Cherry-picking the best elements of Facebook and iTunes, Sony has revitalised the evergreen karaoke crooner for its PS3 debut, confirming Singstars position as one of the best party games on the planet.
Although the basics remain unchanged go out with your mates, get pissed, screech into plastic microphones until the neighbours complain Singstar on the PS3 now allows players to create online MySpace-style profiles, where they can upload their best (worst?) vocal performances, record high scores, and become virtual friends with other players around the world. Crucially, the admittedly-poor selection of tracks on the disc can also be supplemented by downloading new songs from Sonys SingStore at a knock-down price, meaning there are months of warbling pleasure to be had as new numbers are added throughout 2008 and beyond.
As the user-generated videos are subject to strict time limits, and the games interface is often awkward and clumsy, Singstar feels as if it was rushed onto the shelves to catch 2007s lucrative Christmas market. But despite these niggles, its still the perfect accompaniment for back to mine post-pub sing-alongs.