This addition to the past November release, Singstar Rocks, gives you more chart toping hits from some of the most popular pop songs to hit the Top 40, complete with their actual music videos. Being in direct competition with the already established Karaoke Revolution titles isn’t the easiest thing to do, but what the Singstar games does well is provide a better party atmosphere compared to a strong single player game. While you can play this game alone, there isn’t a career mode to speak of, so it’s best played with a group of friends and allows you to gather around the TV at home versus a smoke filled Karaoke bar on the weekends.

The objective is simple, sing the song as you know it, trying to hit the right notes at the right times and get the highest score. The lyrics, note strands, and pitch highs and lows are displayed in a colorful palette allowing gamers to know where they are as far as accuracy is concerned. For onlookers, you can enjoy each artist’s music videos and if you are brave enough, try to dance and mimic what is on the screen for giggles.

The meat of the game is the party modes themselves. In Pass the Mic Mode you are presented with different singing challenges like duets, battles, solos, and more as you pass the mic between players. The mode also has a player from each team singing a set length of time of a particular song then passing on to another player once their time is up Other highlights are Battle Mode, where two opposing players sing the same song at the same time. Each player is scored individually and the player with the highest score at the end of the song is the winner. Medley pits a player from each team to sing a medley of randomly selected songs. First to Post Mode allows the player who reaches 5000 points first to be declared the winner. . Of course, if you just want to sing, a Freestyle Mode allows you to just sing to your hearts content.

The biggest hill this series needs to climb is finding a way to turn down the vocals so you only hear yourself sing, instead of singing along. For a game that has implemented the cool feature of recording your vocals to play back later, it is a shame you can’t just hear yourself for better or worse.

Singstar Pop still provides a boatload of singing fun and the song list is very good if you like pop radio. You will get artists such as 3 Doors Down, Alicia Keys, Hoobastank, Natasha Bedingfield, Snow Patrol, U2, The Frey, Whitney Houston, and even oddly enough, The Clash.

While I still prefer Konami’s brand of singing goodness, Singstar Pop still delivers if you want to get together with friends and kick it for a while. There are 30 new songs to choose from, the ability to save your performance, and a great multiplayer mode. Top it all off with some music videos for ambiance and you have another solid package. I don’t think Sony will ever top what Konami has already perfected, but if you just love to sing, this is a title that will fill the bill.