Singstar 90’s – PS2 – Review

The kind of
songs listened to is purely a matter of taste. It doesn’t matter if the lyrics
make little or no sense if the tune is catchy. It is usually when confronted by
the lyrics that one realizes just how completely random some songs can be –
making no sense whatsoever, but with lyrical qualities that have about as much
hook – for that very reason – as an Aerosmith tune (who are arguably one of the
master bands when it comes to guitar hooks).

But when a
collection comes along that has little appeal, not just to the more adult crowd,
but even a younger SingStar aficionado, then it seems that – from at least a
couple of perspectives – that the current expansion missed the boat.

SingStar 90s is
closing on a release date and the latest release for the PlayStation 2 karaoke
title has a wide range of songs, complete with their music videos. The videos
are important, if for no other reason than they document the state of the music
industry in several ways, but they are not absolutely key. What is paramount to
the success of the title is whether the songs are sing-able and whether they
have appeal.

If you are not
a fan of rap music, you may wish to avoid this title. It has a rap meter to
document and score efforts in that area, but many of the tunes features do have
rap segments. If the only rapping you are capable of successfully pulling off
involves knuckles to various surfaces, then SingStar 90s may be a torturous
event for both you and your listeners. The words fly fast and furious and some
of the songs (can you say the Vanilla Ice tune) offer no appeal. Ice Ice Baby
was not listened to when released and is certainly not one of the songs on any
household list of “Songs I would like to sing.”

But before
delving further, let’s get straight to the song list.

Included on
this list are:

• Arrested
  Development – Tennessee

• Boyz II Men –
  MotownPhilly

• Chumbawumba –
  Tubthumping

• Color Me Badd
  – I Wanna Sex You Up

• Divinyls – I
  Touch Myself

• En Vogue –
  Free Your Mind

• Extreme –
  More than Words

• Gin Blossoms
  – Hey Jealousy

• Hootie and
  the Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You

• Jesus Jones –
  Right Here Right Now

• Len – Steal
  My Sunshine

• MC Hammer – U
  Can’t Touch This

• Natalie
  Imbruglia – Torn

• New Kids on
  the Block – Step By Step

• Nirvana –
  Lithium

• Paula Abdul –
  Opposites Attract

• Poison –
  Unskinny Bop

• R.E.M. –
  Everybody Hurts

• Santana
  Featuring Rob Thomas – Smooth

• Savage Garden
  – I Want You

• Seal – Kiss
  From a Rose

• Sir Mix A Lot
  – Baby Got Back

• Sixpence None
  the Richer – Kiss Me

• Soundgarden –
  Black Hole Sun

• Spin Doctors
  – Two Princes

• Stone Temple
  Pilots – Plush

• Technotronic
  Featuring Felly – Pump Up the Jam

• The
  Cranberries – Zombie

• Vanilla Ice –
  Ice Ice Baby

• Wilson
  Pickett – Hold On

Now granted
there are some licensed properties that simply can’t be acquired, but SCE London
missed some great songs in the collection. What? How about The Rembrandts (I’ll
be there for you – otherwise known as the theme from Friends), or The
Proclaimers’ 500 miles, or even Ace of Base’s The Sign. Or how about Madonna
(Vogue), Alanis Morrisette (Ironic), No Doubt (Don’t Speak), R. Kelly (I Believe
I Can Fly), Dave Matthews Band (Crash Into Me), Tom Cochrane (Life is a Highway)
Fugees (Killing Me Softly), Savage Garden (Truly Madly Deeply), Collective Soul
(The World I Know) or the Bodeans, The Wallflowers, Collective Soul … well, the
list could go on and on.

While the songs
listed (and yes, there are some that were enjoyed, but when looking at the total
package, it felt lacking, and it was not long before other compilations found
their way into the PS2.

While the songs
were not that well received in this household, one has to admit the production
values are high for this title. The videos look terrific and the sound is great.
The transitions from singing to rap meter are seamless and handled very well.

Don’t look for
new modes of gameplay. This is the same game with only new songs added.

If you don’t
know what SingStar is … here is the overview:

It is a karaoke
game that requires microphones (not included with the expansion – they came with
the original release), and uses three visual elements for the game content. The
visuals are comprised of the music video from the song being played, the lyrics
along the bottom of the screen and a pitch meter cutting through the middle of
the screen. The goal is to sing the songs, either in the shortened forms (with
bigger points accumulating over the time frame) or over the course of the full
song, hit the notes, get a score and try to ride the top of the charts. There is
no online play, but there are party games in which you can battle another singer
with the game’s two microphones (which came with the original release, what is
being looked at here is an expansion), or sing as a team with the goal – again –
being to outscore your opponents. There are three difficulty levels, which
essentially means the level of forgiveness the game will give you as you sing.
Being a bit off is fine at the Easy level, but you have to be almost dead on at
the hard level to score well. The multiplayer, or Party, mode has several games
from the head-to-head Battle mode, to Pass the Mic (teams undertake different
singing challenges in turns) . The different challenges include singing medleys
for scores or to keep the meter above a specific bar by hitting the notes.

When it comes
to compilations, SingStar usually does fairly well, with a nice assortment of
songs. Some are favorites some are hit and miss. Yes, this is all personal
preference, but in this case, the 90s compilation is a miss. Those who enjoy
inane lyrics (Black Hole Sun and Tubthumping) and rap, though, may find this a
challenging and enjoyable collection.

Review Scoring Details for SingStar ‘90s

Gameplay: 7.0
The gameplay
mechanics are exactly like other SingStar games; the format has not changed. The
only difference is the collection of songs. Game modes are the same.

Graphics: 7.9
The music videos are
of a high production value. Missing is the clever little introduction that
usually has kids gathering to perform one of the songs. It adds nothing to the
game, but is fun … or was fun.

Sound: 7.0
A cross-section of
the 90s but maybe not the best cross-section available.

Difficulty: Medium
Not too much here
that will really stretch the vocal cords.

Concept: 7.0
The cross section of
songs may be decent, but it really is not indicative of the era.

Multiplayer: 7.5
This song list may
have limited appeal.

Overall: 7.0
Much like its 80s
predecessor, this compilation feels like it does not capture what made the 90s
so dynamic a time in music. Perhaps what the dev team needs to do is concentrate
on certain aspects within the decade rather than try to do an all-encompassing
compilation. In this case, it seems to fall short. As stated several times,
though, this is personal preference and while some of the tunes presented are
fine, most of the songs were bypassed by household members.