Singstar: Ultimate Party: PS4 Review

Singstar: Ultimate Party: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Sony Computer Ent

Christmas is coming - and as well as not being able to escape that behemoth of end of year parties, there is also the threat of drunken singing in the background.

Thankfully, Sony's decided to try and help you hide that shame with the release of the latest iteration of Singstar aimed at keeping the party at home - and the neighbours in ear plugs.

Except this time around, they've not really messed with the formula - it's exactly what you'd expect when it comes to a Singstar game. There's scoring, singing and of course, a range of the current musical tracks. (Well, 30 of them anyway)

The one big push that's been moved into this latest version of Singstar is to take the microphone away from the console by bringing in a downloadable app to help you get the party started whereever you want.

Except it's not quite as perfect as the old microphones were. While the app's easily downloadable, it's not quite as responsive as having a microphone in your hand. You have to hold it in the right place and ensure your vocals (or screeches) are going in the right direction. Fine in practice but when you're singing your heart out, the last thing you want to bother with is ensuring the mic is right. It's best to use the old microphones from the previous releases to get to what you need.

Visually, it's sleek and as potent as ever and no doubt a lot of New Zealand will be happy that Lorde's included in among the likes of Pharrell and Coldplay. In fact, whoever curated the soundtrack's done a great job, ensuring there's variety and depth; a little something for everyone. Plus with DLC, there's going to be endless debate over which tracks to go with.

I suppose in summary, really, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But for the PS4 next gen version of Singstar, I'd have potentially expected something a little more enticing. An update's been released to deal with buggy playing, voice playback and wired microphones with another update planned in December to quell the unhappiness at launch.

All in all, Singstar: Ultimate Party may get the party started, but a lack of real freshness in its execution and a few issues may cause it to teeter off rather than kick off all night long.