SingStar ABBA

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SingStar ABBA
SingStar ABBA Cover.jpg
North American PlayStation 3 cover art
Developer(s) London Studio
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Composer(s) Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Series SingStar
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3
Release
  • EU: November 14, 2008
  • AU: November 20, 2008
  • NA: December 2, 2008
Genre(s) Music
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

SingStar ABBA is a singing/voice simulation video game released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. [1] It was the first band specific SingStar game, [2] followed by SingStar Queen in 2009. [3]

Contents

Development

David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said of the release: "We are thrilled to be collaborating with ABBA to bring their tracks to SingStar this Christmas... The popularity of this iconic band continues year after year, and we know SingStar fans will be delighted to add this selection of classics tracks to their SingStar collection". [4]

Patrick Foster of The Times reported that "Bocu, the British music publisher that acquired the British rights to ABBA’s songs more than 30 years ago... collaborated with Sony to release Singstar Abba". [5]

Gameplay

Arnold Katayev of PSXtreme explained that the game "uses a very clean user interface, one that even a five-year-old can navigate. You can either play a practice session, or play for points and attempt to score the best record", [2] further adding: "The object is to fill the bars on screen with accuracy by singing as accurately as possible. If you go flat, you'll get color below the bar; likewise, if you go sharp, you'll get color above the bar. It's a very intuitive system, and figuring out how it works doesn't take any longer than 10 seconds". [2]

Track list

The PlayStation 2 version of the game features 20 songs whereas the PlayStation 3 version features 25 songs. [6]

TitleOn PlayStation 2 versionOn PlayStation 3 version
"Chiquitita"YesYes
"Dancing Queen"YesYes
"Does Your Mother Know"YesYes
"Fernando"YesYes
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"YesYes
"Happy New Year"NoYes
"Head Over Heels"NoYes
"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"YesYes
"Knowing Me, Knowing You"YesYes
"Mamma Mia"YesYes
"Money, Money, Money"YesYes
"One of Us"YesYes
"Ring Ring"YesYes
"SOS"YesYes
"Summer Night City"YesYes
"Super Trouper"YesYes
"Take a Chance on Me"YesYes
"Thank You for the Music"YesYes
"The Day Before You Came"NoYes
"The Name of the Game"YesYes
"The Winner Takes It All"YesYes
"Under Attack"NoYes
"Voulez-Vous"YesYes
"Waterloo"YesYes
"When All Is Said and Done"NoYes

Reception

The game received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [7] [8]

References

  1. Sheets, David (September 30, 2008). "ABBA is coming to 'SingStar'". St. Louis Post-Dispatch .[ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 3 Katayev, Arnold (December 1, 2008). "SingStar ABBA Review". PSXtreme. Archived from the original on 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  3. Gunn, Micky (March 30, 2009). "SingStar Queen Review". Gameplanet. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  4. Crecente, Brian (September 10, 2008). "ABBA Invades SingStar". Kotaku .
  5. Foster, Patrick (November 29, 2008). "Tiny firm, Bocu, says thank you for the music as Abba soar again". The Times . Archived from the original on June 12, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2017.(subscription required)
  6. Crecente, Brian (October 29, 2008). "Thank You (SingStar) For The (ABBA) Music". Kotaku.
  7. 1 2 "SingStar ABBA for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  8. 1 2 "SingStar ABBA for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  9. Gibson, Ellie (December 2, 2008). "SingStar Roundup (Page 2)". Eurogamer . Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  10. Anderson, Luke (December 8, 2008). "SingStar Abba Review (PS3)". GameSpot . Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  11. Lafferty, Michael (November 24, 2008). "SingStar ABBA – PS2 – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  12. Lafferty, Michael (November 24, 2008). "SingStar ABBA – PS3 – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  13. Miller, Greg (November 25, 2008). "SingStar ABBA Review (PS2)". IGN . Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  14. Miller, Greg (November 25, 2008). "SingStar ABBA Review (PS3)". IGN. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  15. "SingStar ABBA (PS3)". PlayStation Official Magazine – UK . January 2009. p. 99.
  16. Van Leuveren, Luke (December 24, 2008). "SingStar ABBA Review – PlayStation 3 Review". PALGN. Archived from the original on December 26, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  17. "Review: SingStar ABBA (PS3)". PlayStation: The Official Magazine . No. 15. January 2009. p. 81.