Review by: Toni Schwartz

Most fans of music related video games gravitate towards games whose names end in “Band” or “Hero”. Or rather, most male fans of such games. Meanwhile the SingStar series has often been considered to be for girls. Apparently it’s manlier to play on plastic musical instruments than it is to sing into a microphone. Then again, this observation isn’t too surprising, considering that past SingStar expansions have included collections of pop music, dance hits, and of course, SingStar ABBA. However, SingStar Queen may be the ticket in piquing male Rock Band and Guitar Hero players’ interests long enough to put their guitars and drumsticks down for a second and belt out some “Another One Bites the Dust”, or “The Show Must Go On”.

For the uninitiated, SingStar is a karaoke party game in which you and your friends can sing with or against each other. Only the SingStar microphones work with the game. A series of pitch bars scroll across your screen, and you need to match them perfectly to earn points. The SingStar games offer several helpful features to karaoke neophytes. For example, if you’re unfamiliar with a particular song, or if you just don’t want to be scored, you can try out Practice Mode and screw up with no consequences. But when you’re ready to face the music, choose the level of difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard) and pick a song. Some songs require a duet, while others may offer a long or short version.

The game has been out in Europe for several months but was recently released in the US. One new feature is that you can control the menu with voice command, which has its pros and cons. On one hand, you no longer need the PS3 controller to navigate the menu; just speak in the mic using commands such as “Select”, “Next”, or “Scroll Right”. However, like any voice-activated system, it makes mistakes if you don’t speak clearly and directly into the microphone. One can only wonder if it even works at a rambunctious party in which the revelers are slurring their words after several ‘refreshments’. (Sadly we were unable to test this theory.)