Previews

"I think we're alone now, there doesn't seem to be anyone around," warbles the voice out of our telly. Now, before you hit the 'Back' button shuddering at the thought of 80s mall-rat Tiffany blaring out of your TV's speakers in a game, remember that even crimes against pop can work in the right context as Wii U's karaoke title SiNG Party proves.

SiNG Party's set-up will initially be oh-so-familiar to fans of digital crooning - grab the mic that is included and blare out the words to the lyrics that scroll across the screen (with the occasional dance move thrown in for good measure), all while onscreen singers strut their stuff and spangly abstract backgrounds pop and gyrate.

This being the Wii U of course means that the Game Pad offers up some unique ways in which to butcher The B-52's 'Love Shack'. While the more traditional Duet/Harmony Modes let you and a loved one trample all over Lionel Ritchie, Team Mode sees players or groups going larynx-to-larynx, with the remaining players able to use the Game Pad to vote on who was more 'fiasco' than 'Freddie' when belting out Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'.

Best of all, Party Mode offers the most potential for public humiliation as the crooner stands in front of their peers singing the lyrics displayed on the Game Pad's screen while the rest of the group can either sing along with the words that are super-sized on the telly - or alternatively, throw cocktail sausages at the poor soloist.

For those who want to do a Barlow and take their singing seriously, booting up the Sing Mode offers a scoring and awards system based on your performance. Plus the Game Pad lets you draw up playlists on the fly, mess with vocal and instrument levels, and best of all, 'jam' along to the onscreen action, hitting the bongos at all the wrong moments during Pet Shop Boys 'Always On My Mind' to put singers off.

With 50 tracks covering pop classics from the 60s up to the present day (with more promised for download later), SiNG Party is all you'd expect from a karaoke experience - but with the Game Pad bringing a whole new set of torture instruments to assault friend and family's ears with...