SingStar Pop Hits

Obviously you have to like pop music to apply.
Version
 PS2		Developer
SCE London Studio		Publisher
SCE		Genre
Karaoke



By Ian Dransfield

SingStar is one of those games that confuses. Karaoke is rubbish, everyone knows that - so why make a game about it, let alone a whole series? Then the sales figures came in from the first title and people realised why - idiots (people) enjoy singing like tone-deaf morons to famous songs as it is, but throwing in a competitive element and offering immediate onscreen feedback to how awful a player truly is made the game irresistible.

"It's simple, mass-market, party game fodder and it works very well indeed."

I personally managed to resist for a long time, but then SingStar Pop Hits came through the post. One four-hour booze filled session later and I was, as they say, a convert. If you have no friends, ignore, if you have less than three friends available at any one time, ignore, but those of you with a ready supply of people who don't mind looking like bell-ends should certainly give the series a look.

But maybe not Pop Hits.

Why? Well the series format, as said, is beyond reproach - it's simple, mass-market, party game fodder and it works very well indeed. The strength of each individual title, however, lies in the songs themselves. If they aren't up to scratch, then it makes the game less appealing - the pop efforts thrown in to Pop Hits make me want to die half the time.

"There are some acceptable tracks on board, and then there's Akon."

Everyone knows modern pop music is the work of 'artists' with no imagination and a large budget to back it all up - the person that decided the term 'singer/songwriter' should be used as a buzzword needs to be shot, and Pop Hits is riddled with their coffee table-filling ditties, alongside some other godawful tracks made popular by 10-year-olds and their underdeveloped aural quality receptors (I may have made that terminology up). There are some acceptable tracks on board, and the selection is what one may call eclectic, even if it is purely contained within the pop 'sphere' of things.

Then there's Akon. Seriously, what? Begone, you talentless goit.

P L E A S E   V I S I T   O U R   S P O N S O R :

The musical selection on offer may not be up to epic standards, but the format still holds strong - pump enough alcohol into anyone and they'll love anything you put in front of them. Even My Chemical Romance. Throw in the EyeToy compatibility, making it look like you personally are in the video, and you're onto a winner.

It's hard to knock the game when it clearly provides everything it sets out to, but the music is indefensibly bad - I am (almost) willing to admit though, this may be some rather personal issues coming through, and some people will clearly lap up what's on offer. Everyone with taste, however, should stick with the SingStars offering the better, classic tracks - 80s, for example, is a stunner.











Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL
6.0 8.0 7.0 5.0 8.0 6.0


THE VERDICT: The SingStar series cannot be faulted on the premise - it works well and is a hell of a lot of fun, given the right situation. Pop Hits, however, falters in the choice of tracks on offer. Modern pop music is 99% toss, and this title backs up the theory. The game still works though, and in the right circumstances can still offer some fun times. And looking/sounding like an idiot is always fun. The normal points scores are very hard to apply to a game such as this, it must be said.