I am not meant to be a singer. When I sing, it's best that nobody's around, for their own sanity.

And yet, I can't help loving karaoke games. I'm even fairly decent at them; I can match the pitches, though my singing voice isn't that great.

I'd never played the "SingStar" series of singing games, so I was excited to try both "SingStar" for the PlayStation 3 and "SingStar '90s."

As far as song lists go, "SingStar '90s" was my favorite of the two. My middle school and high school years were smack in the middle of the 1990s, so I knew - and knew well - 95 percent of the songs on the list.

Despite the fact that I'm definitely not rap star material, singing along with Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" or Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" is absolutely hilarious. Or scary, depending on how well you perform them.

There are other '90s staples as well: Seal's "Kiss from a Rose," Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly" and Spin Doctors' "Two Princes," to name a few.

It's unfortunate, though, that only 30 songs come with the game. It doesn't take long to work your way through all of them, especially if you're playing by yourself. Still, each of the "SingStar" PS2 games can be swapped out in-game, so if you have other versions, that increases your library.

The microphones are heavy-duty and responsive, picking up everything you sing, and the on-screen interface is easy to read. Lyrics scroll along the bottom of the page (like real karaoke), while the notes move along in the middle of the screen. If you successfully hit the notes, they change color, and you're awarded points.

Meanwhile, the song's actual music video plays in the background.

I only wish the PS2 could support widescreen; "SingStar '90s" was sandwiched between black bars on my screen.

When you have friends over, you can sing duets, in which you take turns singing lines, or play battles, in which you fight to see who can rack up the highest scores.

If you have the EyeToy camera, you can record yourself singing and save the videos.

"SingStar '90s" was enjoyable, especially if you grew up in that time period, but the PS3 version is the one I would go with if I could pick only one.

The PS3 "SingStar" is much like the PS2 versions, only prettified. It's slick and well put together, with bells and whistles that the PS2 version doesn't have.

For starters, it's in widescreen, and the videos are in high-definition.

The game itself is nearly identical to the PS2 gameplay, with some nice tweaks. Some duets, for example, are harmonic, allowing each player to take the parts of different singers in true duets, as opposed to just taking turns singing lines.

I did have the same problem with battle mode that I had in the PS2 versions. With the song lyrics scrolling along the bottom and the notes moving along the top of the screen, one of the players will always have a hard time seeing both.

If you're lucky enough to have your notes positioned directly above the lyrics, it's fine, but when you get the notes above that, you either have to know the song really well or just not perform as well. In future versions, I'd like to see two sets of lyrics, just to make it easier on both players.

What really makes "SingStar" stand out above its PS2 brethren is the online capability. Sony has added an entire online community. You can create a profile, which keeps track of your high scores and interests, and you can upload saved video and audio files of your performances.

If you want to see how other people are doing, you can browse their profiles, videos and songs. Along the way, you can rate them on a scale of one to five stars.

At the time I was looking through the videos, the highest-rated was a guy in a Chewbacca outfit dancing to Scissor Sisters' "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'." Hilarious.

While the PS3 version also comes with only 30 songs, more than 200 are available to purchase (including many from the PS2 versions of the game) at $1.49 apiece.

I'm hesitant to pay for songs in a game like this, so I wish the game had come with more built-in songs. Or, at the least, it would be cool if you could load songs from the PS2 disks into the PS3 game (if you have a PS3 that can read PS2 disks, that is). But maybe that's a technical impossibility.

I also wish there was an option for playing battles and duets online, in case you don't have real-life friends who want to play.

Regardless, the online options are still impressive. I can see how a huge karaoke fan could really get into the online community.

The PS3 game has the online advantage while the PS2 game works with previous releases, so if singing is your thing, you can't really go wrong with either. Even if you are terrible at it.

I should mention that the PS2 microphones are the same as the PS3's. If you have one set, you're good to go.

SingStar By: Sony, for PlayStation 3Rated: TeenCost: $39.99 ($59.99 with microphones)Score: 8/10

SingStar '90sBy: Sony, for PlayStation 2Rated: TeenCost: $29.99 ($49.99 with microphones)Score: 7.5/10