13 November 2008
Ferry

Wii Music review video

Wii Music lets you create a musical masterpiece with up to four players total. Anyone can play the huge selection of instruments in Wii Music with simple motions, like strumming and drumming. It’s easy to play improv jams. Musicians in your band jam by simply playing their instruments to the beat of a song or by improvising to their heart’s content. Play faster. Play slower. Skip a beat, or throw in 10 more. No matter what you do, Wii Music automatically transforms your improv stylings into great music. There are no mistakes, just playing for the pure joy of playing.

You can play most of the 60-plus instruments in Wii Music using simple motions with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. Strum to play guitar, banjo and sitar. Drum to play jazz drums, congas and marching drums. Hammer away to play piano, vibraphone and marimba. Unlike most music games, Wii Music doesn’t make you use complex buttons. You only need to imitate playing the instrument.

Does it produce a sweet sound or is it just a racket? Find out in this Wii Music video review.


Game features include:
* Wii Music offers virtually endless ways to make music. You choose the song and instruments and decide whether to blaze through a rock take on classical songs, put a jazzy spin on folk tunes or transform Nintendo classics like the Super Mario Bros. theme into Latin-flavored numbers. The song list is only a takeoff point—it’s how you improvise with the songs that matters.
* Send your band-jam recordings to Wii Friends who have Wii Music. They’ll see your Mii™ band members, your players’ improv styles and your instrument selections. They can watch your recordings, or play over parts of your song, then send their modified recording back to you. Improv jams can be sent back and forth over WiiConnect24 and changed again and again.Play it again: Use the playback mode to see your jam recordings brought to life with dramatic camera angles.
* Pick up the baton: Command an orchestra in the conducting game where you’ll wave the Wii Remote controller like a conductor’s baton to lead a Mii orchestra through orchestrated music. Make them play quickly, slowly, strongly or gently.
* Ring a bell? Play a handbells game where you’ll swing your Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers to play your two handbells as part of a larger ensemble. Everyone on the team has a job to do: Play one of your notes only when the tune demands it.
* An ear for music: Take a tone quiz that tests your musical ear by giving you challenges, like putting note-playing Miis in order from lowest to highest pitch.
* Bang the drum: Play a virtual drum set in the drumming mode, the one mode in Wii Music that also uses the Wii Balance Board accessory (sold with Wii Fit). You’ll use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers as drumsticks, and place both feet on the Wii Balance Board—which work as virtual pedals for the bass drum and hi-hat cymbal.

To quote the GT video review: “It has a casual vibe, but getting a satisfying result can take more dedication than you’d expect to get satisfactory results. Wii Music uses the same drag and drop visual style as Wii Sports and Wii Fit, using tie-clad Miis and introducing muppet-ish Tutes to play alongside you. Songs are relatively short, shaved down to under two minutes long. For a music game, you would expect Nintendo to adopt high-quality sound samples like those found in Jam Sessions on the DS, but the instruments in Wii Music are outmatched even by some cell-phone ringtones. Any parents who buy this for their kids will likely soon regret it.

Using the note charts makes playing Wii Music tolerable, but if you try to free form it be prepared for disaster. It’s more of an educational experience for dedicated participants, but the poor sound samples, ancient song selection, and poor controls will have many players quitting the band before its first real gig.”

Design — 6.4
Gameplay — 5.6
Presentation — 5.2
Overall — 5.8