you're talking about the difference between spending 50$ and 190$...

good review

Digging In: What Lies Beneath

Started: 26 October 2008 (8:30 PST)
Completed: 26 October 2008 (13:17 PST)
Posted: 27 October 2008 (20:00 PST)

With the game's basics under our belts, let's look a bit deeper, shall we? Today's features will be: Drum Mode, Custom Jam Overdub mode, Extended Lessons, and an overview of each instrument in detail.

To start with, let's go back to our Super Mario Bros jam from yesterday and do some overdub on it. I'll be taking up one of the flute positions, replacing it with piano, and (this is an important change) will be toggling the note display this time. After loading the data (it wasn't hard to figure out how, unsurprisingly), I set things up accordingly. The end result was that 1.) I kept only average time with the shown notes at best, and 2.) it really didn't suffer too much for it (though it does sound pretty off-key). Now let's see it without the notes bar.



It was definitely more awkward, but it was somehow more fun for me personally. I obviously need to work a bit on my timing, which I don't mind at all. I knew going into this that I would be less than perfect, after all. We'll keep this imperfect little ditty this time, just because the other parts still need to be recorded.

After laboriously recording all of the parts, in my my inexperienced fashion, let's see what we get.



I'm clearly all over the place here, but there are a few parts there where I managed to stay in harmony. Granted, they're brief and mostly near the end, but it just highlights that I'm not that great at music at this point. Still, it ended up better than I expected. Yes, I was expecting I'd do worse, believe it or not.

A new tutorial unlocked during the making of this, so let's check out the extended Lessons, shall we? It seems to be lessons on styles of music, which is about what you'd expect it to be, ie. tricky if you have trouble getting into a rhythm. It mostly just teaches me that (as I already knew) I'm not very good at getting the rhythm, but that I'm fairly okay once I do get that rhythm. You would think it's easy to hit notes in time, but for some reason I manage to miss far too often... Probably because I was holding the controls backwards a few times. How embarrassing!

I'll spare you the tedium of my trying Jam Mastery, and sum it up as "okay, now I'm starting to get the hang of this". There's a lot to learn, I'm finding, and I'm also discovering something that should be rather obvious but tends not to be when it comes to Wii games: it's a lot easier to play instruments correctly when you hold the controls right. The usual impulse to just hold them however actually hurts the experience in this game, which is a surprise given that most Wii games just let you swing them however. Of course, there are ways to pull off the "anywhere is fine" technique, but it's not easy since the game clearly expects you to be holding the Wii Remote and Nunchuk properly.

After a short break, it's time to try out Drum Mode. This mode requires the Balance Board, which I conveniently have, so let's get down to the beat. There's two modes, Drum Lessons and Jams. Obviously I have no experience, so we'll start with the lessons. For the most part, it's quite easy and intuitive, and I have a blast with it. Though I must say, it is HARD on the feet. Probably because my chair's poorly coordinated for this and broken, meaning I can't adjust the height to an appropriate level. Still, it's good for refining your sense of rhythm and balance.

Drum Mode Jam Sessions have both Free Play and regular Jam Sessions, which is about what you'd expect of them. It's all good fun, and definitely a challenge if you want to sound good. Overall, it was quite satisfying.

After another brief jam, this time to the Flea Waltz (which is a fun song), I unlocked another Lesson on customizing your performance with extra sections and making it sound good. It's pretty interesting, overall. Completing it unlocks a slew of new instruments, songs, and styles, which is cool. In fact, it has unlocked all 50 songs and 60 instruments, meaning that if you want to get the entire game available to you pronto, you should definitely use the Lessons mode. I'm starting to really get the hang of things better now, and appreciating just how much the metronome (or as the game calls them, Be-Bops) influence your performance quality. Keeping time has an immense effect on the quality, something I didn't really appreciate before.

Now let's look at how each instrument works. Since there's a fair bit of overlap, a few instruments are going to be clustered together. There's one more or less universal feature of instruments, too: if you hold A or C, you can force the game to repeat the last main-line note from the traditional melody. In the Chord part of a song, A and C cause an Arpeggio effect (which means it forces 1 note at a time to be played rather than all at once).


Pianos (regular, Galactic, Toy), Harp, Harpsichord, Dulcimer, Marimba, Vibraphone, Steel Drums, Timpani - By banging the Wii Remote and Nunchuk drum-style, you can play notes. Hitting B or Z will cut a note off. Doing a Nunchuk analog flick up or down lets you do a Glissando (string of very short notes, the classic "fingers running across the keyboard" effect). Nothing too hard. A LOT of diverse instruments use this style.

