The kind of songs listened to is purely a matter of taste. It doesn’t matter if the lyrics make little or no sense if the tune is catchy. It is usually when confronted by the lyrics that one realizes just how completely random some songs can be – making no sense whatsoever, but with lyrical qualities that have about as much hook – for that very reason – as an Aerosmith tune (who are arguably one of the master bands when it comes to guitar hooks).

But when a collection comes along that has little appeal, not just to the more adult crowd, but even a younger SingStar aficionado, then it seems that – from at least a couple of perspectives – that the current expansion missed the boat.

SingStar 90s is closing on a release date and the latest release for the PlayStation 2 karaoke title has a wide range of songs, complete with their music videos. The videos are important, if for no other reason than they document the state of the music industry in several ways, but they are not absolutely key. What is paramount to the success of the title is whether the songs are sing-able and whether they have appeal.

If you are not a fan of rap music, you may wish to avoid this title. It has a rap meter to document and score efforts in that area, but many of the tunes features do have rap segments. If the only rapping you are capable of successfully pulling off involves knuckles to various surfaces, then SingStar 90s may be a torturous event for both you and your listeners. The words fly fast and furious and some of the songs (can you say the Vanilla Ice tune) offer no appeal. Ice Ice Baby was not listened to when released and is certainly not one of the songs on any household list of “Songs I would like to sing.”

But before delving further, let’s get straight to the song list.

Included on this list are:

• Arrested Development – Tennessee

• Boyz II Men – MotownPhilly

• Chumbawumba – Tubthumping

• Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up

• Divinyls – I Touch Myself

• En Vogue – Free Your Mind

• Extreme – More than Words

• Gin Blossoms – Hey Jealousy

• Hootie and the Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You

• Jesus Jones – Right Here Right Now

• Len – Steal My Sunshine

• MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This

• Natalie Imbruglia – Torn

• New Kids on the Block – Step By Step

• Nirvana – Lithium

• Paula Abdul – Opposites Attract

• Poison – Unskinny Bop

• R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts

• Santana Featuring Rob Thomas – Smooth

• Savage Garden – I Want You

• Seal – Kiss From a Rose

• Sir Mix A Lot – Baby Got Back

• Sixpence None the Richer – Kiss Me

• Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun

• Spin Doctors – Two Princes

• Stone Temple Pilots – Plush

• Technotronic Featuring Felly – Pump Up the Jam

• The Cranberries – Zombie

• Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby

• Wilson Pickett – Hold On

Now granted there are some licensed properties that simply can’t be acquired, but SCE London missed some great songs in the collection. What? How about The Rembrandts (I’ll be there for you – otherwise known as the theme from Friends), or The Proclaimers’ 500 miles, or even Ace of Base’s The Sign. Or how about Madonna (Vogue), Alanis Morrisette (Ironic), No Doubt (Don’t Speak), R. Kelly (I Believe I Can Fly), Dave Matthews Band (Crash Into Me), Tom Cochrane (Life is a Highway) Fugees (Killing Me Softly), Savage Garden (Truly Madly Deeply), Collective Soul (The World I Know) or the Bodeans, The Wallflowers, Collective Soul … well, the list could go on and on.

While the songs listed (and yes, there are some that were enjoyed, but when looking at the total package, it felt lacking, and it was not long before other compilations found their way into the PS2.

While the songs were not that well received in this household, one has to admit the production values are high for this title. The videos look terrific and the sound is great. The transitions from singing to rap meter are seamless and handled very well.

Don’t look for new modes of gameplay. This is the same game with only new songs added.

If you don’t know what SingStar is … here is the overview:

It is a karaoke game that requires microphones (not included with the expansion – they came with the original release), and uses three visual elements for the game content. The visuals are comprised of the music video from the song being played, the lyrics along the bottom of the screen and a pitch meter cutting through the middle of the screen. The goal is to sing the songs, either in the shortened forms (with bigger points accumulating over the time frame) or over the course of the full song, hit the notes, get a score and try to ride the top of the charts. There is no online play, but there are party games in which you can battle another singer with the game’s two microphones (which came with the original release, what is being looked at here is an expansion), or sing as a team with the goal – again – being to outscore your opponents. There are three difficulty levels, which essentially means the level of forgiveness the game will give you as you sing. Being a bit off is fine at the Easy level, but you have to be almost dead on at the hard level to score well. The multiplayer, or Party, mode has several games from the head-to-head Battle mode, to Pass the Mic (teams undertake different singing challenges in turns) . The different challenges include singing medleys for scores or to keep the meter above a specific bar by hitting the notes.

When it comes to compilations, SingStar usually does fairly well, with a nice assortment of songs. Some are favorites some are hit and miss. Yes, this is all personal preference, but in this case, the 90s compilation is a miss. Those who enjoy inane lyrics (Black Hole Sun and Tubthumping) and rap, though, may find this a challenging and enjoyable collection.

Gameplay: 7.0
The gameplay mechanics are exactly like other SingStar games; the format has not changed. The only difference is the collection of songs. Game modes are the same.

Graphics: 7.9
The music videos are of a high production value. Missing is the clever little introduction that usually has kids gathering to perform one of the songs. It adds nothing to the game, but is fun … or was fun.

Sound: 7.0
A cross-section of the 90s but maybe not the best cross-section available.

Difficulty: Medium
Not too much here that will really stretch the vocal cords.

Concept: 7.0
The cross section of songs may be decent, but it really is not indicative of the era.

Multiplayer: 7.5
This song list may have limited appeal.

Overall: 7.0
Much like its 80s predecessor, this compilation feels like it does not capture what made the 90s so dynamic a time in music. Perhaps what the dev team needs to do is concentrate on certain aspects within the decade rather than try to do an all-encompassing compilation. In this case, it seems to fall short. As stated several times, though, this is personal preference and while some of the tunes presented are fine, most of the songs were bypassed by household members.