SingStar '80s review

Sept 18, 2007

Despite what Britney Spears' disastrous MTV Awards performance would have you believe, karaoke is both fun and easy, making it a near-perfect form of entertainment. Sony's SingStar games and their Konami-published cousins, the Karaoke Revolution series, stand as super-fun proof of this. Having said that, the more different PS2 Singstars Sony belts out, the more we can't wait for the PlayStation 3 version. These PS2 versions are always great, but technologically, we're dying for the franchise to take the next logical step.

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The basics are, as always, nearly perfect, like pink jelly shoes with a matching headband. One or two players grab a microphone, a song starts playing, usually with the accompanying official music video, and you sing along in the proper pitch and rhythm to either acclaim or shame, depending upon your skill level. It's a gameplay paradigm Sony and Konami have been exploring and refining for years, and they've pretty much nailed it.

Granted, it doesn't always realize you've completely blanked on the words and started singing your shopping list instead, but if the pitch and cadence are right, you'll make it through. You'll be a doofus, because the words are right there onscreen, but the game will forgive you.