SingStar 90s review (PS2)

It all comes down to the music really. Unlike other games where it’s merely a background addition, the music game genre has exploded recently, and riding the cusp of the wave must be our favourite Karaoke simulator, SingStar. While the ‘80s disc was a great revisitation of the decade that was a genre of its own, it can’t be helped to consider that the ‘90s lacked a specific style, branching out in all directions to what we must endure today, so basing a whole SingStar 30 song compendium on the ‘90s can surely only be a collection of songs that are meant to sum up my teenage years?

As a matter of fact, the tracks do a good job of combining a load of remarkably great songs with the simple fact that they were released in the same decade. Let’s be honest here; we’re not expecting a big reinvention of the franchise (especially with the PS3 SingStar apparently just around the corner), the standard has become to include a motivating introductory movie showing a collection of people enjoying the new songs on offer, the aforementioned collection of 30 new tracks (let’s ignore that horrible 20 track outing shall we?) and a new title screen. Evidently getting lazy with all of the upcoming releases, there is no intro video now (though it is hardly missed), and no surprises in terms of the party games, rounds, medleys and the rest of the features we’re used to.

It’s just singing

This isn’t your first SingStar is it? Okay, well quite simply, it’s a karaoke game that allows you to sing into the provided microphones (don’t forget to buy the specific version with or without microphones (solus (yes I did just double bracket that)) as required), and the clever game wizardry listens to your performance and judges your pitch, rhythm and timing to figure out whether you’re singing correctly, awarding you points accordingly. Naturally depending on your skills, you can alter the difficulty to be more or less forgiving with respect to your ability.

Like the other games, SingStar ‘90s suffers from the unfortunate illness that allows people to perform better if they just sing ‘Ah’ instead of cutting their lines with the harder consonants, but then that kind of defeats the point of the game, but we can forgive this with respect to the necessity of the game. Parties are where the game shines, giving teams of up to four players each the chance to compete in the ultimate sing-off with multiple styles of rounds, duets, micro-medleys (psychotic), battles and even survival rounds and first to score a set number of points rounds to keep you entertained. A limited number of shuffle tokens are given to each team to allow them to skip any songs that they truly cannot bring themselves to sing (Aqua – Barbie Girl; actually that’s remarkably funny to sing as a duet).

Play it again, SingStar

So let’s get into the meat of this game (that should only be called an expansion disc, despite its ability to be played as a standalone product). Looking at the track listing I was originally questioning the amount of decent music within the list, until I sat down to play it and remembered a whole load of tracks that had eluded me for many years and were a welcome return to form. Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm brought back memories that made this melodic and rich sounding song an absolute pleasure to sing, Seal – Kiss From A Rose excited me enough to ignore the fact that I’d put it on hard mode and the game didn’t like our duet rendition. Certainly a few oddballs pop out that I’d never heard of, such as Gin Blossoms – Hey Jealousy and Roachford – Only To Be With You, but after a few listens, I not only feel that I could manage them, but they are decent enough songs for me to want to attempt them.

Savage Garden make an appearance with I Want You, and R.E.M. add to the smile-fest with Everybody Hurts. Giving enough variety for singers of both sexes that remember the decade, popular choices are bound to include Meredith Brooks – Bitch and Natalie Imbruglia – Torn. The strange thing about this disc is that while you normally expect a few songs that you don’t know and a few that you don’t like (Okay, Spice Girls – Wannabe did give us a little bit of guilty pleasure), playing through the tracks keeps revealing more songs that you’d forgotten, and are great to sing. Lisa Loeb – Stay jumped out at us with a surprise matched by Spin Doctors – Two Princes (yes we’d forgotten that song) finally to end our session on The Cranberries – Zombie.

Rap is back

A few rap songs (and songs that have rap sections) stick their heads up from the list, headlined undeniably by MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This, but more recently I have come to think that while it is a nice feature, there is an additional one missing that really is necessary with the current variety of TVs, Home Theatre Kits and connection cables, more notable with the rap sections. Many other music rhythm games include a lag adjustment setting that allows the game to allow you to allow for a slight delay between the visuals and the sound and the console’s feedback that does seem apparent through an HTK, and certainly when running through an HDMI cable and my PS3.

Played on a normal TV hooked up through a standard scart, I can perform well on the raps, despite the lack of visual assistance of how to sing the lyrics, but sticking it through external speakers sends the timing off just enough to make me practically fail most of the songs each time. Hopefully with the release of the next gen SingStar we will see some kind of audio/visual lag adjustment option to help us all out. That said, at least it does work superbly through the PS3, and despite the title suggesting a decade that seems rather dry of its own musical identity, I have found SingStar ‘90s to have one of the absolute best set lists of the entire series. Buy it! Unless you want to hold off until the PS3 version to download these tracks and only have to pay for them once.

Track Listing

• All Saints - Never Ever
• Aqua - Barbie Girl
• B-52's - Love Shack
• Barenaked Ladies - One Week
• Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart
• Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
• Divinyls - I Touch Myself
• EMF - Unbelievable
• Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
• Lisa Loeb - Stay
• MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This
• Meredith Brooks - Bitch
• M People - Movin' On Up
• Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
• New Kids On The Block - Step By Step
• Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow
• Poison - Unskinny Bop
• Radiohead - Creep
• R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
• Roachford - Only To Be With You
• Savage Garden - I Want You
• Seal - Kiss From A Rose
• Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
• Spice Girls - Wannabe
• Spin Doctors - Two Princes
• Technotronic feat. Felly - Pump Up The Jam
• The Cardigans - Lovefool
• The Cranberries - Zombie
• The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
• Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around