SingStar 90s

PlayStation 2

Sony

Earl Cousins (CHARTattack)

03/25/2008 8:57pm

This latest SingStar collection brings together grunge, rap, pop, R&B and hair metal. The basic karaoke gameplay remains the same as in previous versions, with players singing solo or competing for a high score by singing along in time and hitting the right notes. The presentation also remains consistent, and players choose short or regular versions of the songs from a rotating jukebox of album art. The song selection, like the '90s, is a jumble of various styles. Pop tracks from the likes of Paula Abdul and New Kids On The Block mingle with grunge from Nirvana and Soundgarden and R&B hits by Boys II Men and Seal. But the collection wouldn't be complete without chart-topping cheese from MC Hammer, Technotronic and Vanilla Ice. It would have been nice to include Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson in the set, though Bobby Brown, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion are all thankfully absent. Since there's less continuity between the musical styles represented here, it's naturally going to be hard for most players to be interested in more than a handful of songs. There's also a good chance that even if some of these tracks were a secret indulgence when they were new, you probably haven't even given them a thought for the last 10 years. This was a good idea on paper, but a lot of these songs aren't even going to get many plays as a joke, and the genre-based collections simply make for a better time by allowing players to stick to their favourite style.