Hand Bells - Pretty similar to the piano-style, except that you can't do a Glissando effect.

Dog/Cat Suits - Just like hand bells, except that hitting down makes your Mii howl in the dog suit (which is cute).

Rapper - A, B, C, and Z cause different sounds to play when pressed while swinging the Wii Remote and/or Nunchuk. It's pretty entertaining.

Stringed instruments (all types) and Jaw Harp - Just strum the Wii Remote like a guitar, and move the Nunchuk according to how you want to hold it. Only downward strums have any effect. If you hit down on the D-pad, you can play a more interesting "quick strum" style where upwards movements also have an effect. Unlike normal, C plays chord notes for these instruments. B and Z shorten extended notes. You can shift your playing pitch with the analog stick. These are definitely the trickiest instruments thus far.

Woodwinds (all types), Horns (all types), Accordion, Singer - Play notes with 1 and 2. The tilt of the remote determines volume (point it high to make it softer, low to make it louder). B causes a glissando effect (sort of a trill), and otherwise, this is the simplest type of instrument.

Violin and Cello - This one's curious: you hold the Wii Remote and Nunchuk like a violin, but you have to hit C, Z, or B to actually make sound. The volume of the note is determined by your bowing, so if you don't bow, you won't hear much. Pressing up on the analog stick adds an extra note in there to give you a double-beat of sorts.

Drums (all types), Maraccas, Tambourine, Bells, Castanets, Cowbell, Hand Clap, Beatboxer, Black Belt, Cheerleader - Make drumming motions. You can hold A or B to make a different sound with the Wiimote, and C or Z to make a different sound with the Nunchuk. Usually, A/B and C/Z hit cymbals, but not always. This is especially fun and controllable for the Taiko Drum.

Guiro and Cuica - This one is weird. You hold the Wii Remote sideways and move it back and forth while hitting Nunchuk and Wii Remote buttons. The Cuica has you do forward/backward motion, while the Guiro has more of an up/down movement. They're funny instruments.

Whistle - Basically the same as a woodwind, but with no trill. You can hold A while hitting 1 or 2 to make a mouth whistle instead of a metal one.

Turntables - Another funny one. You move the Wiimote and Nunchuk to make music, and use the buttons to grab the records and do scratches, etc. You can use down on either control input (D-pad or analog) to stop the drumbeat.


So let's finish up with a custom jam and see how much progress I've made since I started, shall we? I think a little Sting is in order. Unfortunately, our Infinite Improbability Drive ship, the Heart of Gold, blinked itself out of existence just before we started recording, so it won't be appearing in this video.



Personally, I think that turned out a lot better than my past attempts. It's far from perfect, but I like it just the same. It's definitive proof that not only is it possible to get better at this game, but also that I have gotten better at it (though I clearly still have a ways to go).


Total Play Time for Sunday: 3:41

Next up: The shocking conclusion!

Whoa! Good job so far. I really appreciate your explanation of how to play the instruments. I haven't read any review that had so much detail in that part.

One question, so you are saying that it's easier to play the violin grabbing the controls like a violin? Or sounds the same any other way you grab them?

(Waiting for the shocking conclusion....)

For the most part, instruments work best when you use them the way you'd logically use them in real life. So with a violin, you have to press the bow to the instrument (hold B), and move the bow back and forth (move the Wii Remote) to play notes. And just like with a real violin, the strength of the note (ie. how loud it comes out) depends on how hard you bow (ie. how fast you move the Wii Remote).

As I noted, all of the instruments are easier to play when you play them how you'd expect to play them instead of doing the usual standby that comes naturally with Wii games, ie. holding the remote however and swinging it like mad in random directions.

ok... that sounds interesting and very different to what some reviews said (cough cough IGN cough!)

Wrapping Up: What I'm Left With

Started: 26 October 2008 (10:15 PST)
Completed: 26 October 2008 (13:55 PST)
Posted: 27 October 2008 (21:00 PST)

So, let's sum this all up. What to make of Wii Music? Are the haters justified? Or is there something they've missed? From what I played, here are the key things I noticed:

1. The controls will behave quite well if you use them correctly, and quite poorly if you use them wrong.

2. I am not a musical prodigy to any degree, and I highly doubt that most people going into this game are, either.

3. It's very easy to make a good song sound bad if your timing is off, which it usually is for me.

4. It's also very easy to make a good song sound good if your timing is right, as seen in brief bursts in my own recordings.

