With the Christmas present buying season just around the corner, it's no wonder that Sony are filling the shelves with SingStar titles once more. Another era based title in the series; SingStar Motown brings together the biggest hits of Motown and in turn delivers the most well selected track list of the PS3 entries so far. Can one of the most iconic times in music really be realised in videogame form?

Trying not to repeat the things said in every SingStar review, the basic aspects of the game are identical to any other game in the series. This means that navigating menus and the overall gameplay of the game will be familiar to anyone already accustomed to the karaoke games. This is a karaoke game too, with Motown being a perfect choice for the popular party accompaniment. Whether it's the older generation that grew up with music from The Supremes and The Commodores, or the younger generation that recognises the chorus's of the singer friendly tunes; everyone can enjoy something about Motown. I was surprised by how many tunes I recognised from the disc, even though I've never considered myself a fan of Motown. Songs like 'Super Freak', and 'You Can't Hurry Love' are engineered for this sort of thing, which puts SingStar Motown ahead of the majority of titles so far.

As was the case with other genre era specific titles in SingStar's history, such as 80s and 90s, each and every track on here is Motown through and through. A fan of the genre will feel comfortable singing each and every song on the disc, with artists ranging from Lionel Richie to Marvin Gaye. That said there are some obvious omissions. 'Baby Love' by The Supremes for example featured on SingStar R 'n' B and isn't present here (though I'm sure that 3 songs from the group is enough for any player). But for the most part, players will be satisfied with the 30 songs on offer here. From 'It Takes Two' to 'I Want You Back', the track list of SingStar Motown is up there with the best of SingStar.

One aspect of the SingStar experience that suffers because of the Motown era though is the presentation. Unlike the videos of today, a lot of songs from the era are without videos. This leaves players with a montage of images to accompany these select artists' songs. These stay in keeping with the Motown spirit, but some are little more than an image panning back and forth across the screen. This is slightly annoying but is obviously not a major gameplay issue.

SingStar Motown is a perfect example of how certain genres suit SingStar more than others. Classics like 'Heard it Through the Grapevine' and 'Dancing in the Street' are seen as karaoke songs anyway, and putting 30 songs like this together in one package is a great idea. It may not be the sort of thing to appeal to Top 40 loving SingStar players, but in the same vein as Legends, the oldies prove to be even better than newer music. With this and SingStar Take That out soon, it's looking to be another karaoke filled Christmas.

Reviewed by Sam Atkins for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).