun. Well, if this sounds like you, there is now a perfect solution ? Singstar for the Playstation 2.
And if you?re one of the lucky ones who doesn?t know the meaning of the word ?stage fright?, you?ll love this too.

What is Singstar? Well, the package that you get includes a Playstation game disc, two microphones, and a USB connector. It?s very very easy to set up, the connector plugs into the hole at the front of your PS2, and then you plug the two mikes into the connector, put the game disc in as normal, and you?re ready to go!

When you?re singing, it looks similar to a karaoke machine. The music video plays on screen, the lyrics are at the bottom, and you hold the mike and sing along. There are bars on the screen which show you what you?re supposed to be singing. You don?t need to be able to read music, you just look at how high or low the bar is and how long it is. The notes you are actually singing show up on screen, so you can see instantly whether you?re getting it right. You can also choose between Easy, Medium and Hard levels of difficulty.

There are several different audio options, the best is AVC, where you can hear the original vocals, but they fade out when you start singing. This means if you get confused you can just stop for a moment and listen to the song to hear how it goes. Alternatively you can choose to turn the original vocals off completely, or to leave them on and sing along with them.

There are se
veral different modes depending on how many people are playing. For solo playing, there?s Career mode where you have to sing in order to work your way up in the music industry. For one or two people, there?s Single Play mode, where you can just choose a song and start singing. You can choose between Duet, where you sing together, and Battle, where the highest score wins.

Then there?s Party mode, which is for any number of people and has lots of different types of competition. Finally there?s Freestyle, which has no ?pitch guide? bars, and no points scoring, so you can just sing whatever you want. This is a great idea because in the other modes you have to follow the tune quite strictly, but here you can be as creative as you like.

There?s a good, diverse mix of songs, so there?s something for everyone no matter what age or what music you?re into. Here?s the complete tracklisting:
Liberty X - Just a Little
Ricky Martin - Livin' la Vida Loca
Mis-Teeq - Scandalous
The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Madonna - Like a Virgin
A-ha - Take On Me
Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman
Pink - Get the Party Started
S Club - Don't Stop Movin'
Jamelia - Superstar
Deee-Lite - Groove Is in the Heart
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Sugababes - Round Round
George Michael - Careless Whisper
Elvis - Suspicious Minds
Avril Lavigne - Complicated
Busted - Crashed the Wedding
Petula Clark - Downtown
Village People - YMCA
Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder on the Dancefloor
Good Charlotte -
Girls and Boys
Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not the One
Blondie - Heart of Glass
Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting
Dido - Thank You
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Atomic Kitten - Whole Again/Eternal Flame
Westlife - World of Our Own
Blue - One Love

Sony are also bringing out an extra disc at Christmas with more songs on it.

So is it any good? Well, yes. The graphics are lovely ? quite minimalist and cartoony ? and the game includes lots of little fun extras. For example, in Career mode you have a personal organiser and phone so you can see how well you?re doing, and you travel around the city visiting the different clubs and recording studios. All the different modes mean that you can do whatever you feel like, whether you want to be competitive, have a laugh, or just be creative and sing in your own style.

The hardware is very good quality and the mikes are colour coded which is just a minor point, but makes life easier. At £30 for the game, the connector and the mikes, it?s a very good deal ? apart from anything else, you are also buying all those songs and the videos with them. (i got mine from amazon)

Most of all, it?s hugely entertaining. My boyfriend leaping round the living room singing ?Ace of Spades? was one of the funniest things I?ve seen for ages. And I?ve had a great time pouting and pretending to be Madonna. Unlike a lot of Playstation games, this is very versatile - you can play it on your own, at a party, or with your family. So if you?ve ever sung into your hairbrush or headbanged in your bedroom, get Singstar and you?ll have a great time.

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