Singstar Legends, Review PS2, Sony Entertainment

On the face of it, Singstar seems like a product aimed at enticing the young and the female into the Playstation market. It is also true that it delivers on this aim by opening up the market. This said it also captured another market, and one that Karaoke had captured in the past - the drunk!

Singstar Legends follows in a vast line of successful Singstar versions with an "Old School" line up. The basic premise of Singstar is simple in itself - compete with up to eight players in a variety of different modes to become Singstar Champion. In a very karaoke-esque you will sing the words to your favourite ditties as they scroll along the screen in beat to the tune. Unlike Karaoke however, your performance will not be scored dependent on how drunk and tone deaf the audience are but based upon the pitch of your voice and how accurately you hold notes.

Singstar Legends does not bring anything new to the series in the form of extras or functionality, just a track list of songs that, quite depressingly in some of the cases, can now be called "classics"...

Aretha Franklin - Respect)
Barry White - You're The First, The Last, My Everything)
Black Sabbath - Paranoid)
Blur - Parklife)
David Bowie - Life On Mars?)
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence)
Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Let's Call The Whole Thing Off)
Elton John - Rocket Man)
Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes)
Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You Ever Want To Meet))
John Lennon - Imagine)
Johnnny Cash - Ring Of Fire)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama)
Madonna - Papa Don't Preach)
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine)
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit)
Patsy Cline - Crazy)
Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind)
Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug)
Sam Cooke - What A Wonderful World)
The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back)
The Monkees - Daydream Believer)
The Police - Roxanne)
The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody)
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil)
The Smiths - This Charming Man)
Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It?)
U2 - Vertigo)
Whitney Houston - The Greatest Love Of All

As you can see, the word "classic" would very much depend upon your taste.

Legends is a very good craic in its own right and very much worth the drunken fun if it's your first foray into the world of Singstar. As the game does not bring anything else apart from a new track list when compared to previous Singstar titles, I would only recommend it to hard core Singstar fanatics - or alcoholics - if you have crooned the other titles to death, you just have retro music taste or as little of both.

7 out of 10

Harris