focused on giving players quicker access to new content (songs) through the New Releases, Charts, Recommended and Song Packs sections. Instead, it’s been simplified and watered-down with two players maximum and a more streamlined U.I. There’s no Duet mode, Pass the Mic team games or Party Mode, which is disappointing considering it was these features that provided the most fun. Surprisingly though, the game doesn’t feature some of the best modes from past games or any new modes. This feature adds an enjoyable social element and it’s good fun browsing through some of the ‘trending’ or ‘best ever’ clips from the community.
As the series has progressed so have some of the features with the ability to now share photos and videos with friends on Facebook and Twitter and rate other media from the SingStar community. Meant to be played with friends and family, the SingStar franchise essentially brings the karaoke machine into your home but adds a competitive element where you compete against yourself to better your score or battle against rivals in your living room or across the globe. The voice detection system works extremely well, rewarding players for following on-screen notes and does a solid job at detecting those who sing in a different pitch to the original song. Players use their USB/wireless microphone, PlayStation Camera mic or SingStar app to sing along to a variety of tracks, earning points along the way for singing along in perfect harmony, while the official video from the artist plays in the background.
If you’ve never played SingStar before here’s a quick recap.