singstar3

The original incarnation of Singstar transformed the households of many simple folk into cheap and simple karaoke den costing a fraction of a proper set-up. It was the original popular drunken music party-game, long before it became socially acceptable to invite mates round to your house and thrash the night away in front of a console with some fake guitars.

Now, it's a given in the game industry that if something works, then it'll get flogged like a dead horse until you can barely even recognise it as the piece of gaming brilliance that first reared it's proud and shiny-maned head

With this third incarnation of the game it's clear that the marketing strategy behind them is to make sure every customer is catered for.

With the smattering of songs covering everything from Kate Bush's warbling Babooshka to Fall Out Boy's oft-mistaken Arms Race, there's surely enough to appeal to just about anyone who'll pick up the game. from a little sister to dear old Gran.

The experience itself hasn't changed much from the original, you still sing the song trying to match the pitch bars on screen and accumulate points.

Of course it's still not perfect, as at its heart it's still a karaoke game, and if you don't like karaoke, then there just isn't any point playing.

Still the interface is great and there's a lot of fun to be had with this so fans of the genre should take a deep breath and get ready to sing their guts out.