Wii Music Review

Written by: Steve Martin Posted: 27th November 2008

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Wii Music review

Wii Music Details:

	Music
	Nintendo Wii
	Nintendo
	Nintendo

Out Now

1-4

The first thing to declare is that Wii Music is nothing like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and at no point does it ever try to emulate these rhythm based giants. It is, in fact, much more like a simplified music simulator with a box full of different instruments to play and experiment with.

The basic idea is that you choose the song you would like to perform, there are over 50 to choose from ranging from classical (Ode To Joy, Bridal March) to Pop (Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Jingle Bell Rock) and even some classic Nintendo game music (Legend of Zelda Theme and Super Mario Bros. Theme). And a range of settings for your band to play in, ranging from concert stages to outer space! And then choose which instruments you want to play that tune with; there is usually 2 percussion parts, one bass part, one chord part, one harmony part and finally a lead melody part, but you don’t have to stick to these you can have no percussion if you so wish. The instruments on offer range from the common drum kits, trumpets, and so on, up to the more acquired taste of the bagpipes or jaw harp!

The instruments are sublimely simple to play with only four styles to worry about: the basic waving the remote and nunchuck up and down, which is used for instruments which you bang like drums as well as instruments with keys such as the piano. The equally simplistic holding the remote backwards so that you can press the 1 and 2 buttons with your dominant hand, this is used to play the wind instruments like the trumpet or clarinet, using the 1 or 2 button as your keys, and by lifting the bottom end of the remote you are able to control the volume of the note you are playing, point it up for a louder tone, point it down for a quieter one. The two final styles are for your stringed instruments, the ones that require you to strum such as the guitar, have you holding the nunchuck away from you as if it is the neck and then using the remote as your strumming hand. For the more orchestra like stringed instruments, the cello or violin for example, you use a remote in a motion akin to that used to draw the bow across the strings whilst holding the B button to create the note.

Once this is all set up, you simply select which instrument you would like to play and the rest of the band will be filled in by the computer. Then it’s a case of playing it however you want, slowly, quickly, loudly or in or out of time. The software will automatically play the correct pitched note for the song, so you don’t need to worry about all that; you just sort out the timing. And if you’re struggling to get your rhythm there is the option of a note guide to show you when to play. Playing between notes allows you to add solo flourishes to your masterpiece! Although this sounds limited, it really isn’t, because once you have played one part in the performance, you can go back and do another instrument but it will remember your previous performance on the first instrument and play that alongside, so that you can layer the song up into your own custom made jam, granted the tune will always be the same but the customisation is there in abundance. Once you are happy with your chart topper, you can keep a video and design a sleeve for the virtual CD that the game burns for you, and then place into your Video Library, where you can view it at any time; you must also rate your performance from zero to one hundred.

There are preloaded styles of music to select such as Jazz, Rock, Latin and even Japanese and Electronic! Selecting any of these styles will mean that the computer will automatically pick the instruments suited to that style, but you still have the option to change them if you so wish!

There is also a simple yet highly interesting lesson mode, where you are taught how to play in the above mentioned styles, starting with basic rhythms and then more complicated ones involving more than one repeating sequence of notes. Those with a musical background may find this simplistic maybe even demeaning but for the musically challenged it is very well pitched.

There are three mini games to play as well, Open Orchestra has you conducting an orchestra full of your Mii’s using your remote as the baton, the intensity of your waving reflects in the tempo and volume of your Mii’s performance. Next is Handbell harmony, which is like Guitar Hero with bells, the coloured notes scroll across the screen and you have to play the correct notes when it reaches a certain line on the screen. These are actually quite good fun and it is a shame it is only limited to 5 songs to choose from.

Finally, there is Pitch Perfect that is like a music quiz where you are asked to place Mii’s in order from lowest to highest pitch or arrange a group of Mii’s into the correct pattern so that they play the harmony that a speaker is blaring out at you. It starts off fairly easy but does get trickier and requires an ear for music in the later levels.

The majority of your time though will be used trying to make your own unique version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star using a human beat box and Mii’s in cat and dog suits!

The game uses a similar graphical style to the previous Wii-named games (Wii Sports, Wii Play) with Mii’s everywhere and bright colours all around but lacking detail deliberately. There is a certain charm to watching your Mii’s playing instruments, and dancing around in tuxedos, but it is not exactly eye-popping!

The audio in this game is hard to define exactly without getting too technical and using words like MIDI playback, (oops!). Although all the instruments sound realistic and great, the actual songs themselves sound a little lacklustre in their simplistic form. Of course this simplicity of the music is the reason why you can never hit a bum note in this game, because it automatically adjusts your note to fit in with the song, unless you just thrash it out on all the instruments and then you end up with a real rotten din!

I would best describe it as a box of tricks that you can do whatever you feel with, it depends on what takes your fancy. My childish nature led me to attempting to play Every Breath You Take by The Police using bagpipes as the main instrument.

My only concern is the longetivity of the game, unless you really get into it and want to try and create the ultimate version of The Entertainer, and you customise every part down to the last note, you won’t get the most out of this game. I applaud how Nintendo have made something like this work so well, but I feel that it is too gimmicky to be a long term investment. I personally, got a little bored with the whole thing after a week, but you’ve got to admire the pick and play attitude that Nintendo have become renowned for. This is another great example of their casual/family orientated games catalogue. Because of this, I wouldn’t bet against this being a Christmas No 1 for Nintendo, I feel it will strike a chord, especially with younger players getting it from Santa, however time will tell if this is a one-hit wonder or a long player to be proud of.