Karaoke games have always been for parties and large groups, and SingStar Pop has embraced this. Sony's London studio didn't go the same route as Karaoke Revolution: American Idol and put in a rich single-player mode; instead they tweaked the multiplayer to make it as good as possible.

This game plays almost exactly like Sony's last release, SingStar Rocks! , but this was intentional. The two games interact, as discs can be swapped out in the middle of a game to allow a player to use the other set of songs if they'd like. This works well, and the load times are minimal.

SingStar Pop's song list is much friendlier to younger people and lower voices, with more songs like Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out and only a few tunes from Britney Spears and Cyndi Lauper thrown in.

For each song that has one, Sony London uses its music video behind the notes. It's a great novelty at first, and the video quality isn't horrible, but for those who get annoyed, the system supports the EyeToy, so you can watch yourself. You know, or point it at a blank wall.

The system is much friendlier to newbies and marginally talented singers at the lower difficulties than the Karaoke Revolution games, which is great. With effort, even mediocre crooners can occasionally attain the duckie symbol of "Wannabe" status. Players with more talent are rewarded with cooler titles. Those who want difficulty can crank it up, but the game is designed for large crowds of different levels of talent, so you're more likely to get SingStar going in more situations.

One new addition in SingStar Pop is "rap scoring," where a player's rhythm and confidence can gain them points during rap breaks in songs like "Feel Good, Inc." by Gorillaz. For the most part, this is largely based on volume and diction, but it works better than the previous strategy of not scoring the section at all.

SingStar Pop isn't fancy, but it gets one thing right. Pick it up for your next party.

Apr 12, 2007 | 0 comments
Graham Russell