Review : SingStar ABBA on PlayStation 2

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SingStar ABBA

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SingStar ABBA

Be the Dancing Queen on your PS2

By Jay Acevedo (AnodaJay)
Posted on December the 16th 2008 at 05:15:00 PM

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine

Yes, Singstar on PS2 players can now dance and jive to Sony London’s latest offering in the Singstar franchise: an ode to the most popular swedish music group the world has ever known. But, is everyone digging this one up and having the time of their lives?

Read on our review of SingStar ABBA for the PS2.

As always, the SingStar games are simple and pretty straight forward. You start to sing into one of the microphones by following the horizontal grey bars, which function similar to a musical stave, with corresponding lyrics displayed at the bottom of the screen. From there, the game recognizes your pitch, tone and rhythm and will then be able to give you a score depending on how well you performed. At the end of the song, your score is broken down and you’re given a rank like "Amateur" or "Hit Artist."

If you have played previous versions of SingStar, you will find the same modes: Pass the Mic mode which allows you to share mics with your party of friends (up to eight people), so you can all sing at the same time, Duet Mode where you and a friend (or significant other) can sing different parts to the same song and Battle Mode where you can compete one-on-one to see who can sing the best. Once again, this SingStar game is compatible with the EyeToy camera allowing players to see themselves singing and take screenshots for later viewing. If you’ve got other SingStar discs, you can swap them in or out at the song selection screen without having to restart the console. The game comes with 20 songs (five less than the PS3 version) and each comes with their respective old, crappy and ugly music video. Since the video quality is one of the worst I’ve seen in a SingStar game, I’m wondering if they could have just removed them. They scare the crap out of me...

Here’s the track list for SingStar ABBA:

"Chiquitita"
"One Of Us"
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"
"Ring Ring"
"Take A Chance On Me"
"SOS"
"Dancing Queen"
"Summer Night City"
"Does Your Mother Know"
"Super Trouper"
"Fernando"
"Thank You For The Music"
"I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do"
"The Name Of The Game"
"Knowing Me Knowing You"
"The Winner Takes It All"
"Mamma Mia"
"Voulez Vous"
"Money Money Money"
"Waterloo"

Unlike the other Singstar games on the PS2, Singstar ABBA comes as a standalone game. So if you REALLY want to play this game, you will have to buy one of the other Singstar games that comes with the microphones.

Conclusion

If you have all the SingStar PS2 games at home and you’re a ABBA fan then this game will surely find it’s way into your game collection - but don’t expect anything other than 20 songs as always. After reviewing five Singstar games on the PS2, one question comes to my mind: how long will the SingStar franchise continue to sell PS2 versions when Singstar PS3 is becoming an emerging force with downloadable track offerings and a more complete experience?

Verdict: ABBA fans, run to the store and enjoy! As for the rest of the mass, I think we could pass this one.

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Pros

+ Simple interface and easy gameplay as always
+ ABBA fans will rejoice!

Cons

- Only 20 tracks, five less than PS3 version
- No microphone bundle for it
- The average Singstar player won’t enjoy this compilation at all
- Videoclips quality really, really painful

Final Verdict

5.6

Breakdown :

Presentation :

6.0

Graphics :

5.0

Sound :

6.0

Gameplay :

8.0

Replay Value :

3.0

Our review : 5.6
Your verdict [0 vote] : Do your own review
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Publisher :
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ESRB : E - [GameFocus' ESRB Guide]
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Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.

PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)

GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.

AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?

GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.

REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.

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