The Pocket Gamer Talent Show: Hannah Montana vs High School Musical 2 on DS

They've been practising all spring break, and now it's time for the big day: The Pocket Gamer High Talent Show and Dance Contest.

Plucky pop teen Hannah Montana: Music Jam faces off against the multi-talented High School Musical 2: Work It Out! But who's going home with the title of Best Summer Holiday Game title, and who'll be going home with cooties and an insulting nickname?

Let's bring on the acts.

Round 1: Music
The first test sets the teams playing their own compositions. Since both games are based on totally sweet TV shows with musical themes, they both should have awesome licensed music on offer. Hannah Montana's on playing her country-style pop first, but as soon as she starts the whiny electronic music gets her booed off the stage. Music Jam doesn't have the real thing, just electronic versions of her songs – totally uncool.

The infectious pop kids from High School Musical are up next, putting on a performance more sugary than an explosion at a Skittles factory. Real music from the film means that the game carries an album's worth of music on it, and even though you have to unlock most first, the crowd still, like, loved them.

The first round goes to High School Musical 2. You guys, they were so good, you know?

Round 2: Looks
Anyway, the next round is a fashion show. Everyone looks so totally awesome. Hannah Montana is wearing a simple but fabulous 3D engine that's totally smooth, but it makes her animations look a little uncomfortable. Like, eww.

Meanwhile – oh my gosh, you guys! The High School Musical gang look so cool. Much prettier than Hannah, right? I know! Their 3D engines are decorated with photos of the film's stars, which is totally awesome, but it slows down a lot when there's a lot of action onscreen, and that really sucks, you know?

You guys, I can't choose! You're all so fabulous, the fashion show's a tie.

Round 3: Mini-games
Okay next we have – and I've been really looking forward to this, okay? – the party tricks round! Alright! Which team has the best mini-games?

Hannah Montana's brought ice skates and remote-controlled cars, and she's putting on a totally great display. The DS stylus makes everything super-simple to understand and not too difficult either. Awesome!

Now it's time for the High School Musical guys and girls to come on, but they don't look too good. All of their mini-games are put to music and it's not really working. It's like, totally frustrating and not cool. Get out!

Hannah Montana wins the party tricks round, I'm sure.

Round 4: Multiplayer
Our final round now, and we're all about playing with friends! Hannah Montana's on stage and everyone's on their feet because she's calling some people out to play instruments with her! Once you're done with story mode Hannah Montana has a whole bunch of instruments you can compose songs on and a super-cool music video creator – and multiplayer lets you take this to your friends and start bands together. I'm sure!

Okay, so the crowd totally loved that and now it's High School Musical's turn. They've got all of the songs from the film that are playable through the DS like a totally cool mp3 player, but that's about it.

Everyone's like, so bored of that now, so Hannah Montana totally wins this round, right?

Conclusion
I'm so bummed, you guys, it's the end of the talent show. But we had an awesome time, and now it's the moment that everyone's been waiting for: Hannah Montana: Music Jam takes the prize!

She might not have the good looks or the latest sounds, but as every Disney fan should know that doesn't mean you can't be the star of a show.

So it's a date with the captain of the football team to our winner, and a detention with the head of Phys Ed to our loser.

And don't forget that if you're still unsure about either of the games, we've reviewed both Hannah Montana: Music Jam and High School Musical 2: Work This Out!. Click on the links to check out both of our reviews for the definitive opinion.