SingStar Rocks!

I think it’s important that the developers allow players to drop the original vocal from the track. Not only does it make it difficult to hear yourself during playback, but it also counteracts the essence of the Freestyle Mode.

SingStar Rocks can be fun for the casual karaoke fan, but the limited and unfocused track list and the game’s inability to remove the songs’ original vocal tracks limit its long-term play value.

If you can track down Singstar Rocks on the cheap, though, you're pretty much guaranteed a few memorable drunken nights in. It's still as compelling and fatally flawed as it has ever been, where the ratio of good to bad songs is as frustrating as we've come to expect.

Singstar Rocks! lives up to its name and is quite simply one of the best Singstar compilations yet.

But - and maybe this is just us - singing these serious rock songs just isn't as much fun as belting out tracks by Blondie and Girls Aloud. We felt a bit embarrassed trying to sing serious songs by Snow Patrol and Hard-Fi. You just don't get the same fun party vibe ploughing through serious emotional songs as you do with the fluffy pop nonsense.

Unless you can afford to have your own backing band or cough up for a proper karaoke machine and CD-G discs, SingStar Rocks represents the best you can do if you like (mainstream) rock music and want to sing along to it, it is that simple.

The design and presentation make this release more palatable for non-gamers than Konami's series, but the limited track selection and unfortunate forced vocal tracks remove some of that value.

It's great if your singing takes place mostly with a group of friends, but game-players and karaoke diehards are better off with KRAI. [Jan. 2007, p.83]

Get it if you love karaoke, but hate the "Revolutions". [Jan. 2007, p.86]

That being said, the franchise has made some improvements since its inception and many wannabe rock stars may find 'SingStar Rocks!' disappointing compared to more recent instalments out there.

If DDR started the whole music genre, this one made karaoke enjoyable! Cool mic and EyeToy integration translates into hours of good, clean fun.

SingStar is a great time if you’ve got a bunch of mates getting knackered in your flat (whoa, got British there for a second, sorry), but it’s not as much of a "game" as Karaoke Revolution is.

The formula of singing along with popular songs and being rated on you performance is done right in SingStar Rocks!, but just about everything else has been put together with such a lack of thought and design that the best part is getting two microphones with the game.

Undoubtedly, if you’re not a disciple of the Rock Gods then you’ll be able to have tons of fun having some awesome parties with Rocks! and its more enjoyable brethren; but if you are a die-hard rocker, then this will be as painful an experience as listening to Radio One while sober.

While the song list is acceptable, with awesome tunes (including Marvin Gaye and Coldplay) there are definitely some clunkers mixed in (KT Tunstall and Elton John).