Review: Wii Music

Off-Stage Antics

The mini-games and alternate modes are a mixed bag. Beyond the mandatory lessons, you can try Jam Mastery lessons, which offer insight into playing each of the different styles skillfully. It uses the same lesson layout, however, so expect to be equal parts educated, frustrated, and bored. You can also take drum lessons, which require the same amount of rhythm and practice it takes to master the real thing. It's not quite as taxing (or rewarding) as playing real or Rock Band drums, but it's easily the most musically-controlled instrument in Wii Music.

The minigames in Wii Music are quite an eclectic batch. First there's the Mii Maestro mode, made famous by Shigeru Miyamoto when he first debuted the Wii a few years ago. If you really want to feel the music, this is the minigame for you. While all you really do is wave the Wii Remote with a tempo to match the song, the fact that you're determining the speed an intensity of a giant gaming orchestra makes it very easy to get caught up in the music. It's a shame there's only 5 songs to play, though. Handbell Harmony is almost the opposite in terms of scale. You play as one performer in a handbell performance, which means you play one note every few seconds. While very minimal, there's still a level of tenseness, as you've got to play your note in perfect time to stay in time with your group. And then there's Pitch Perfect mode, which tests your ear to pick the correct note being played, or placing notes in the correct order to play a song. All three are good in short bursts, and are, unfortunately, painfully low on stages and song amounts, and lack the ability to save performances.

Wii Music

Tired and Inspired

Wii Music is probably Nintendo's most well-meaning game ever. It wants to teach players about music in an entertaining way, and it wants the player to express their knowledge in creative ways. Unfortunately, Wii Music's gameplay crosses in between chaos and creativity too often, unless you let the game guide you to color in the lines. Playing almost any instrument in the game requires a bit more practice than say, swinging a bat bowling a ball in Wii Sports, which mires the game in a muddy territory between pick-up-and-play casual and memorizing and practicing hardcore. When you're able to successfully balance the two and create wonderful music, Wii Music can provide an experience you've never felt before. Not in a music game, not in any other Wii game.

PROS: An amazing assortment of instruments, the ability to apply different styles of playing, drums and orchestra modes are an unexpected treat.
CONS: Extremely high learning curve, poor song selection, difficult to create decent-sounding tunes without the game holding your hand, unlockables are poorly distributed.
Wii Music
Wii Music

Comments [44]

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TheMisfit138

Wow...Nintendo's E3 disappointment has arrived. Still looks lame. Again, why Nintendo why?

Toneman

Could it be the lowest scoring 1st party Wii title yet? Still not low enough, judging from what I read.

Polyhistor

Half a star would have sufficed.

But since Nintendo's standards are so low, even useless junk like this one gets such a high score.

greensabre

Looks like a piece of trash. Why anyone would buy this game instead of Rock Band or Guitar Hero is beyond me.

BrandonGreene1989

greensabre wrote:

Looks like a piece of trash. Why anyone would buy this game instead of Rock Band or Guitar Hero is beyond me.

I think that maybe some parents would buy this for a younger kid, i mean some of the songs in Rock Band and Guitar Hero are not what parents want their kids listening to.

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