For my birthday last year I had my heart set on getting a dance mat, thinking it would be a fun way of getting back into shape after giving birth. Then a certain website changed all that as I started reading reviews about a PS2 game called Singstar. Since much less energy is used to play Singstar ... Read review
The Party StarterPlaying SingStar is simple:Get your friends roundChoose your trackPick up ... more
the micPlay some fantastic party games, each involving your team in different ways!Get the party going and challenge your friends to a vocal showdown in Party Mo...
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Alicia Keys - Fallin`Ashford&Simpson - SolidThe Beautiful South - A Little TimeBill ... more
Withers - Ain`t No SunshineBlu Cantrell - Hit `Em Up Style (Oops!)Bob Marley - No Woman No CryBuggles - Video Killed The Radio StarBusted - Year 3000Cyndi Lauper - Girl...
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Alicia Keys - Fallin`Ashford&Simpson - SolidThe Beautiful South - A Little TimeBill ... more
Withers - Ain`t No SunshineBlu Cantrell - Hit `Em Up Style (Oops!)Bob Marley - No Woman No CryBuggles - Video Killed The Radio StarBusted - Year 3000Cyndi Lauper - Girl...
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Advantages: Great party game Disadvantages: They missed out some great duet opportunities
...energy is used to play Singstar rather than using a dance mat, it won the day and within an hour or so I was hooked.
So when I found out Singstar Party was due to be released in November, it went straight to the top of my Christmas list. In fact, I was so desperate to get my hands on it that once it was delivered, it never actually got wrapped and sent to Santa. Instead it was just put into the Playstation.
Loading ... ...many different ways of playing Singstar Party and one of the main differences with this game from the original Singstar is that they have included several duets so you and a partner can play against each other singing different parts of the song and being scored separately or with each other and earning one score for both of you. This adds a new dimension to the game as often you are expected to sing a harmony which may not be the tune you are used ... more
For my birthday last year I had my heart set on getting a dance mat, thinking it would be a fun way of getting back into shape after giving birth. Then a certain website changed all that as I started reading reviews about a PS2 game called Singstar. Since much less energy is used to play Singstar rather than using a dance mat, it won the day and within an hour or so I was hooked.
So when I found out Singstar Party was due to be released in November, it went straight to the top of my Christmas list. In fact, I was so desperate to get my hands on it that once it was delivered, it never actually got wrapped and sent to Santa. Instead it was just put into the Playstation.
Loading up Singstar Party is easy. Place the disc into the Playstation, let it detect your memory card and console controller and before you know it you’re typing in your name, deciding on the difficulty level you want to play – easy, medium or hard – and choosing your first song.
There are many different ways of playing Singstar Party and one of the main differences with this game from the original Singstar is that they have included several duets so you and a partner can play against each other singing different parts of the song and being scored separately or with each other and earning one score for both of you. This adds a new dimension to the game as often you are expected to sing a harmony which may not be the tune you are used to singing if you were just singing along to the radio. A good example of this is on A Little Time by the Beautiful South. I thought I knew this song well, but Singstar thought very differently when I tried to sing the male part of the song.
There is also the added challenge on the duets of knowing which bit you are supposed to sing. Although this is clearly marked on the screen and colour coded depending on whether you have the blue or red microphone, it still takes some time to get to know when you’re being asked to sing and when you’re supposed to shut up. I just give up on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and end up singing both parts just to score my points, much to the annoyance of the people I’m singing against who are trying so hard to concentrate. Survivor is also a difficult one to get the hang of. The lines are very short and in the beginning you sing one line and then your partner sings one line. Just as you’re coming to terms with this, the song changes and suddenly it’s asking you to sing two lines each. Of course, these are all things you pick up on the more you practise.
As well as the songs mentioned above, you can also test your duetting skills on Solid by Ashford and Simpson, Video Killed The Radio Star and I Got You Babe. Perhaps instead of Solid I would have liked to have seen something a bit more well known and party-like, such as Summer Nights. Could you imagine the screeches at the end of that song after a few drinks? Far better than anything that can be sung to the rather bland Solid.
Playing solo doesn’t mean that you have to ignore the duets either. It just lets you choose the person who you want to be and you only sing their parts.
There is a good range of songs overall on the game and personally I think they are more demanding than those found on the first Singstar game. There is probably something for everyone with Little Richard and Elvis for those who prefer their older music, through to the more up-to-date Javine, Alicia Keys and Blu Cantrell. And if the 30 tracks provided aren’t enough, Singstar Party lets you swap the disc with the original Singstar (and I assume any future releases) and loads up the 30 tracks off the first game. It doesn’t give you the option to choose from all 60 songs but it does save the time of changing the discs and loading the games up from scratch.
