Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: Oct. 20, 2008

System: Wii (duh!)

ESRB Rating: E

Official Web site

0:00 I had a bit of fun playing a demo of Wii Music at the last E3, but it seemed more suited to a short demo than even a full hour of play. Will it hold up? Let's find out!

0:01 "Welcome to Wii Music! I'm the musical maestro, Sebastian Tute!" Heh. Toot. He looks like a mustachioed Mii crossed with a muppet crossed with a South Park character crossed with Bach. He talks in a sort of pidgin Italian with text-based speech bubbles. "I'm here to help you discover that YOU'RE a musical maestro, too!"

0:02 My Mii looks rather dashing in a suit and tie. Tute explains that there are four methods of controlling instruments. First up, piano, which requires me to dig out the Nunchuk. "The secret is to just relax and move as if you're playing the piano." He tells me, "don't even think about tempo" for now. Rock Band it ain't...

0:05 "Hear that? You're a pianist!" What did you call me? Oh ... sorry, I thought you said something else (even though I'm reading text). Just waving the Wii remote and Nunchuk up and down made some surprisingly nice music. The controls are nice and responsive too. One annoyance: I can't pick my notes?

0:06 Guitar strumming is next ... I hold the Nunchuk like the neck of the guitar and strum the Wii remote in front of my chest. Leaning the Nunchuk leans the angle of the on-screen guitar. Cute, if a little meaningless.

0:07 The trumpet controls have me pushing the 1 and 2 buttons to make horn noises. Again, it's cute. I like how the angle of the Wii remote subtly controls the volume.

0:08 Violin controls require me to push a button on the Nunchuk while moving the Wii remote back and forth across the "string." Not as accurate-feeling as the others...

0:09 Mr. Tute sits at a piano next to mine. He's about half my height, and so is his piano. "Surprised at my size? Sure I'm tiny! But I'll help you be a big star before long." Oh, tiny Sebastian Tute, you are TOO PRECIOUS!

0:11 The beat keeping be-bops get introduced in the corner. We start with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Simple enough. I start out just plunking out the beat, but by the end I'm adding my own improvisations. I'm impressed with how good my playing sounds, even when I'm making up my own beats. The game seems very good at creating compelling melodies. Seems hard to sound bad.

0:13 This time I try some syncopation and jazzy rhythms to my playing. In the middle of the song, an orchestra comes in to accompany me. It's all rather endearing, and I'm still amazed out how the game makes me sound good seemingly no matter what I do. It's making me see "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a whole new light!

0:14 FYI, the orchestra was made up of Natalie, Peter, Bob and Pedro Tute. J.J. and Susie will be joining us soon. That is all.

0:17 On to a jam session with ... "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," again. Would it kill them to introduce a new song at this point? "Making music is the most natural thing in the world, so always enjoy yourself to the fullest!" I'm trying, but making one song over and over is not that fun!

0:18 I can save a video of my jam session and assign it anywhere from zero to 100 "popularity points." This seems kind of silly to me ... if I'm saving the video, I obviously think it's good. Why wouldn't I give everything 100 points? I can also design a cover, with backgrounds, Mii stamps, etc. A cute throwaway feature.

0:20 If I want to play with backup, I should choose "Play with Tutes" from the menu. My mom always told me NOT to play with toots.

0:21 Mister Tute is starting me with five songs. If I want more of the 50, I need to make some videos. Laaaame.

0:22 On to the "Games" mode to see if this is more than just a musical toy. Mii Maestro is up first. The only available song is ... "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." ARGH!

0:23 The info screen explains that "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." is a French folk song. Really? "This tune swells into a rich force in its back half. So, conduct lightly at first, then with energy later on." What a grandiose explanation!

0:24 This is the conducting mini-game that was shown at E3 back in 2006. I have to wave the Wii remote like a baton to control the orchestra of Miis. The performers respond well to my speed and the force of my motion ... a little too well, for what's supposed to be a group of real people. They totally stop when I do, for instance. Still, it's lots of fun seeing friends Miis playing instruments, and the whole thing makes me feel like I'm really in control. I get 65 points ... don't know why. "Such emotional undulation! How very comfortable! What a performance!" says Tute.

