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SingStar Amped
Score: 85%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment America
Developer: London Studio
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1 - 8
Genre: Party/ Rhythm/ Miscellaneous

Graphics & Sound:
I generally try to avoid excessive cross-comparisons of games when writing a review; I think games should be evaluated based on what they are, not what they're not. However, as I see it, SingStar games are pretty much direct competition for Karaoke Revolution games. Due to this fact, I will be making several comparisons between these series. For those who aren't familiar with either, I will still attempt to include enough description of SingStar Amped to accurately describe it on its own merits. So, put on your leather pants, spike your hair and let's begin...

Unlike the Karaoke Revolution series, which has you selecting an avatar which will perform on stage as "you" while you are singing, SingStar Amped features videos from the songs as a background. I find that this is sometimes a nice effect, but the backgrounds aren't interactive, as they are in Karaoke Revolution games. Mind you, the backgrounds are really more of a matter of choice, as these games are all about the music. However, music fans from the MTV generation are more likely to enjoy the actual videos and the actual music performed by the original stars as is featured in SingStar Amped, than the re-recorded music performed "in the style of" the original artists by studio musicians, as is seen in Karaoke Revolution.

Both series of games feature a video overlay that displays the lyrics and gives some indication of where the notes are, relative to each other. The differences between these displays, however, are very noticeable. Karaoke Revolution games have a format where there are "pitch bars" that show where the pitch should be and when and how long the notes should be held and these pitch bars scroll across the screen (from right to left) in sync with the words that are to be sung. While some people have issues with reading these scrolling words, it is very easy to associate the words with the pitch they're to be sung at and to know when to sing. SingStar Amped, on the other hand, displays two lines of text - the current line of lyrics and the next upcoming line of lyrics - at any given time. The problem with this method is that, with the exception of the first word of each line, there is no good indication of when you're supposed to sing the next word. The words simply light up when you're supposed to sing them. If you're totally familiar with the song, then this won't be much of an issue for you. If you aren't totally familiar with the song, you're likely to sing words at the wrong time, not knowing exactly how long you're supposed to hold a note.

As for song selection, SingStar Amped, specifically, focuses on the grittier side of music, with a great selection of alternative and hard rock music. There are 30 "chart-topping songs and music videos," including Boston's "More than a Feeling," Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," Nirvana's "Come as you Are," Poison's "Every Rose Has its Thorn," Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." One of my favorites is Radiohead's "Creep," although I prefer to sing the words to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to that one; it fits fairly well if you know what you're doing, and I can still get a pretty decent score. Sublime's "Santeria" is also another pretty fun one, just on principal, while Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," Iggy Pop's "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" and Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noize" provide some classic rock favorites to satisfy the oldskool crowd.


Gameplay:
There are two things to worry about when playing SingStar Amped - singing the correct pitch and singing at the correct time. While the words are provided, the game has no mechanism for knowing if you're singing the correct words or not, much like Karaoke Revolution games, so learning to kind of "wing" it if you get confused can help to save your score.

I find that the pitch bars in SingStar Amped, and in the SingStar series, in general, don't offer as much assistance as the ones in Karaoke Revolution games - especially to players who aren't very familiar with the song they're singing. I have also noticed that the pitch bars don't "fill-up" in real-time on occasion. In other words, even when I'm singing perfectly on pitch, the bar will hesitate or lag while filling up, then suddenly fill up when I've moved on to the next note. This lack of continuous and instantaneous feedback can be unnerving, leading to mistakes.

The major difference between the Karaoke Revolution series and SingStar is that SingStar is more forgiving. You sing the song, from beginning to end, regardless of how bad you sing. In the end, a score is displayed, showing how well you did. If you sing poorly in a Karaoke Revolution game, by contrast, you will be booed off the stage and you won't even get to complete the song. If you're looking for a game to get your friend who is afraid to sing karaoke to try something new, I would have to suggest SingStar over Karaoke Revolution, without hesitation.


Difficulty:
SingStar Amped is an interesting karaoke videogame, with basically one issue making it a little more difficult to play: the way it displays notes and lyrics. The game occasionally lags when filling up the pitch bars, which can be more than a little distracting and can cause you to make mistakes. Also, the display doesn't always make it easy to determine when you're supposed to sing which word, making it difficult to sing songs that you're not as familiar with.

However, the flip side of this is that SingStar Amped doesn't try to punish you for playing poorly. Low scores are simply displayed and recorded; you can sing all the way through a song regardless of how poorly you sing. While this may sound like what you would expect, Karaoke Revolution games are a bit more cruel, with interactive crowds that will leave and eventually boo you off the stage if you perform badly enough.

The unique, and possibly wonderful, aspect of the SingStar series is that it doesn't care how you do. You sing. You get a score. You sing some more. J.R. Nip pointed out that that makes SingStar games closer to "play" than Karaoke Revolution and I agree, but the fact that scores are evaluated, assigned and recorded mean that there is a goal and you can try to out-perform friends, so it's definitely still a game; it simply doesn't take itself as serious as Karaoke Revolution games do.


Game Mechanics:
First off, SingStar Amped is not the first in the series, and while it is a standalone game, it requires the SingStar microphones and USB converter. As a note, the Karaoke microphones cannot be used with SingStar games. Additionally, the EyeToy USB camera can be used with SingStar Amped, although it's not required.

As for technical issues, the lag in the pitch bar can be quite annoying, especially to someone who's played Karaoke Revolution games (which don't suffer from this issue). Also, those who already have played the Karaoke Revolution series of games and have gotten accustomed to the way pitch and lyrics are handled in that series, are likely to have issues with the way they are handled in SingStar Amped - at least at first. There are definite differences - not just aesthetic, but functional, as well. The way that SingStar handles the lyrics and pitches doesn't give good indication of when some of the words are supposed to be sung or how long a pitch is supposed to be held. Also, the pitch bars are displayed only in relative position for the current line of lyrics. By that, I mean that a note in a certain position that is a "C" on one line of lyrics may be a different note altogether on the next line of lyrics. You are, therefore, required to be more familiar with the song to get the first note of each line of lyrics correct than you would in Karaoke Revolution games.

SingStar Amped is an excellent game for players who like the music selection found within and who are either very familiar with these songs or are not hung-up on playing karaoke games competitively. If you're looking for a karaoke game that you can simply play to have fun without worrying about scores too much, I highly recommend SingStar Amped. Rock on!


-Geck0, GameVortex Communications
AKA Robert Perkins

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