Playing solo can be a little tedious if there is no-one to try and beat but at the end of each song it lists the top 5 scores and highlights where you latest effort has been placed, so even if you’re playing solo you still have easy access to scores that have been achieved previously, providing you have a memory card inserted. This is particularly good if you’ve had the party and everyone has recorded their scores on your game. You can then try and become even better by beating them. Or persuade some other friends to buy the game and devise a spreadsheet and scoring system for real competition. No, I haven’t done that, honest. *cough*
So the drink has been flowing and all inhibitions are fading. Time to get the party mode on. You get together in two teams of between one and four players and select Pass the Mic. This mode then puts your teams through several rounds. The object of each round is different and might include a battle between two opposing team members singing at the same time, or a race where the first person to reach 5000 points wins or Pass the Mic where you all have to sing a certain part of the song before passing the mic onto the next team member. Each round scores 2 points for the winning team. The number of rounds available to play is dependent on the number of people in each team and can range from 5 to 7. In this mode there is no option to choose the songs you are best at, the game chooses them automatically for you. Although if Jamiroquai’s Cosmic Girl pops up on your solo round and you can barely hit a note, you do get the chance to change the selection, but again you will get an automatic selection, so be careful or you might trade your first nightmare song in for an even worse one!
Each song is scored out of 10000 and the higher score you get, the higher rank you are given for your singing ability. The highest is Singstar for scores of over 9000 – and that really is over 9000. I battled against my friend on George Michael’s Faith and she scored 9000 and I scored 9020. I was ranked as Singstar while she was a Superstar. The lowest ranking is Tone Deaf which I didn’t even know existed until one very brave work colleague of mine took to the mic and scored less than 1000. And if you haven’t got the time to play for too long, you can always select your songs to be Short rather than Normal. This closes the song halfway through and lets you move through the tracks much quicker. The scoring is adjusted too so it is still possible to score near to the 10000 even when singing the short versions of the songs.
You score points for hitting the right notes and holding the notes for the right length of time. Then there are phrase bonuses for singing a whole line perfectly and golden notes which shoot your score up if you can get a perfect pitch and length for the whole note. These are highlighted with small flashing starts so you can see them coming. Any blip on these and you won’t get the bonus which often leads to near fainting experiences when singing Gold by Spandau Ballet. There are some very long notes in that song. Each line you sing is also given a rank of between Awful and Cool with extra points for lines given a Cool ranking. There are no points for getting the words right so I always try to concentrate on getting the right tune rather than singing the right words. If you mess up the words, which are provided for you across the bottom of the screen, then just make them up or hum. As long as you hit the right notes and hold them for the right time, you will score points. For the shyer among you, you could always play the Freestyle mode which doesn’t score you at all and just lets you sing away to your hearts content without being judged. And if you’re not at all shy, choose the playback option and hear your voice in all it's glory.
I definitely recommend this game for all you budding Pop Idols out there or for those who just want to improve your singing. I’ve seen this played at 3 parties and it’s gone down a storm every time. It’s fun, competitive if you want it to be and all in all a great laugh. It comes with a Video game rating as PG and there’s nothing on the music videos that accompany the songs that I wouldn’t be happy about my 3 year old seeing. I suppose the only niggle for parents of slightly older children is the lyrics in some of the songs may not be what you’d choose for your little ones to sing – Just Like A Pill by Pink springs to mind – but generally PG is a fair rating.
Singstar Party can be bought with the microphones needed for the game for around £40 or if you already have the mics from the first game, it can be bought on it’s own for around £30. Ebay often have copies selling for around the £20-£25 mark. It is also compatible with the Eye Toy and you can set it up to take a still image of you in pop star mode if you so wish. There are 30 tracks and videos on the game and the ones I haven’t already mentioned in the review are:
Bill Withers………... Ain’t No Sunshine Bob Marley………… No Woman No Cry Busted……….……...Year 3000 Cynai Lauper.. …….Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Dido………………… White Flag Duran Duran………..Hungry Like The Wolf Franz Ferdinand…….Take Me Out Kylie Minogue………. I Should Be So Lucky Maroon 5……………. This Love Natasha Bedingfield..Single Scissor Sisters………Take Your Mama Spice Girls…………... Who Do You Think You Are? The Foundations…….Build Me Up Buttercup The Police…………... Every Breath You Take Tiffany……………… ...I Think We’re Alone Now
So if you see something there you like, get the game and see just how close to a Singstar you can be.
Advantages: It's just good clean fun Disadvantages: Only that you might get sick of the songs, but they're bound to keep bringing out new discs, so not a big concern
...through.
