The PS2 is a strange beast nowadays. The games that sell well on Sony's last gen platform are unlike the high budget ones that are found on the PS3 and 360. Guitar Hero sells by the million on the system, with party games becoming the PS2's primary genre as time goes on. SingStar, the already classic karaoke game, falls into this category, and the developers have been churning out versions since its 2004 release. Now after six months of release (in Europe, it's only recently come out in the US), the SingStore that SingStar on PS3 makes available to you is in full flow. But is this still the highlight of the Sony party?

SingStar on PS3 plays in exactly the same way as every other game in the series. This should come as no surprise, considering the precision of the game's pitch recognition feature. Every element of the main game has been pulled straight out of the PS2 editions, from the Duets to the party favourite, Pass The Mic. The emphasis is still on multiplayer, which the series has held true ever since the abomination that was Star Mode in the original. SingStar PS3 could well have been released as a new PS2 edition, save for some limited HD music videos, and the SingStore. But as fans will know, the most important aspect of a SingStar title is the tracklist - and this is where SingStar next gen begins to slip.

There will always be a few songs that you aren't familiar with in a SingStar game, but as the series has evolved, the different genres of music have been given their own games, such as 80's, Popworld, and Rocks! This made it easy for fans of a certain genre to enjoy the whole tracklist, something that is sorely missing from this game. The diversity on offer here can be compared to that found in the first two games in the series, but even then, the selection of songs comes up short. There are only a few tracks that will be known by everyone that joins in, the best of these being Britney Spears' Toxic and Scissor Sisters' Don't Feel Like Dancin'. These are the sort of songs that SingStar works with, not the indie / rock / r'n'b / pop amalgamation that the game features. Your favourite track will differ depending on your musical taste, but when asked to pick a song from the four that you know, it can get tedious pretty quickly.

To give them credit though, Sony has rectified this with the iTunes style SingStore. Here you can buy songs to add to your collection, all at the standard price of 99p each. A great idea for any music game and one that SingStar shares with other party titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. This was promised to feature over 300 songs on day one, both new to the series and classic SingStar hits. It's now been around six months, and Sony is only just approaching that crazy estimate. But with new songs released every two weeks, the list is ever growing and has become a great addition to the franchise. Despite hiccups in the tracklisting, you can make your own 'perfect' tracklist that suits you and your friends' preferences and taste in music. The store is designed well, with clear places for you to make selections, which the new look PlayStation Store based itself upon. Videos of the songs you select play when you click on them, allowing you to make sure that you actually know the song you're paying for, a feature that completes this excellent addition to the series.

Players who own at least one of the PS2 versions, some of which came out a ere week before this version, will be annoyed at this lack of songs, even if they are prepared to pay for songs that they already own. A feature that would have made the game a must have would have been the ability to copy songs from the last gen editions straight onto the PS3 version, or to download them for free. It wouldn't even have to be the whole thirty-track list of songs; a handful would be enough to thank people for keeping their copies of the game. This could have been added as a firmware update, but as most of us are unhappy about, PS2 games are not read by the 40GB version of the PS3, meaning that this feature would be impossible to be integrated into the game at a later stage. Even so, the thought that this might have been possible is annoying to say the least, as when you need to sing It's Not Unusual one more time you need to hook up your PS2. Not the best solution, is it?

Online play isn't included in the game, but really, where's the party in playing SingStar by yourself? To compensate for this, and in an attempt to produce a thriving community, the My SingStar mode allows users from across the world to post images, videos and audio samples from that drunken night of karaoke. Trying to achieve a Youtube level of user interactivity, this adds some more content for your money, while also letting you humiliate yourself online. The question is whether or not you would actually want to watch other people singing and let them watch you. Saving your clips to the hard drive is an obvious benefit, but posting these for people to see is really different. Even so, there are hundreds of people across the globe posting content on My SingStar, with even more now that the Americans have finally got their hands on the game. It may be unorthodox, but at least Sony are trying to be creative with their franchise, and whether or not you use it, its inclusion is definitely not a bad thing.

If this SingStar had been a PS2 game then it would be a pretty weak entry for the series. The tracklisting is just not as good as the original, a hard act to follow to be sure. But that doesn't matter any more, as the SingStore has made this the most essential version of SingStar to date, allowing anyone to create the ultimate SingStar party on their next-gen system. It may not push the system graphically, but when a group of mates get together and sing the night away, there's little else that can top it. Personally I feel that this is better than the recently released Vol 2, but that's all down to your preference on the tracklist. If you need a party, and you own a PS3, then SingStar is a great choice and, thanks to the ever-growing online library of tracks, will be even better a year from now.

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