0:26 On to Handbell Harmony. You know what they say ... MORE HANDBELL!

0:28 I'm part of a quartet playing "O Christmas Tree." This is more like a traditional rhythm game, with eight sets of bells scrolling right to left. I have to shake my colored bells when the appropriate notes hit the target area. I get the bass part, which doesn't have much to do. I score 93 points. Let's try another that has more notes for me, perhaps?

0:30 "Hum, Hum, Hum" is a German folk song that I've never heard or even heard of. Lots of notes come flying in ... probably because I chose the complex, fast-tempo version. I only score 79 points. This mode has some potential ... too bad there are only five songs available...

0:31 Pitch Perfect is all about matching notes. A speaker makes a tone, then I have to pick the Mii that makes the same tone as fast as possible. Real easy to start.

0:33 The Pitch Perfect challenges are getting more interesting, if not more challenging. I have to pick out incorrect notes, match harmonious pairs of Miis, identify the highest tone, even identify which group is singing in a minor key. Reminds me of music class in elementary school. I loved that class ... 20 years ago!

0:35 I score 95 points for Level 1. There are seven more levels of this! I'll try one more, just to see if there's anything new.

0:36 Challenge 3 of Level 2 includes Miis performing in cat suits. That is all.

0:39 Level 2 is the teensiest bit harder than Level 1, mainly because they add more Miis to the same old games. 120 points! I'll come back later, maybe.

0:40 That's it for the "Games," so I guess it's time to Jam. "Daydream Believer" is by far the best of the six available songs. It apparently reached the top of the U.S. charts in 1967! "Now make everyone a believer in your Wii Music skills!" Groan.

0:42 There's a dizzying array of instruments to choose from. I like how I can play around with each to the rhythm of the song before I make my choice. After some playing, I eventually settle on the steel drums for an island feel.

0:44 It takes me a second to remember the tune and figure out when I'm actually supposed to be hitting the notes. Then a quick tap of the minus button brings up a note meter, which shows exactly when I'm supposed to tap. This is very helpful, but useful more as a suggestion ... adding in extra notes to mix up the sound is the whole point!

0:45 Tute tells me about overdubs, where I can choose a new instrument and play along with the part I just recorded on a different instrument. Neat!

0:50 I spent the last five minutes just playing around with the different instruments on the selection screen. My favorites so far: the kazoo-like galactic horn, the dog suit (complete with howling!), the twangy electric guitar.

0:53 I just finished playing the galactic drums to "Daydream Believer." Percussion isn't as satisfying as melody ... there's less ability to improvise, and more of a need to keep the beat sanely. I'm playing along with my steel drum part, which I now realize was a bit of a mess in places. But that's OK! No one's grading me!

0:56 Let's add in some dog suit harmony, why not? I can shake both the Wii remote and the Nunchuk for a louder woof. I add in a few carefully placed jumps and howls with the d-pad. Dog suits improve every performance. EVERY ONE!

0:58 Some electric guitar chords round out the sound. The powerful chords overwhelm the rest of the performers, until I figure out I can hold down Z to tamp down the chords. I try keeping to the assigned notes for a bit, but it's sooooo boring. Improv is where it's at!


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0:59 I've always wanted to see what a record jacket would look like with three pictures of me playing steel drums, holding an electric guitar, and wearing a dog suit. Now I know!

1:01 Watching the video of myself in triplicate. After the shaky intro. I start to sound pretty good, if I do say so myself. With some practice, I could get some interesting harmonies and rhythms going here.

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes.


Why? At the very least, I'd want to try it with some non-self-conscious, rhythmically inclined friends. Plus, I want to see all the instruments.

This column is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

Be sure to check out the Crispy Gamer review of Wii Music.

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