These games are being reviewed together because they are played the same way; each has different music, though. (And SingStar Amped has a very funny opening video.) Special microphones are required to play the SingStar games. When you buy a game you can buy it with the microphones included or get just the game. The microphones work with all the different SingStar games; you only need to buy one set. They plug into a USB adaptor that plugs into the PS2. You will also need a controller to navigate through menu screens and to adjust the volume levels.

You can sing by yourself, or play on teams with up to 8 players total. When more than one person is playing, you can choose between a duet, battle or pass the mic competition. When you sing a duet, you both sing the song. During some songs you will take turns singing parts of it. Other songs have a harmony part that one person will sing. In Battle Mode, 2 people will sing the same song at the same time. Whoever has the highest score at the end wins. Pass the Mic mode has you play a variety of different games. The different modes include: battle, medley, first to the post (first player to 5000 points wins), duet, keep it up (must keep the performance bar above the marker), micro-medley, and pass the mic (each team member sings for a set length of time and then passes the mic to the next player).

The lyrics for the songs will show up on the bottom of the screen and will fill with color at the correct time to sing them. Gray bars will appear on the screen that will show the pitch of the note you are to sing. The higher the bar, the higher the note will be. They also show the timing of when to start singing and how long to hold the notes. The pitch guidelines will not appear on the screen if you sing in Freestyle Mode, which allows you to be creative and sing however you'd like.

If you have an Eyetoy camera, you can watch yourself on TV instead of the music video that plays while you sing. You can also have your picture taken if you have the top score for a song, and it will be displayed at the top of the charts.

30 songs are available on each game disc. I don't know some of the songs on each disc. Some I recognize when I hear them but don't necessarily know how to sing them. You can select a song, and just listen to it instead of singing it. You won't score any points, but listening to the songs may help you. When you play solo mode, you get to pick your songs, but when you're playing a pass the mic competition, the songs are chosen for you.

Both of these games are rated T because of the lyrics in some of the songs and images that may be inappropriate for younger children in some of the music videos.

My husband and I really enjoyed the SingStar games and had fun singing together and competing against each other. My 12 year old daughter tried it a little bit also. She had fun, but didn't know a lot of the songs.