“Can you hear
the drums, Fernando? …”
Yes, and by the love that is all that is holy and right, please make them stop …
as well as other incessant tunes that go round and round in the head. Catching
yourself humming “you are the dancing queen …” at a men’s indoor soccer game is
an open invitation to get yourself run through the boards.
SingStar has
taken a bit of a departure from the general open-format song lists that usually
dot the SingStar lineups by releasing a title that focuses on one iconic band,
and the one chosen was ABBA. Ok, this is certain to appeal to a much more finite
audience, but when you produce a title that focuses on one group, you are bound
to get that.
Let’s cut
straight to the chase with this title, and that is the song list.
The PS3 version
of the SingStar title has 25 songs, as opposed to 20 on the PS2 version. The PS3
lineup includes: Chiquitita, Dancing Queen, Does Your Mother Know, Fernando,
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Happy New Year, Head Over Heels, I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do,
Knowing Me Knowing You, Mamma Mia, Money Money Money, One of Us, Ring Ring, SOS,
Summer Night City, Super Trouper, Take A Chance On Me, Thank You For The Music,
The Day Before You Came, The Name Of The Game, The Winner Takes All, Under
Attack, Voulez-Vous, Waterloo and When All Is Said And Done.
The production
values are very solid and the game looks pretty good on a 42-inch HD screen, but
the game mechanics have not changed. The idea is simple – if you have formula
that works, don’t mess with it. What this release does is merely add in more
songs. In that regard it is an expansion, not a reinvented idea.
For the
uninformed, you have a microphone and you are challenged to sing on pitch to the
videos. The game features a pitch meter and the words scroll across the screen.
You get a score depending on the percentage of notes hit.
There is a
multiplayer portion as well, with duets available on some of the ABBA songs
featured.
The graphical
quality, as mentioned, is solid, and so is the sound. While 25 is not a lot of
songs, the game does pick up on the downloads you have purchased from the
SingStar store and they can be accessed as well – if you tire of ABBA.
Two younger
girls, one 14 and the other 12, who had seen the feature film Mama Mia, where
given the opportunity to play the game. The older was not that interested, while
the younger enjoyed the game but thought there was not enough variety.
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Gameplay: 7.0
Same format, and
though it works, it’s hardly unique now. The game may also have limited appeal
with the song groups.
Graphics: 7.8
Nice job of adapting
the older videos to the HD format.
Sound: 7.2
It sounds good, but
not a huge ABBA fan.
Difficulty: Easy/Med
Concept: 7.0
Nothing new here,
just different songs.
Multiplayer: 7.0
Decent modes, but
again, it’s been done before.
Overall: 7.0
This will have
limited appeal, and as such is not the strongest collection of songs to make the
SingStar roster. If you are an ABBA fan, you will enjoy this. If you are not an
ABBA fan, you would do well to leave it alone.
