SingStar (PS2)

...to get hold of this Singstar game I’d heard so much about, and make him sing ‘The Ace of Spades’. Cruel, maybe, but very good fun.

SINGSTAR?

The incredible PS2 add-ons have, for me personally, made this console stand out from the rest. I got an Eye Toy last year, and was stunned by what you could do with it. I thought they had probably gone as far as they could with interactive games; we’re able to plug in any number ...
...mats and even blooming snowboards. The Eye Toy just seemed to take the biscuit.

When I heard about Singstar, with its USB microphones which would measure the pitch and tempo of the singing, I just had to try it to see if it really worked. We easily found it in our local HMV for £39.99, which I considered an absolute bargain for the game and two microphones, as well as the USB plug in.

SETTING IT UP

I’d ... more

There’s nothing I enjoy more than making my husband look foolish (I’m not alone in this desire am I?), particularly in front of other people. This weekend, my batty as a shoe-brush school mate Nicola (and sometime maid of honour with hayfever) came to stay, so I decided the ultimate in humiliation would be to get hold of this Singstar game I’d heard so much about, and make him sing ‘The Ace of Spades’. Cruel, maybe, but very good fun.

SINGSTAR?

The incredible PS2 add-ons have, for me personally, made this console stand out from the rest. I got an Eye Toy last year, and was stunned by what you could do with it. I thought they had probably gone as far as they could with interactive games; we’re able to plug in any number of attachments already, such as light guns, steering wheels, dance mats and even blooming snowboards. The Eye Toy just seemed to take the biscuit.

When I heard about Singstar, with its USB microphones which would measure the pitch and tempo of the singing, I just had to try it to see if it really worked. We easily found it in our local HMV for £39.99, which I considered an absolute bargain for the game and two microphones, as well as the USB plug in.

SETTING IT UP

I’d heard you could use the microphones with the Eye Toy and had assumed that this would only be possible whilst using one microphone. Imagine my delight when I found both microphones plugged into a single USB port, and the Eye Toy could then pick up both singers!

It’s a doddle to set up; just plug in the microphones, and pop the disc in the PS2. Then when the PS2 is turned on, the game automatically loads up, and the USB plug in turns on. A child could easily do it, as can a technophobe auntie.

Once the game begins, you need to go into ‘options’ to turn on the Eye Toy if you are using it. The game also needs a controller plugged in to choose options and which song you’re singing.

MODES OF PLAYING

There are 4 main ways to play Singstar, and they ALL involve singing. I’ll discuss them in more depth later on.

1. Quick Game – single or multi-player singing; this mode is more like a karaoke session than the rest of the game. You can either sing alone, or sing a duet co-operatively.
2. Party – multiplayer or team games; you can sing a ‘battle’ duet, where you sing against each other, or you can play ‘Pass the Mic’ which can involve limitless players.
3. Star Maker – the career mode; you sing alone to build a successful singing career.
4. Freestyle – singing with no scoring (bit pointless in my eyes, but there you go)

QUICK GAME

Most people are going to want this game to be able to play with other people, or to build a career, so having the option to sing one song either alone or as a duet I personally feel I a bit pointless. We tried it out, Nicola enjoying the co-operative aspect more than me. I’m a (nee) Smith, and as such, I can’t see the point in playing games unless someone wins, and can dance around calling the other person a loser. Singing alone we both felt a bit self-concious, and I personally wouldn’t use this mode if I wanted to play the game alone.

PARTY

Easily the best way to play this game. Nicola and I tried the ‘battle’ duet, which was definitely more interesting for me. We’re both pretty similar singers, so it was nice to sing at the same time, but get separate scores, particularly as we seemed to win about the same amount of times.

‘Pass the Mic’ is a team game, and can be played by two teams, each team having up to four members. We managed to play this when Dad came round. Ian and I were on one team, and Nicola and Dad were on the other team. You have to sing through seven rounds, and the winning team in each round gets 2 points (1 point each for a draw). The game randomly chooses the song, and it also tells you which team member has to sing each round, so there (should be) no arguments.

The rounds involve either singing the song solo, singing against each other, singing to keep the motivation level above a certain point, and in the final round literally passing the mic around the team.

STAR MAKER

This is the way I choose to play the game if I’m playing on my own, as there is a definite goal to aim for. You start off in your flat, and have to sing around the clubs in the city until you earn enough ‘buzz points’ to progress through the game. Progression is usually a new club willing to let you sing there, or a demo tape or single being recorded. Each club has its own roster of 6 available songs. Buzz points are earned by going to a club and completing the challenge the club owner sets – it might be to score more than 5000 point, keeping the motivation level high enough, and so on.

