"Wii Music" is just a wee bit odd.
Yes, you can make music, but you don't have a lot of control over it.
Using your Wii Remote, the nunchuk and the Wii balance board, you can simulate the movements you make to play a multitude of different instruments. There are seven types of drums, four guitars plus banjo and sitar, five horns along with violin, cello and piano (including the toy variety). You also can simulate clapping and cheering (like I said, a little odd).
I think it's a good introduction for kids to the different instruments. But as for actually playing, it's not much like the real thing. The game is good in that it gives detailed instructions on how to play each instrument. I find this instruction lacking in many of the games that are geared to gaming newbies or young kids.
For instance, to play the piano, you move the Wii Remote and nunchuk up and down as your character on the screen plays, either a pre-selected song (such as "O Christmas Tree") or random notes. In the pre-selected songs, it's clear that the speed you move your hands up and down will determine how fast or slow the tune is played. But in the jam sessions, it's unclear how the notes that are played are selected. The player certainly isn't choosing. Although, when you "play" reed instruments, like the saxophone, you can raise or lower the remote to get higher or lower tones.
In the jam sessions, you can either play each instrument yourself and then put them together, play with up to three other people, or you can play with the Wii backup group, the Tutes (again, a little odd). There are icons at the bottom right of the screen, called Be-Bops, that keep the beat. The problem is the metronome sound, which comes through the Wii Remote, often drowns out the playing.
The first songs available to you are pretty simple -- "Do-Re-Mi," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Daydream Believer." As you do more jams, more songs are made available.
There's no scoring in the jam sessions. My daughter likes creating her own "songs," but I have yet to hear anything particularly melodic. You also can save these jam sessions as videos; it even lets you create your own album covers.
There are three mini-games available. In one, you conduct an orchestra and are scored on how much the song resembles the original tune.
Another game makes you guess on different questions concerning pitch -- which of these sounds is higher or lower, which instrument played the wrong note, etc. This is a good one to find out if your child has any sense of pitch.
Our favorite is the Handbell Harmony game, where you hold two bells of different colors. You have to play yours as the colors scroll across the bottom of the screen.
I don't think this is a game that will interest adults much, but for young children it does give something of an introduction to creating music.
Additional Information:'Wii Music'
Grade: B
Developer & publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Wii
Genre: Music
ESRB: Everyone
Retail: $49.99
