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SingStar Dance Review

SingStar has been an ever-growing series with its cult of followers, myself somewhat included in that group. Since the introduction of PlayStation Move, Sony has jumped on the bandwagon and brought in dance component to the SingStar series. But is SingStar Dance revolutionary step forward for the series? Not quite.

HERE’S WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT IT….

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EVERYBODY, U CAN’T TOUCH THIS POKER FACE!

The track list in this game is a dream come true for 90’s music fans. While it contains some newer and older hits, it features great hits such as “Backstreet’s Back”, “Hangin’ Tough”, and the very fitting song, “I Like To Move It”. For the not so old gamers,it’s got Lady Gaga, La Roux, Pussycat Dolls and more. SingStar Dance definitely has one of the stronger set lists out of the games I’ve played, but this is of course based on personal taste. I’m happy to tell you that there’s a little something for everybody in here.

FRIENDLY UI

This has always been something I’ve loved about SingStar. The menus are very direct and load times are almost non-existent.  When compared to another series on another console, SingStar offers a really wonderful interface. It’s easy to set up options for what you want to play, microphone volume, etc.

VOICE CONTROL

Yes, indeed. Once you enter the song/artist menu, you can browse and select songs without using a controller. You can use basic commands like “Go Left”, “Go Right”, and “Shuffle”, but you can also say the name of a song, artist, or genre and browse that way. It’s pretty good at deciphering most comments, but I find it has trouble with some artists and songs including “Shaggy” and “I Will Survive”. Though this feature negates the use of a DS3 controller, it still has to be powered up, or you’ll get a popup screen asking you to power on the controller.

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THE SINGING PORTION WORKS…

Seeing as how SingStar has been around for a number of years, it’s no surprise that the singing portion of the game works fine. It hasn’t really changed, and you can either watch the official video on screen, or switch to your PS Eye camera feed of you making a fool of yourself. Taking into the considering that the women in Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” are pretty cute, I opted for the official video feed when playing the game.

AND THE NOT SO GREAT….

WAIT, WHAT COMES NEXT?

Okay. Huge oversight, Sony. While I hate to refer to a competitor in a review,  Dance Central on Kinect was the first dancing game I’ve really put any time into, and while I clearly cannot dance (I’m truly horrible!), it has a gameplay feature that should be in all dance games. Show us what move(s) are coming up next. Instead of doing this, SingStar Dance has  a dancer on the right side of the screen but you have to attempt to follow along in sync with her, yet you have no idea of what dance moves are coming next. Unless you have a really incredible memory, this is a horrible implementation of the dance aspect.

LET’S WRAP UP

When everything is said and done, SingStar Dance should be left as just another game in the SingStar series and the dance component feels tacked on and very gimmicky. It features a solid and fun collection of music to sing though, and if you’re a general fan of the series, it wouldn’t hurt to own it. The party pack including the game, two microphones and the required adapter will set you back $39.99. Hopefully the team behind these games has learned something and we’ll see a huge improvement upon the dancing aspect in the next title.

Rating
Description
7.0Gameplay
The singing portion is still the same and it works well, but the dancing was not implemented well, and it feels very gimmicky.
7.0 Graphics
It's SingStar. You've got crisp menus, and usually standard definition videos. It looks decent, but it's nothing special.
9.0Sound
Great selection of songs and quality audio mixes, just what you would hope for in the game.
7.0Final Score
0

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