The game remembers the points you get for each song, and your demo or single is the song you have sung the best so far in the game. Strangely enough, mine was ‘Thank You’ by Dido, a song I hate, but apparently can sing.

This mode can be quite repetitive when you have to keep singing the same songs in an attempt to get enough points to open up a new club, but it’s a good game to play in a spare half an hour (as I did this lunchtime before school).

FREESTYLE

More pointless than the quick game for me, but I expect people who want to use the game like a karaoke machine will probably enjoy this.

HOW DO YOU PLAY IT?

After choosing your mode, you can choose from 30 songs. I’m not going to list them all (look on Amazon if you want to know the songs), but they include a good mixture of old songs like Pet Clark’s “Downtown”, rock numbers like “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead, and very new songs like Blue’s “One Love” and Pink’s “Get the Party Started”. I was happy with the mixture of songs – there’s nothing on here that I hadn’t at least heard once, even though some of the songs are more familiar than others. Thirty also seems a good number, as once you’ve sung each one once, you’re ready to sing them all again.

It’s a very simple game to play, as once you’ve chosen your mode, and the song, you just sing into the microphone. I don’t know how it works, it’s all too clever for me, but it not only measures your singing, it also amplifies your voice.

Once the game starts properly, all you have to do is sing. This sounds easier than it is, but the game itself does give you plenty of information, both visual and aural, to help.

First of all, you can hear the backing music, and the backing vocals. This can really help for a song you don’t really know very well. The screen itself shows the song’s video (or what the Eye Toy can see – more later) in the middle. Along the bottom you can see the words of the line you’re singing, and the next line (very helpful). There is a green light which moves along the words which helps with the timing of the song.

The game also helps with the tempo on screen. There are green or red bars along the middle (depending on which Mic you have) which show the length and pitch of the note you have to sing. These fill up at the same time as the green light goes along the words. This is helpful for working out whether you need to sing higher or lower.

At the end of each line, the game tells you if you’ve done ‘awful’, ‘bad’, ‘okay’, ‘good’ or ‘cool, obviously each level giving you different points. Some notes are also ‘golden’, distinguishable by them glittering; for these notes you get extra points (and the Eye Toy films you – more later).

Finally, the scores are in the top left and right corners, with a ‘motivation’ car below. This is coloured green, and motivation drops or raises with each note sung correctly. In some modes, if this green bar goes too grey, it stops the music (Ian lasted an amazing 24 seconds during Liberty X…and that included a 20 second intro).

CAN YOU LISTEN BACK TO WHAT YOU’VE SUNG?

Yes indeed! The best thing about the ‘playback’ is getting someone on the microphone, and not telling them that the mic also records – then you can play it back to them (with the original video playing) and they squirm and look embarrassed.

DOES HAVING AN EYE TOY MAKE IT ANY BETTER?

Using the Eye Toy in conjunction with the microphones is probably more suited to playing as a team. The Eye Toy not only shows you everyone dancing around, it also adds cheesy video effects, like multiple images, coloured lenses, and my favourite, the flame streams coming off any moving body parts. It also records you singing the golden notes, and you can watch back what you were doing at these moments.

IS IT WORTH BUYING?

I would highly recommend this game to anyone who regularly has a few people round to their house. I personally can’t wait for our annual anniversary BBQ this year, as I’m going to set it up inside for the children, or bored, cold adults, to go inside and play on.

The whole thing is such a clever piece of equipment, and yet so easy to use, it’s ideal for children who like singing. I personally find singing therapeutic, and have found that a half hour stint on this really relaxes me. I’ve also been informed that regular singing is good for your lungs and breathing in general, so maybe this would be good for asthmatic children?

DOES IT HAVE A SHORT LIFESPAN AS THERE’S ONLY ONE DISC?

I think it might eventually get a bit boring, but it’s one of those games you don’t play that often, so I reckon it should last until they bring out the inevitable new games.

WHICH IS THE BEST SONG TO LISTEN TO SOMEONE WHO CAN’T SING?

I’d say the best moment of the day we played this (for about eight hours) was when Ian’s twin brother popped round, and sang ‘I Believe in a Thing called Love’ by the Darkness, with all the falsetto bits. Every single line he sung he got ‘awful’ for, and I think he scored about 140 (out of a possible 10,000).

www.singstargame.com - for more screenshots and a full trakclisting
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£39.99 from HMV
Developed by Sony and London Studios 

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