Luckily, SCEI released Singstar Party, only about four months later, and as well as doing away with the superfluous ‘career mode’, added many more eye-popping Eye-toy features, giving this series of games a much needed boost.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, WHAT IS SINGSTAR?
If you’ve missed hearing about this revolution, I won’t make you read my other review to catch up. Basically, it’s two microphones that plug into the USB ... ...(or bad) you are.
Singstar Party is a bit of an add-on, as it’s basically the same game, just with new songs.
SETTING IT UP
Very easy indeed, just plug the two microphones into the USB device, and then plug in the device! You can also plug the Eye-toy into the other USB port, meaning twice the fun.
The disc loads itself (as do most games), but if you put in the ‘Party’ disc first, you can actually change to the other ‘Singstar’ disc without having ...
pesky33 10.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SingStar Party (PS2)
Advantages: A good deal of fun Disadvantages: Song selection could be better
...the glorious invention that is Singstar Party. Now, as long as you have a PS2 (which you should, unless you a) are poor or b) have a life), you can have hours of karaoke fun in your own home. IN A NUTSHELL You sing songs for points. "Yes, I'm great at singing!" you say after belting out a bit of Kylie. "No, you're actually poor at singing" says the points-o-meter on the screen. You can sing on your own, do duets, or play a variety of team games that ... ...way, the song selection on Singstar Party, I feel, could have been better. IS IT FUN? For me, and anyone who likes karaoke/is drunk enough to be tricked into doing karaoke, this game, despite its far-from-perfect song selection, is a whole lot of fun. If you imagine the funnest thing you've ever done in your life, it's probably pretty close to that. VALUE Computer shops seem to sell pre-owned games at reasonable prices and I got this game, complete ...
robbo2000 31.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SingStar Party (PS2)
Advantages: Great Fun, excellent ice breaker for parties Disadvantages: Totally addictive!!
...Singstar. My boyfriend bought me Singstar Party with the two microphones for Christmas, and being a karaoke fanatic I couldn't wait to try it out... ---What is Singstar---
You have two USB Microphones that you plug in to the front of your playstation2, everything you need is supplied with the microphones pack, I am not technical by any means, the set up for the game is so simple anyone could do it. Once you have inserted your singstar disc you can ... ...features heading. Singstar measures the tone, rhythm and pitch of your voice whilst singing along to one of 30 tracks. At the end of the song you will be scored depending on how well you have done. The lyrics to the songs appear at the bottom of the screen and red or blue lines depending on which team you are on run across the screen representing your singing and how accurate it is. The scoring system you are marked on takes in to account if you ...
yeahbutnobut 25.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SingStar Party (PS2)
Advantages: A game that 'rates' your singing! Disadvantages: Your neighbours might complain..
...If you have the other Singstar discs you can even change disc and continue with Party Mode (sing the other songs)
FREESTYLE MODE
This gives you a chance to practice the songs and you do not get scored.. or make up your own lyrics if you feel really adventurous! You can playback your performance and this is where we all go 'That's not what I sound like?!' Er.... yeah it is! I suggest if you don't want to hear yourself - skip this bit! On the otherhand, ... ...despite its flaws! However, now I have exhausted the songs I am now looking to buy the 3rd edition to Singstar 'Pop World' or perhaps the original.
I hope this review has been helpful.. One word of advice though.... maybe wait until your neighbours have gone out!! ...
buffy1986 19.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SingStar Party (PS2)
Advantages: Great Fun especially for partys! Disadvantages: None really!
...christmas... You got it... The Singstar Party edition!!
This is just one of the most fantastic games I have played since the dancemats came out!
Ok, Singstar Party is the follow up to the Singstar - I don't own the first one as I can't stand Dido's Thank You song - Bad memories!
Singstar Party is a game where basically you have two microphones and sing along to the words on the tv. Sounds just like karaoke? In a way this is like karaoke, except ... ...You a can buy the singstar party in two different ways, with the microphones needed to play the game, this costs around £39.99. Or you can buy the game alone if you already have the first Singstar for around £29.99.
The Setup.
The singstar party is so easy to set up. All you need to do is plug the adapter into the USB port on your PS 2. This port is found in the corner just underneath where your controllers plug in. You will also need to have a ...
gingelou 07.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SingStar Party (PS2)
Gameplay/Playability
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this singstar game is my 5th one and i am very impressed with it as it has so many newer songs init which me and my little broher and sisters can easily play on It is easy to use and graphics are absloutely wonderful and it has a very good party mode in which 8 players can play taking turns. I love singstar and i have to underline that this is on of the best singstars i have brought out of my five with 30 great songs it definetly is a great excuse to call friends over and have a nice little singalong as i regularly do with my bestfriends. If you like singing and you like singstar and you own a ps2 this is definetly the best game that you will buy for it :) ...