5. Mastering even one song can take quite a while, and the prospect of mastering all 50 leaves me with the impression that this game is going to take a very long time indeed to completely dominate.

6. Even when I was doing poorly, the experience still felt fun to me; and whenever I got the rhythm down, it was especially satisfying.

In summary, the game is not for the learning-averse. You cannot simply sit down and pelt out Beethoven's 5th in a perfect concert-style rendition like you've known how to play it for the last 5 years if you have zero musical experience prior to playing the game. The term "learning curve" truly means something for Wii Music. The more time you spend practicing and perfecting your ability to play the instruments and the songs, the more enjoyable the game becomes.

Conversely, the more impatient you are and more irritated that you aren't an instant rock-god or concert superstar just by touching the controls, the more you'll hate the game. I understand now why there are people who came to hate the game as they reviewed it, as it is one of those rare titles that manages to perfectly capture the joys of learning and the rewards they give. For those who just want instant gratification, the realization that they are not in fact automatically awesome will be a horrible blow to their egos.

Wii Fit did this as well, as did Wii Sports, and I suspect Wii Play does it too. It's an underlying theme with all of the Wii series: that of gradual, definite progress through practice and putting in an effort to improve. You literally get out of Wii Music (and Wii Sports, and Wii Fit, and probably Wii Play too) what you put into it. I didn't really appreciate, going into it, just how true this would prove to be. In retrospect, I should have, having thoroughly played and enjoyed both Wii Sports and Wii Fit.

What reviews I read (both good and bad) seemed to suggest that you would either automatically suck or rock at the game and would stay that way perpetually, yet I was skeptical of this, and with good cause it seems. How well you do is directly proportional to how well you grasp the concepts behind music itself, and how well you can apply said concepts in real-time. As you play the game, if you don't have the natural sense of rhythm or balance that is inherent in music, you can and probably will pick these traits up as you go. As I said, it all has to do with how much you put into it, and how determined you are to get something out of it.

So what does Wii Music mean for the industry, then? The same thing, actually, that Wii Sports and Wii Fit mean for the industry: that games where you actually learn something instead of just memorizing something are making serious headway into mainstream awareness. What this means for more traditional gamers is up to traditional gamers themselves, of course; it's down to the individual to decide whether they accept or reject the Wii series "revolution", if you will. As for the industry itself, however, it's getting increasingly hard for developers to igore the sales numbers for Wii series games...


And now, of course, is the part I'm sure you've been waiting for, the "how does it stack up" part: the score. Like Wii Music doesn't score the player, but instead lets the player score themselves, I'm letting Wii Music score itself, in a way. There is no "good" or "bad" scale going on here, it's... well, take a look and see.


Presentation: Subtle, yet very functional. It follows the same presentation themes as the rest of the Wii series. If you like the Wii series presentation style, you'll like how Wii Music does things.

Visuals: Like all of the Wii games, the art style is unique and colorful, and very much not meant to look realistic.

Audio: Depending on how well and how long you play, this is either really good or really, painfully bad. It quite literally depends on you.

Learning Curve: Very long, but very even. I didn't ever feel like I'd hit a brick wall in my progress, either.

Challenge: Like all Wii series games, the challenge is largely up to you. If you don't put in the effort and time to get better, it will be hard, and if you do take that time, it will be a lot easier.

Replay Value: It has the potential to be pretty much infinite, or at least until you get sick of the 50 songs included (which, in my experience, should take a long time).

Fun Factor: I'd say it's really high, as long as you take the time to really appreciate it. If you approach it with a mindset of hating it, you'll hate it, and if you approach it looking for fun, you'll find a lot of fun.


Overall: I recommend Wii Music to the gamer who appreciates the underlying theme to the Wii series: that of gradual yet definite improvement over time that reflects one's own ability to control one's body movements more than one's reflexes and memorization abilities. I also recommend it to anybody who enjoys the idea of playing and customizing well-known music, but lacks the time or drive to learn an instrument. That's not to say that you won't have to learn anything, of course; it's just a lot easier to learn timing and rhythm than it is to learn how to play specific notes.

Thanks for the review. Very comprehensive. From your description, the game is deeper than most reviewers have implied. It looks like a lot of fun.

Too bad you can't create your own music. Instrument Improv would be better if you could save your performance.

So you like the game. Was it worth the $50 or should I wait?

Very nice in-depth review Sky, good work.