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Review Scores

VGChartz Score
6.7
                         

Ratings

   

Developer

SCEE London Studio

Genre

Misc

Other Versions

PS2

Release Dates

08/04/09 Sony Computer Entertainment
(Add Date)
03/20/09 Sony Computer Entertainment

Community Stats

Owners: 13
Favorite: 1
Tracked: 0
Wishlist: 0
Now Playing: 2
 
7.9

Avg Community Rating:

 

Review: Singstar: Queen

By ssj12 15th Aug 2009 | 1,955 views 

Can anyone sing like Freddy Mercury? I doubt it.

Since this is VGChartz' second review of a Singstar game, I'm only going to touch on the gameplay as we all know what's there. What I am going to do is review this as an add-on pack, since that is all Singstar: Queen really is. When it comes down to the scoring of this game, presentation will be based on audio quality, gameplay will be based on track list, and value will be based on how well this track pack adds to the franchise.

Unfortunately, Sony has been going down the wrong road when it comes to releasing track packs. Originally, these add-on packs were collections of a variety of songs which gave players a chance to have a collection of a good number of songs they like. With these single-band releases, a player most likely will only like a few songs out of the collection. Queen has a ton of great music, but really I only knew like 5 songs on the list, and all the rest I really didn't care for. Another thing I question is what's with the medleys? Why not pick full songs instead of a single "song" that's really just a big mishmash.



Some of the biggest hit songs included with this disc are Another One Bites the Dust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Breakthru, We Are the Champions, and We Will Rock You. Like stated above, Sony also included medleys, which are really annoying to sing since they are multiple songs stuck together into something that could almost be called a dance mix. Instead of giving us songs that should appear in Dance Dance Revolution, they should have considered giving us some of Queen's other great songs. Why songs like Save Me, Keep Yourself Alive and Flash are missing is beyond me.

The gameplay of Singstar doesn't really change, no matter what version you play. It's a karaoke videogame, and a really good one at that. All songs are presented to the player(s) in the octave range that needs to be sang for each word in each song. Of course, matching Freddy Mercury's voice is not necessary in order get high scores in the game. It is all about the ability to control your voice. If you have no control of your voice it will be much harder to score high. Playing this game will help teach players how to control their vocals, which is a very nice bonus.



Of course, the SingStore can still be accessed if one does get bored with the songs available on the disc. Should you be so inclined, you can simply go purchase some new ones. This is still one of the greatest parts of the PlayStation 3's Singstar franchise. There are currently a whopping 701 songs available in the US SingStore which means there are a ton of options to help expand your enjoyment of the game.

My Singstar Online is another feature that carries over to each Singstar PlayStation 3 release. It is virtually a Flash version of YouTube with the ability to share photos. If you own a PlayStation Eye camera, you can capture yourself singing and submit your performance to be view by the world. Even if you're camera-shy, you can at least submit the audio track and let anyone who listens know how good or bad you are at singing.



Video quality of the music video that accompanies each song is a very subjective thing to review. Some videos, like Bohemian Rhapsody, look very poor at first. However, you quickly realize that the video is a live feed of one of their concerts, so the "poor" quality is really the quality of the cameras back in the day. For better or worse, all music videos on the disc are like this. Even with today's video editing technology, completely cleaning the videos up is virtually impossible, so we are getting the best video we possibly can get.

The major gripe I have with this game is the lack of volume control. A lot of the time the lyrics are really low so its hard to figure out how exactly they are supposed to be sung. I really would have liked an in-game volume control which would turn up the main audio's volume. This really should have been a feature included by default. Another feature I wouldn't mind seeing would be the ability to rip music off the discs so that if you own multiple Singstar track packs you can play all the music you own, instead of just what you downloaded off the SingStore and on the disc.



Just like Sony's previous single band release, Singstar: ABBA, while the game does not come with any extra mics, there is multiplayer support for up to eight players. It would really be nice if they included at least one extra mic and adapter so the experience can be farther expanded to even more people. There are also no new trophies, but Singstar trophies are shared across all releases in the series.

Overall, Singstar: Queen does add some good songs to the Singstar experience. Even though single artist track packs is probably the wrong direction Sony should be taking with them this does added to the experience. If you love Queen this is a must-have release. Otherwise, keep waiting for Sony to make a game based on your favourite band or buy one of the previously-released variety packs.


VGChartz Verdict


6.7
Decent

Read more about our Review Methodology here

Sales History

Total Sales
0.00m
Japan
0.11m
NA
0.25m
Europe
0.07m
Others
0.44m
Total
1 n/a n/a 5,351 5,351
2 n/a n/a 4,333 4,333
3 n/a n/a 3,994 3,994
4 n/a n/a 3,567 3,567
5 n/a n/a 3,015 3,015
6 n/a n/a 3,823 3,823
7 n/a n/a 3,508 3,508
8 n/a n/a 3,091 3,091
9 n/a n/a 2,698 2,698
10 n/a n/a 2,958 2,958

Opinion (6)

Aj_habfan posted 31/03/2009, 01:32
It's basically the only type of new games coming out for PS2, and it has a strong audience. Whenever I go to a store and check out the PS2 section, there are like 6 different SingStar's and 4 different Buzz! games. It's basically the only type of thing Sony pushes now.
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Trent posted 30/03/2009, 11:26
why did the ps2 version sell more?
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outlawauron posted 24/03/2009, 05:02
Wow, I'm shocked how much better the PS2 version did.
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outlawauron posted 16/03/2009, 11:34
More. Much more.
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zexen_lowe posted 14/03/2009, 03:04
Damn, why a Singstar Queen? A Guitar Hero Queen would rule so much!
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Dark Odin posted 02/03/2009, 01:45
sill this sell more or less than ABBA version?
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