Review: Let's Sing Queen – PS4

A quick note before we actually get on with the review – I took this one myself on the basis that I’d do a fun review, recreating some of the iconic scenes from Queen music videos. Unfortunately, my ability didn’t meet my ambition, and it wasn’t to be.
We’re also having to do the video side of the review with screenshots from the game rather than the usual run of game capture, and that’s because Let’s Sing Queen doesn’t allow you to record anything. And that’s a shame because, in the modern era of sharing embarrassing videos, there are more than a few to be had here. But, licensing and making sure Brian May receives his royalties are more important. That hair doesn’t pay for itself, you know.
If you’ve played a karaoke video game, you’ve played them all. This isn’t my first rodeo, and it’s not my first time playing a singing game based on Queen. Way back when I was a much younger man, me, Vince, and Sam – my two best buds – stayed up one night playing Singstar Queen while we drunk boxed wine. Wine, from a box. So I’m familiar, then, and Let’s Sing Queen is a familiar experience for anyone who has played any of the previous Let’s Sing games.

The premise is simple – you choose a song, the song plays with the official music video in the background, and you try to score as many points as possible while you wail into your microphone or your smartphone. The more in-key you are, the more points you’ll score. The more points you score, the higher you’ll sit on the online rankings – not that I cared all that much about ranking against other people; this is purely a fun family game in my house and one that will get a lot of use over the holidays.
What really makes or breaks a karaoke game are the songs. If they’re crap, the game is a dud. If they’re great, you’ve got an instant winner with no sign of buyers remorse in sight. Queen automatically sits high and mighty as great, based purely on the fact it’s a game full of bloody Queen songs. You’ve got the big bangers like Don’t Stop Me Know, I Want to Break Free, and, of course, Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as some softer tunes, like Who Wants to Live Forever? as well as some full-house foot stompers, like We Will Rock You. It’s basically the Greatest Hits, but instead of singing it in the shower and believing yourself to be the next Freddy, you’re playing it on the telly with your family clapping their hands over their ears and the score telling you it’s time to quit.
While I enjoyed the majority of the songs, there were one or two that just don’t fit the format perfectly – but, I wouldn’t remove them for the world. For example, I Want to Break Free is a classic and we all love it. But, halfway through the song, there’s a couple of minutes of Freddy rolling around and doing some weird stuff, all the while, I’m stood in my living room, sweating, full of adrenaline and ready to belt out the next line. It’s a small complaint, but in a party setting, I could see it being a bit of an energy killer, at least for me.

During my time with Let’s Sing Queen, I played with the family and we used a mixture of actual microphones as well as our smartphones. I know the hardcore singers will scoff at the idea of singing into a phone, but honestly, it’s really handy and it works well. Connecting to the console is as easy as having the app on your phone and then putting in the on-screen code that the game shows you. The performance was good too, and I didn’t really notice if I was doing any better or worse between devices.
There’s a progression system with levelling up and cosmetic gear for your avatar, as well as a few different game modes if you really want to get the most out of the game. For me and my family, we were happy enough to put on the classic game mode and take turns, with the occasional duet if we really wanted to piss the neighbours off.
It’s a functional game and there’s not really much else you can ask for from a game based on Queen’s brilliant catalogue of work. I’d have liked to have been able to capture some gameplay, but that’s the only annoyance I had with the game. Now, when am I getting Let’s Sing The Killers, huh?

Let's Sing Queen PS4 Review

• 8/10
  Overall - Fantastic - 8/10

8/10

Summary

Let’s Sing Queen is exactly what anyone would want from a Queen singing game. You’ve got the greatest hits in one package, and you don’t even need an expensive microphone to play. A couple of songs and their videos feel a little out of place and could have done with a “radio edit” of sorts, but for the most part, this is a fantastic release and it’s sure to make for some good parties – whenever we’re allowed to have them again…