SingStar review

Actually, neither of those statements are entirely true, as SingStar is possibly the least game-like piece of software you'll play this year. While the title does score you for getting your note right and sticks an appropriate rank on you for your trouble, there's nothing to gain from perfect pitch, and nothing beside your pride to harm by bodging every word. It's hardly going to encourage the same competitive, perfectionist play as Guitar Hero does, when it's entirely possible to sleep through every note and still get to the end of a song, but then again, who wants to have their karaoke stopped halfway through by some bad singing?Such niggling concerns never hurt the previous hundred-odd SingStar updates, though they didn't have to contend with being the first outing for the franchise on a new console. Particularly concerning is the fact that yes, it's pretty much last year's SingStar over again, with a next-gen pump-up. You sing; you sound rough; you laugh with your friends and spew on the microphone. What makes this version more than an exercise in franchise pumping is the degree to which it uses its host system's new features to its advantage in an enjoyably sociable way. Just as karaoke is in itself as much about making a fool of yourself as it is singing a song you love, this SingStar is about making an international idiot of yourself, singing exactly the song you want.Sony's decision to take SingStar online is timely and appropriate in the Web 2.0 era, and fairly successful, save for a few caveats. There's little to fault in terms of the interface and implementation, with the slick menus and straight-forward controls letting you cue-up new songs for download during your singing time- it's just a shame that at time of writing the range of tracks is so limited. On top of that, to really begin to get involved in the SingStar online community requires that you own the PlayStation Eye camera, which is less than readily available in the UK. The chance to save your own howlingly awful performances and drunken antics and post them online almost covers the outlay.Released for less than the price of a Wii game, the title is as much a way to get the SingStore into people's homes as expanding the franchise. It's unlikely London Studio is going to start breaking out the champagne just yet. Even at 1 per track, there's nothing to make up for the amount of content available at present, which is hardly breathtaking. It's something that can only improve with time, bi-monthly updates and fickle record companies permitting, but at present its hard to completely recommend the title with content as limited as it is.At a party, where onlookers and alcohol can turn anyone into a wannabe superstar for the camera and no song is too daft to sing, SingStar borders on the essential, but as the hangover wears off and the night's videos get played back and uploaded, there's little reason to go back save for some unrewarding practise. With neither Guitar Hero's long term appeal nor Rock Band's collaborative online play to fall back on, it's merely a fun, if limited, distraction. SingStar virgins and hardcore fans could do a lot worse than start here, but for everyone in between, it may be worth waiting for the SingStore to fill before making the jump.