SingStar Pop Hits review (PlayStation 2)

Like the games themselves, these reviews of SingStar seem to be getting a little formulaic. Throwing in a load of new songs, and their videos to the existing game seems to provide little more than an expansion pack to the original and after the first few releases, the addition of new features seems non existent. Unlike this new iteration of the game, this review hopes to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with the new songs, rather than the game itself (since by this point if you’re not sure whether you enjoy this once ground breaking Karaoke simulator for the PS2, you’ll be better suited to the original version to find out).

Again with no career mode (surely I’m not the only one that gets frustrated with a game that practically requires me to have a party to even review it… then again that doesn’t sound all bad) Pop Hits grabs its new place in the marketplace by a selection of tracks the developer hopes will warrant a purchase. Thankfully back to including 30 songs, the game does have a wide selection of styles and themes. Indie rockers will enjoy Orson – Bright Idea and Razorlight – Golden Touch. Travis – Sing is an appropriate inclusion that compliments U2 – Beautiful Day superbly to contrast with the other end of the spectrum that comprises such entries as Britney Spears – Baby One More Time and Akon – Lonely.

It’s all about the music

Certainly a wide variety of music is present, and much of it I take a (guilty) pleasure in singing, but by branding it ‘Pop Hits’ the obvious intention to appeal to as many people as possible is also its main drawback, in that unlike SingStar Rocks or SingStar 80s, you’re unlikely to like the majority of the songs, instead hoping on the random selection to bring you a song that you don’t feel embarrassed to sing.

Whether or not you like the music doesn’t detract from the fact that you will know most of it because they are so popular, and this leaves me ambivalent towards the listing. Should I applaud SCEE for throwing in music that we should all know to the detriment of certain specific styles so that everyone can be happy with some of the music on it, or should they have tried another more strongly themed selection to give a specific audience exactly what they wanted? Surely it seems that the widest audience possible will make it a better choice for parties to encourage everyone to get involved which leaves me favourable towards the track listing, and that’s all that really matters with the new entries in the SingStar franchise.

All that REALLY matters...

The truth is that you could have the best set of tunes in the world and that wouldn’t necessarily provide the best SingStar experience, due to the simple fact that they still have to be sing-able by a standard audience. Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t got a ridiculous difficulty of songs here, but certain things make me raise an eyebrow. Girls Aloud – No Good Advice may not be my cup of tea but while I understand the choice for the wider audience, I find it strange that this song be chosen when it must be censored in-game. I can understand the need to censor the phrase ‘I don’t give a d*mn’, but surely that would be a reason to avoid that song out of the undeniable hundreds of options from the genre.

The other main issue that many of the songs do suffer from is the un-sing-able style of many of them. Remember Cosmic Girl by Jamiroquai that we were treated to in SingStar Party? A great song it may be, but it is limited by the way that JK sings it. Rather than opting for specific accurate notes, he seems to throw his voice around which makes it possible to emulate if you know the song well, but by the design of the game, you must hit an accurate note which may not be obvious even from listening to the original recording. This makes it very challenging to sing how the game designers intended. While I had hoped this was the last we would see of this kind of song, it seems like a lot of Pop Hits’ music suffers from the same fate.

Even the way that U2 – Beautiful Day is sung seems slightly unnatural compared to how you might sing along to it without a microphone, more so than the standard SingStar method of drawing out a note and holding the pitch, serving to improve your score rather than sound great or accurate.

Sound proof padding

Pop Hits does include the now standard array of party modes with Pass The Mic being my friends’ favourite, giving teams of up to four singers the chance to face off against each other in randomly selected music, randomly choosing the participants and giving a fun variety of game styles from duets to the fearful micromedleys that provide a couple of lines of multiple songs to sing in one big string.

Standard medleys return and remain a love it or hate it feature, but without the career mode (how many times must I say this before Sony take note and put the effort back in to include it) I feel no inclination to play the game on my own, despite the fact that it was a great way to learn and refine the songs I didn’t know.

It’s all about the listing

As ever, you’ll probably make your mind up on whether to buy SingStar Pop Hits based on the tracklisting rather than anything I can say in my review, or perhaps like me you’ll get it because it’s a few more songs to breathe life back into one of the best party games of the current PS2 generation, even if I am now playing it through my PS3 (yes it works fine). We now have the upcoming PS3 SingStar to look forward to, and next time I’ve no doubt we’ll be looking at the franchise in a whole new light.

Pop Hits remains a solid addition to the series with a lot of great songs that you’ll know, and enjoy singing, but watch out for the style of singing you may require during some of the songs. The only question I’m wondering is whether or not Pop Hits is actually a good buy if you’re intending to purchase SingStar on the PS3 with all of these songs apparently available to download from the release date. I find it unlikely that by owning this disc you’ll be able to get the songs for free on the PS3 version, so may have to re-buy them again. Is it worth waiting a month for that version to find out? Not if you’ve got a house party this weekend it’s not.