SingStar Rock Ballads

Good enough until SingStar PS3 arrives?

	Version PS2	Developer SCE London Studio	Publisher SCE	Genre Karaoke

By Ian Dransfield

Well, what can be said about a new SingStar title? They are literally all the same game, bar the songs. It's not even the songs that make the game, as even the ones with bad choices - Pop Hits, take a bow - can still be fun with the right atmosphere - beer, take a bow. So now we have the one everyone has been waiting for - SingStar Rock Ballads. Meatloaf. End of story, really.

Shockingly enough, the game plays exactly the same as it always has - players sing and are mercilessly judged by the evil computer overlord. I always win, of course, as I have the voice of a fat Northern 6'3'' angel. Scores are handed out, people are happy or angry and the next song is chosen. There are various difficulties and the game seems shockingly fair and accurate on judging singing ability - it's a perfect formula, really. Oh, and it's not a game to play in singleplayer. If you do, you're rubbish and pretty pointless.

The real meat of this one though comes with the songs, as offered up are a selection of rock 'classics' along with some newer, odder inclusions - Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You" is a rock ballad? Okay then. I thought it was just a mediocre pop song where a little rich girl whines about something no one cares about. Ahem. Anyway, there's Boston's "More Than a Feeling," Cutting Crew's "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight" and a bit of Queen thrown in for good measure, though for some reason it still isn't Bohemian Rhapsody. Hmm. Then we have tracks like Nickelback's "How You Remind Me," which does actually remind me of something - the existence of the 'quit' function. Rubbish-haired Canadian idiots doing bad music that somehow gets popular does not a good experience make.

Wow, music really makes me angry at times...

Anyway, there isn't much else that can be said. SingStar is a great series and a fabulous cashcow for Sony and their let's-get-everyone-playing-games (spending money) drive, which they've been doing for a lot longer than the Wii has. Even those that dislike karaoke are likely to be drawn in with the right crowd, and in the right place at the right time it's the perfect game. If not a bit loud.