Gaming some ABBA Gold
Format: PS3 (version played), PS2 Dev: London Studio Pub: Sony
Out: 14/11/08 Players: 1-8
Sidestepping divided opinions on the Meryl Streep movie, Mamma Mia and the star-studded foursome, that made it more than just a spicy-sounding-Italian-dish, are ‘hot’ right now. So naturally, it was only a matter of time before game publishers came knocking to take a slice of their gold plated pie. Fortunately, this didn’t take the shape of a poorly executed dance-based movie tie-in, but the more impressive collection of ABBA hits that have made their way into SingStar ABBA.
Chorus ‘Waterloo’, shout ‘Money, Money, Money’ and harmony ‘Dancing Queen’. There aren’t many things that can rival getting the few friends together to sound off some of the Swedish bands best tracks of the 70s. The usually feature set of SingStar modes and online options are here. Four of the songs also support harmony duets – songs which support two main vocal roles for a combined score. It’s a pity more of them don’t as ABBA’s catchy lyrics sound all the better as a choral group. Hook up a PlayStation Eye or Eyetoy camera to capture some of those golden moments.
A SingStar compilation dedicated to a single artist would normally be cause for concern, but the set list has been carefully selected, ensuring that the best of ABBA is here. The PS3 version has five additional songs than the PS2, but apart from this they’re identical, minus the online features of course. It’s another compilation of tracks to add to your SingStar library, yes. More than that though, SingStar ABBA is a well formed collection of ABBA hits that could rekindle the flame of any dancing queen. And maybe one or two kings.
Aaron Lee
[Originally published on Tuesday, 6 January 2009]
