Wii Music’s REAL competition isn’t going to be Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but rather itself.
Full Disclosure: I set out to write this article about how uninteresting Wii Music seems. How every time I watch a new trailer for it doesn’t seem to capture my attention. But at the end of taking another look I feel rather undecided. A lot of bad games come out and even more mediocre games stock the shelves, so what was it about Wii Music that made me originally think it would fit into the above categories and why have I changed my mind (at least a little)?
Will Music's real competition: itself
With Wii Music Nintendo has set out to create yet another fun game that is built less on graphics and more on original creative content using the Wiimotes and nunchucks. The idea of Wii Music is to push the rhythm/music game genre further with intuitive controls, many many more instruments, and the ability to swap and edit performances with friends online. That being said, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but has Nintendo’s ambition gone beyond its ability?
My prior line of thinking was “How can Wii Music take on games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band?” and the answer that I have come to is, maybe it’s not supposed to. Just like the Wii isn’t really going after the hardcore graphics addicted gamers that play the PS3 and Xbox360 have catered to. Wii Music is turning out to be a completely different game entirely and that is what might save it. It’s a given that the game will sell, but weather the gaming community will embrace the game is different story. There is said to be over 60 instruments including “Turntables” with the ability to “scratch” and “spin”. You can create your own music with up to four players, but how you will be able to do that accurately hasn’t been fully explained.
Nintendo decided not to shoot themselves in the foot with this game and have included online capabilities, so you can send someone your performance and have them modify it and send it back to you. It will be quite interesting to see what people come up with and believe it or not I do want to try the “one’s and two’s”! Let’s also not forget the minigames which include conducting an orchestra, playing the drums with the balance board, plus more music/memory games.
Wii Music’s real enemy isn’t going to be Rock Band or Guitar Hero, it’s going to be itself. The controls still don’t seem like they could be accurate and again, that might be because I’m thinking about it like a traditional rhythm/music game. In Wii Music your motions will determine how your instrument sounds, not what notes you play. That may solve the problem I had with the accuracy, but then it seems like it would be too easy. I still see some problems with the game but I have taken back my original pre-release judgment on it. I sincerely doubt they have nailed all the instruments they claim are in the game, but then again if you don’t have to hit the right notes all the time, then maybe its not a big deal. Maybe it will just be a lot of fun…
And then we have the other questions; Is it really going to fun to be holding all these virtual instruments? Is it going to feel accurate? Is it going to be too easy? Are most of the songs going to be from video games? Is this only for kids? Where is Wii Mario Paint? Am I just excited about virtual turntables?
Before really taking a calculating look at this game I was just upset Nintendo had wasted another 2 years, but now I can see what the appeal is. Whether or not that appeal transfers to grownups has yet to been seen. And I may just be overly optimistic, but until I get some hands on action I have decided to reserve all judgment. It might not be like other rhythm/music games, but that may be the point.
Popularity: 7% [?]
One comment