GOONL!NE Review: Singstar Vol. 2

Developer: Studio London
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Also On: N/A (1st Party PlayStation 3 Exclusive)
Console Played On: PlayStation 3
Release Date: Friday June 20th 2008
Rating: PEGI 12

I’m so tempted to give this game a 10 right now and let this just be a short review basiclly because of the fact it has Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out) in the game plus 2 other songs on the SIngStore, High & Dry from The Bends and Creep from Pablo Honey as well as No Surprises from the original Singstar, but what fun would that be?

This is Singstar Vol. 2 for the PlayStation 3, the 2nd PS3 Singstar title to have come out since the release of the PS3 verison of Singstar last December. The game is one of the biggest music games in the market right now alongside Guitar Hero and Rock Band and it has shown us why it is with great reason with an extensive line-up of songs extending from the series debut on the PlayStation 2 from Jameila, Avril Lavigne, Westlife and where would we be with Rick Rolling without Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up to the present verison with Radiohead, Morrissey, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Libertines, Mamas & The Papas, George Michael, Eminem (Yes, that is indeed correct), Paul Mc’Cartney and Blur.

Gameplay: The gameplay is indeed basic. Plug in your USB mics to the PS3 via the Singstar USB dangle you get with your Singstar game, choose if your dueting or singing solo, pick your song and sing away. It’s pretty much the home and simple verison of karaoke. And the best thing is you get to sing with the videos of the song your singing to so if you sing The Killers – When You Were Young, you’ll see the video to The Killers – When You Were Young.

The basic idea is to see how crap (or good) your singing is with the game…or it’s a guilty pleasure you’d like to break out one night while drunk. And with the Singstore, that is not the wisest move at all as your fellow drunks will be telling you to get this song and that song as such.

And while it does extend the lifespand of the game, it makes you wonder in the point of releasing the game when they could have (and still may very well do so) released the songs on the game for the Singstore to buy instead of getting the disc verison of the game which could be a downer.

But, once you have sung your song of choice and if you have an PlayStation Eye or Eyetoy, you can upload your videos and pictures to My SingStar for the whole entire world to see in your holy glory. So if they want you to see that drunken moment when you butchered The Undertones – Teenage Kicks after buying it off the SingStore or gloriously singing your way through Morrissey – Suedehead as a undiscovered talent, you can upload it, its down to you what you can upload and buy from the Singstore (Note: Buying off the SIngstore with mates while drunk is not the best idea and is infact, not recomended)

Graphics: What is there to talk about with graphics? OK, the front layout is pretty but there arent no graphics to it tbh and even if there was, it’d be hard to describe as the only graphics you get to see are that of licenced music videos from whatever music is in the game disc or the Singstore.

So yeah, nothing to describe as much as graphics go.

Sound: You have one hell of an impressive line-up for the game which does include The Killers, Morrissey, Kaiser Chiefs, Paul Mc’Cartney, Maximo Park, Eminem and of course, Radiohead.

Full Tracklist:
Aerosmith – “Dude Looks Like A Lady”
Blur – “Country House”
Bobby Brown – “My Perogative”
Eminem – “Without Me”
George Michael – “Freedom 90”
Gorillaz – “Dare”
Gossip – “Standing in the Way of Control”
Hot Chocolate – “You Sexy Thing”
Kaiser Chiefs – “Ruby”
Kool & The Gang – “Celebration”
Joe Cocker – “Summer In The City”
Maximo Park – “Our Velocity”
Morrissey – “Suedehead”
Nirvana – “Lithium”
Panic! At The Disco – “But It’s Better If You Do”
Paul McCartney & the Frog Chorus – “We All Stand Together”
Pulp – “Common People”
Radiohead – “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
Shakespears Sister – “Stay”
Spandau Ballet – “True”
Suede – “Metal Mickey”
The Cure – “Pictures of You”
The Killers – “When You Were Young”
The Libertines – “Can’t Stand Me Now”
The Offspring – “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)”
The Police – “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”
The Proclaimers – “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”
Tom Jones with Mousse T – “Sexbomb”
Tone Loc – “Funky Cold Medina”
Young MC – “Bust A Move”

Plus, you can add more songs via the Singstore with prices for each song being 99p and while that is 20p more then an song bought off iTunes, it’s still a very good price for a song to be bought off the iTunes store as such. The only downside is that Sony have been a little sloppy in their updates as of late but they’ll be releasing a new update to the Singstore next week (June 27th)

When that is announced, we’ll post it here when its announced most likely on Wednesday.

Overall: Yes, this is a short review but how else are you going to describe the game? Other then that and a few flaws (SingStore updates to name a few plus no HD vids), SIngstar Vol 2 is an enjoyable game which hits all the right notes, especially with its tracklisting.

Gameplay: 8.0 – Its a basic pick up and play concept. Plug in the pics, choose your song, sing.

Graphics: 7.8 – Its just basiclly videos of the songs you see in the game as such the trailer park video of Street Spirit. So other then that, pretty hard to describe.

Sound: 8.4 – The game has a great setlist as said above plus expansion via the Singstore. But I must resist giving it a 9 or a 10 for Street Spirit alone…must…resist.

Longtivity: 8.5 – The lifespan of the game plus the original SIngstore can be extended via the Singstore where you get a ton of songs to download.

Overall: 8.1 – It’s a good decent attempt by Studio London with a great setlist to boot. Singstar Vol 2 is a fine example of how far the Singstar series has gone since its debut 4 years ago and while it may not be the No. 1 music game on the market anymore (That goes to Guitar Hero), it still has the know-how to release a decent game. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to My Singstar and mock other people’s attempts at Street Spirit plus many other songs.