Review: Singstar Motown (PS3)

Ever felt like you’re talking to a brick wall? Well that’s how it seems to me with these SingStar reviews I always end up being forced (okay, volunteering) to do. I’ve lost count of how many releases I’ve played, and in pretty much all cases the excuse to get my friends round for an alcohol assisted karaoke session on the pretence of doing some serious journalism always brings a smile to my face, however I always seem to end up pointing out the same flaws and suggestions.

No, this isn’t a dig at you, fine reader, for your own observation skills have no doubt picked up on the general tone of SingStar reviews, but to the developer, Sony London Studios, who has, as expected, pumped out a well tuned and designed product with a load of new tracks centred around a new theme. But it hasn’t gone the extra mile.

What’s Going On?

Sure I’ve mentioned time and time again that a shuffle team feature is well overdue (especially since it has been in the PS2 engine since early on), and while we’d all like to be able to export the tracks to our hard drives so that disc swapping for the PS3 would become a thing of the past, but I’m sure it’s a little more complicated than simple adding the feature to the game. Still, the main issue with this newest release is that there’s very little new beyond the songs, and the re-addition of a single player career mode like the original SingStar is sadly barely even a pipe dream now.

Arguably, the songs are all that matters, but without resorting to becoming a music reviewer, the lack of any new features really limits what I can realistically talk about. I can reiterate that SingStar provides a well matured and probably the best and most slick Karaoke experience on a console, with plenty to love about it; the party modes are endlessly repeatable with the ever growing library of downloadable content for 99p a song, and we get access to all that plus the trophies and the SingStar online community features for the newcomers to the franchise. Of course typically there’s no bundle available with microphones, but both wireless and wired microphones are available for sale separately.

Do You Love Me?

As you’ll no doubt be aware, your mileage may vary depending on your opinion on the music on offer and whether or not you enjoy listening and singing to them (not to mention whether or not karaoke is your thing if it’s locked safely out of the public eye and in your living room). Naturally I can’t comment on your own tastes, but it seems that Motown is a pretty safe bet for a lot of people. My personal favourites include The Jackson 5’s two songs in the compendium, ‘I Want You Back’ (limited to the PS3 version) and the song which seems to have appeared now in every music game ever, ‘ABC’. Another great song, sadly missing from the PS2 release is The Supreme’s ‘Stop In The Name Of Love’, which is topped off by ‘Dancing In The Street’ by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (who also contribute ‘Jimmy Mack’ and ‘Nowhere to Run’) and Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (he features in four songs in total), both also PS3 only songs.

Sure they’ve added to some very singable and well known tracks such as David Ruffin – Put A Little Love In Your Heart and brother Jimmy Ruffin, with ‘What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted’. Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ is a very welcome addition, as well as his (and Kim Weston’s) ‘It Takes Two’. My own personal picks conclude with The Commodores’ wonderful song ‘Easy’. Actually most of the songs here are very recognisable, even if you’re not familiar with their titles, so the track listing itself seems solid to fans of the genre, and I can realistically expect a lot of karaoke singers to be part of that group since the songs lend themselves so well to it.

Reflections

Technically, the songs have been charted as you would expect from a studio with so many songs under their belt now. Unlike some previous titles, nothing really stands out as worthy of change, or a bad decision on how to split duets etc, and there are notable songs that support harmony; singing different parts for those that know the songs very well, are just up for a bit of a challenge, or are just plain talented.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned lack of new features means there’s not a lot to talk about different to the standard speech of SingStar judging your performance from your pitch timing and rhythm, but that’s not a reflection of this disc, just the franchise itself, and when it has been honed from release to release into a damn near perfect party karaoke game, there’s not much to complain about. Aside from the fact that it’d be more expensive to download these tracks on the SingStore than to buy the disc, but then you’re paying for the convenience of only getting the tracks you really want, and less cause to swap discs. Personally I’d prefer to download only my favourites.