Singstar Country review

There are four Singstar games coming to PS2 this fall: Pop Vol 2, Legends, ABBA, and Country (dammit Sony, where’s the Bollywood pack for the US? We’re not kidding. The UK got it and we want it too). We’re going to use the same review text for all three. Not because they aren’t good – they are. And not because we haven’t played all three of them – we have. Rather, it’s because there’s just no more to say about the Singstar series on PS2 that we haven’t already said. This franchise has honed its hit-making craft for several games now and stubbornly refuses to deviate from its established formula.

If you’ve played ANY of the previous Singstar games on PS2 (Pop, Rocks, Amped, ‘80s, ‘90s, and more in the UK) you know what to expect: Karaoke, and lots of it, with the videos playing onscreen. And it’s good.

The usual bells and whistles are all here as well, with the caveat that this is a PS2, so the tech is dated. For instance, there’s no downloadable stuff, but you can swap the disc with other Singstar titles without rebooting. And the EyeToy support enables you to save low-grade video replays of your performance … to a memory card. Bleh. Especially when compared to the PS3’s giant online store of individual songs, this feels ancient and archaic. Granted, we can’t really fault the games for the fact that the PS2 is old enough to be in second grade now, but it feels like someone at Sony HQ isn’t even trying any more.

At any rate, your best bet is to choose your game by track list. Country’s 30-track lineup is listed below. It’s fairly strong, though we’d prefer more classic country from Waylon Jennings or Hank Williams and Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn and less of the empty-headed modern artists like Kellie Pickler, Jessica Simpson, and Bucky Covington. However, it does avoid the series’ typical sin of trying to appeal to fans of too many genres.

Alan Jackson – Chattahoochee
Alan Jackson - Good Time
Big & Rich - Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)
Blake Shelton – Home
Brad Paisley – Online
Brooks & Dunn - Boot Scootin' Boogie
Brooks & Dunn w/ Rebe McEntire - If You See Him/If You See Her
Bucky Covington - It's Good to be Us
Faith Hill - Red Umbrella
Gretchen Wilson - Redneck Woman
Jessica Simpson - Come on Over
Jewel - Stronger Woman
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
Josh Turner - Another Try
Keith Urban - Days Go By
Kellie Pickler - Red High Heels
Kenny Chesney - Big Star
Lady Antebellum - Love Don't Live Here
Martina McBride - A Broken Wing
Miranda Lambert – Kerosene
Montgomery Gentry - My Town
Montgomery Gentry - What Do Ya Think About That?
Rascal Flatts - Bless the Broken Road
Sara Evans - Born to Fly
Taylor Swift - Our Song
Terri Clark - Girls Lie Too
Trace Adkins - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk
Trace Adkins - You're Gonna Miss This
Willie Nelson - Pancho and Lefty

Nov 7, 2008