Miyamoto’s orchestral foray
Format: Wii Dev: Nintendo Pub: Nintendo Out: 14/11/08 Players: 1-4
Wii Music tends to be overlooked as a music game when stacked alongside Guitar Hero or Rock Band. This is mainly due to the fact that Wii Music contains no master tracks of contemporary songs and is actually a completely different kind of game.
How is it different? Well, gone are the note highways that dictate when to strum whilst holding a certain coloured button. Wii Music is a lot more free and open, allowing the player to input their own creative style and alter the sound of the song.
So, this is no conventional music game. An open mind is an essential prerequisite when playing Wii Music as solid structure is lacking. As mentioned already, it is a very open game offering very little in terms of set goals or achievements. The challenge here is actually mastering rhythm and technique.
There are over sixty instruments to choose from in Wii Music: including the violin, several drum kits, different types of percussion instruments, like bongos and xylophones, clarinet, harmonica, piano, trumpet, harp, different kinds of guitars, bass guitars and several other quirky additions, such as cat and dog noises. Good old Nintendo.
Each different type of instrument requires a certain technique to be used in order to make it function. Upon beginning the game there is a short tutorial in which a handful of basic techniques are learned by the player who then goes on to try them out on a small selection of songs. From the off you can handpick the instruments you want to feature on the chosen track. Play through it once, as let’s say a guitarist, and then play through it again, and play the drums, and so on until the entire track is composed of the instruments you have played.
After the song is completed, you can watch their own music video and customise a sleeve design for their song, save it and watch it whenever you like. After completing the starter songs, new tracks and techniques are unlocked and the game continues in this way.
All of the songs on Wii Music are instrumental. The only ‘vocal’ components that can be added by the player are sound effect-based. The songs available vary from classical compositions, from the likes of Mozart, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. Traditional folk songs from around the world. And more contemporary songs, such as ‘Every Breath You Take’ by the Police, ‘Woman’ by John Lennon and ‘Daydream Believer’ by the Monkees. In addition, there is also some classic Nintendo game soundtracks featured from The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and F-Zero.
There is a lot of fun to be had with Wii Music. I actually laughed out loud quite a lot at the shambolic renditions I came up with. Whilst having fun with this game, you can also find yourself being educated with aspects of musical theory. Overall, another family friendly and educational success from Nintendo.
Andy King
