Mumble these songs into the mic and you'll look like a prize pillock. These are big songs, often performed by big men and women, sporting big hair and tight pants. These aren't the sort of songs you can approach half-arsed. The second area in which Rock Ballads hits the bullseye is in the concept. Simply by focussing on actual songs, rather than just marketable hits, the game is rejuvenated across the board. This in turn revitalises the duet mode, as there's genuine competition to be found, while the medleys also gain a new lease of life, becoming marathon sessions that only the most skilled vocalist will be able to tame. More than just a collection of new tunes, SingStar Rock Ballads is a game where talent is of paramount importance. I was positively giddy when I chalked up a respectable score on Toto's high-pitched classic, Africa, and only partly because of lack of oxygen to the brain from that bloody chorus.
The vast majority of the songs on offer really make you work those tonsils, leaving you exhausted but elated at the end.Īll of a sudden, the score becomes relevant again - a true measure of whether you're improving or faltering, like the difference between taking part in a properly organised karaoke night or just bellowing along to Right Said Fred down the local boozer.
Verses roam up and down the scale for that full bombastic heart-breaking impact, while climactic notes are sustained for lung-taxing lengths. These are big blustering showstoppers, towering monuments of soft rock hubris, and you'll need to be a damn good singer to keep up with many of the tracks here. The skew towards plastic pop and bland chart tat may have drawn in Da Kidz and their disposable income but there's precious little challenge in songs that were purposefully designed to be performed by people of negligible vocal talent. While noses will undoubtedly be turned up at the presence of Avril Lavigne and Anastacia, there's no denying that they represent the modern evolution of the oestrogen-soaked light rock fare once peddled by T'Pau, Roxette and Alannah Myles, all of who are also present here.
OK, the inclusion of Sugababes in a Rock Ballads set raises an eyebrow but that's really the only track that doesn't fit in here. Instead songs seemed to be chosen solely for their kitsch appeal or demographic visibility.
While it's great to be able to use your PS2 as a communal karaoke machine, there are scores to be earned and recent editions seemed to be losing track of that element. And there are two main reasons for this.įirstly, SingStar finally feels like a game again. This offering, with a track listing that sounds more like one of those "not available in any shops" Drive Time compilations, finds SingStar joyfully rediscovering what made it work in the first place. That's not to say there haven't been tunes worth warbling in the last few updates, but it did feel that SingStar was becoming little more than an interactive version of the interminable Now That's What I Call Music compilation series. As this marks the tenth outing for the franchise in just a few short years, a production rate which makes even the EA Sports roster look positively lethargic, it was perhaps inevitable that quality would eventually take a back seat to quantity.
That's the way you do it! Forgive my brief moment of Mr Punch madness, but with Rock Ballads the SingStar series has finally clicked back into its groove.