BLUE MAG

originally printed in The Davis Enterprise

(PS2; $49.99; Rated E10+ for Lyrics/Suggestive Themes/Tobacco Reference; us.playstation.com)

(one and a half stars)

Finally, after years of enjoying success in Europe, Sony brings its karaoke party game over to the Colonies to butt heads with reigning champ “Karaoke Revolution.”

Despite the fact that “Singstar Rocks” comes with two microphones, 30 licensed songs and videos from the original artist, and the ability to record your voice for playback purposes, what “Singstar” lacks is any fun sense of competition.

Let’s face it: no one plays karaoke alone. In fact, solo-karaoke is so taboo that I’ve heard it’s been outlawed in most states. Karaoke is a communal activity, and as such, should have an element of competition with it. “Singstar” implements a team-based competition, which puts players to battle by singing against each other. The biggest problem is that “Singstar” forces members from each team to sing the same song at the same time. So rather than being able to sit back and listen (heckle) someone while singing, team members have to be quiet so as not to screw up their member that’s singing. Also, if one singer is naturally louder than the other, the softer singer can’t hear him/herself or the music, quickly crashing the attempted fun of this game.

“Karaoke Revolution,” on the other hand, allows people to sing their own songs, through a certain number of rounds, and totals up the points at the ends of the rounds, declaring a winner. It’s a sing-off, and it’s a whole lot more fun.

Pick your opponents’ songs, add some beers, and that’s a fun night of karaoke.

“Singstar,” unforgivably, doesn’t allow for anything like that- if two people play, they’re singing the same song- always.

Here’s to hoping that the PS3 version of “Singstar” will be substantially different and take a lesson or two from the far-superior “Karaoke Revolution.” It promises to have downloadable karaoke songs via an iTunes-like service, which will only be great if the game mechanics are substantially changed. I’m not holding my breath.

“Singstar Rocks” would score a lot lower if it weren’t for the original videos that play during each song and the legitimately great selection of music. Skip it and pick up the newly released “Karaoke Revolution: American Idol.”