SingStar: ABBA

PS3 review by Mark Johnson, published on Tuesday 2nd December 2008

Does your mother know there’s a SingStar: ABBA game? It need not be mums though, anybody who likes ABBA or indeed having a good old sing song will be head over heels with this game. I say game in the loosest of terms, as in reality it’s just a song pack with 25 of the Swedish group’s hits. A title dedicated to one group may seem extravagant and a risk, but if anyone deserves a game all to themselves it’s ABBA, what with them being one of the most successful acts of the ’70s and ’80s as well as taking over the world with theatre and cinema versions of Mamma Mia.

Working in exactly the same manner as previous SingStar games, players try to sing in time and rhythm to the music, aided by the words and on screen pitch bars. Unfortunately, as it’s the same as previous versions, it suffers from the same issues such as not actually being able to differentiate between words and noises. Overall however, the system still works rather well, and achieves what it needs to to make the game enjoyable. Obviously this is a game for ABBA fans, but you need not be one to enjoy it. Despite the fact that all the songs are from the same group there is still a variety of styles to choose from, so there’s something for most people.

Anybody with songs downloaded from the SingStore will be able to access them from this game. You’ll also be able to play songs from any other PlayStation 3 versions of SingStar; by pressing the select button on the song selection menu you’re able to swap discs and play the songs from that disc. Annoyingly, this might mean that singing sessions will end up being interrupted with the constant swapping of games. Another disappointment is that the game is not available with microphones; you’re going to have to own another SingStar to play this.

For anybody thinking that it’s a bit rich having to pay a decent amount for a glorified song pack, it’s worth noting that the 25 songs will work out considerably cheaper than downloading 25 individual songs. So to ABBA I say thank you for the music to add a bit of fun over the festive period. I can imagine it now, the family sitting down Christmas afternoon watching Mamma Mia, then wanting to emulate it with SingStar, by the end of the night even granddad will be a dancing queen, and when all is said and done, isn’t that all we want?