Wii Music allows users to play and experiment with over 60 different instruments with up to three other players, focusing on fun and creativity instead of the "play as correctly as possible"-approach found in other music games.
"True musicianship has taken a hit recently with all the music-based videogames captivating today's youth, and Wii Music will surely be the next virtual music experience replacing real music for everyone. As a classically trained musician, I might take offense at this -- except that Wii Music gets it really right. Using the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and (optionally) Balance Board to mimic the motions of real instruments may have seemed like a bad joke when the game was first announced, but in practice, it works amazingly well. It's worth it to take the time to learn the four different instrument motions (drums, guitar, horns, and violin) because the game offers so many varied opportunities to pretend-play all of the dozens of instruments in the game, and knowing how to wave your arms and press the buttons just right makes the crucial difference between a stupid-silly game and an actually fulfilling one.
Wii Music may have a hard time winning over the skeptics who just want to laugh at it, but give the game the chance it deserves. You just might realize it's pretty damn fun being in on the joke."
- Jennifer Tsao
Many have argued that Jennifer has a "casual bias", rating other Wii-series games much the same way (giving Wii Fit a B+). If true, is it so wrong to have a casual bias? Should "toy" games be rated differently?
Ign.com:
5.0/10
"I wouldn't qualify Wii Music as an abysmal failure. The truth is, I like some of the concepts powering the game. The ability to dynamically alter music using a variety of instruments. The fact that you can layer together different songs and really create your own style. And the integration of Mii avatars, not to mention WiiConnect24 support, definitely add further polish to the fun and simple presentation. I think for all of the above reasons, kids may really latch onto Nintendo's latest effort (although I feel a little sorry for parents who must endure the cacophony of noises coming from their child's bedroom).
That said, I think most adults will quickly recognize that Wii Music is little more than a noise maker tied to a series of gestures and grow bored of the experience in a matter of hours, if not minutes. The controls aren't particularly intuitive , but gimmicky, and the selection of music is fundamentally flawed with both dated public domain songs rendered in equally dated . That Guitar Hero World Tour's complementary modes -- namely Mii Freestyle and advanced studio -- completely obliterate the entire Wii Music package is proof just how much Nintendo's game either doesn't do or doesn't do well."
-Matt Casamassina
The argument with Matt is that his approach to Wii music has been a bit close-minded. He clearly made up his mind well before actually reviewing the game, and it's almost like he's overcompensating because he's afraid of Wii Music and the direction Nintendo is going. Is it fair to dismiss the appeal of this game to non-gamers?
Will this be the empitome of the "love it or hate it" type of game? Or, will most reviews lean in the direction of either Matt or Jennifer?
This is a classic example of a "love it or hate it" game. Obviously the majority of game reviewers and gamers in general will loathe this game and everything it stands for, but then we have those c-words out there (casuals) who don't give a shit and enjoy the game for its simple fun and loose rules.
Wii Music is not my cup of tea, but you know it will sell a few million copies and add more money to Shiggy McDuckamoto's money bin.
I'm gonna side with Matt Cassamassina on this one. I haven't played the game, but I don't think he's exactly being closed-minded. Saying he's afraid of Wii Music and the direction Nintendo is going is nonsense. Most game reviewers will undoubtedly lean towards Matt's side here because ya know, game reviews tend to fall into the hardcore gaming crowd. Matt is a solid reviewer. He's a huge Nintendo fan, and often times scores Nintendo games higher than I would, so I think that really must be saying something here. For the young casual crowd, hey, maybe they'll like it, but dude, what the heck do they know about video games anyway?
"I'm gonna side with Matt Cassamassina on this one. I haven't played the game, but I don't think he's exactly being closed-minded. Saying he's afraid of Wii Music and the direction Nintendo is going is nonsense. Most game reviewers will undoubtedly lean towards Matt's side here because ya know, game reviews tend to fall into the hardcore gaming crowd. Matt is a solid reviewer. He's a huge Nintendo fan, and often times scores Nintendo games higher than I would, so I think that really must be saying something here. For the young casual crowd, hey, maybe they'll like it, but dude, what the heck do they know about video games anyway?"
On the contrary, because he is a Nintendo fan, he would rate this game lower than he would otherwise.
Dude. Let's face it. Super Mario Galaxy deserved a 9.7? No way. Twilight Princess a 9.5? Not quite. I've always felt the rabid Nintendo fanboy in him causes him to get a little overly excited when the biggest Nintendo games come out and he rates them a bit higher than he should.
"Dude. Let's face it. Super Mario Galaxy deserved a 9.7? No way. Twilight Princess a 9.5? Not quite. I've always felt the rabid Nintendo fanboy in him causes him to get a little overly excited when the biggest Nintendo games come out and he rates them a bit higher than he should."
SMG is an almost perfect game, so I don't know where you're going with that, but this has nothing to do with those "hardcore" games. Why would he want to rate a "casual" game like Wii Music artificially high?
"Dude. Let's face it. Super Mario Galaxy deserved a 9.7? No way. Twilight Princess a 9.5? Not quite. I've always felt the rabid Nintendo fanboy in him causes him to get a little overly excited when the biggest Nintendo games come out and he rates them a bit higher than he should."
You really picked two bad examples there... Gamerankings and Metacritic scores are on par with the IGN scores. I think IGN is pretty fair for the most part.
Hardly. Personally I'd say Super Mario Galaxy is without question the worst 3D Mario game. I could go on and on, but it isn't worth it. Anyway, well, unless this casual game was actually good and could be enjoyed by all types of gamers, there's no reason why he'd rate it high. It is possible for a game to be simple and intuitive enough for anyone to learn and enjoy yet still cater to the hardcore fanbase. Being casual isn't inherently a bad thing for a game, but that doesn't mean it has to be completely dumbed down and dull.
"Hardly. Personally I'd say Super Mario Galaxy is without question the worst 3D Mario game. I could go on and on, but it isn't worth it. Anyway, well, unless this casual game was actually good and could be enjoyed by all types of gamers, there's no reason why he'd rate it high. It is possible for a game to be simple and intuitive enough for anyone to learn and enjoy yet still cater to the hardcore fanbase. Being casual isn't inherently a bad thing for a game, but that doesn't mean it has to be completely dumbed down and dull."
To comment on Galaxy, that's your opinion... but myself and many others think it was one of the best games this generation and the best Mario game at least since Super Mario 64.
Perhaps personal opinion might have gotten in the way of both of the reviews. You've got one who reviewed the game solely from a casual perspective and one from a hardcore perspective. This game is clearly not a 9 or a 5, but probably somewhere in between. It seems like one of those games that you must absolutely rent before you go spend the money on this toy.
"Hardly. Personally I'd say Super Mario Galaxy is without question the worst 3D Mario game. I could go on and on, but it isn't worth it. Anyway, well, unless this casual game was actually good and could be enjoyed by all types of gamers, there's no reason why he'd rate it high. It is possible for a game to be simple and intuitive enough for anyone to learn and enjoy yet still cater to the hardcore fanbase. Being casual isn't inherently a bad thing for a game, but that doesn't mean it has to be completely dumbed down and dull."
Well, all the 3D Mario's are great, but I don't know how to objective distinguish them other than looking at a website like Gamerankings, which clearly has Super Mario Galaxy as the best. Matt C. has been bad-mouthing this game since E3. We knew he didn't like it well before he got his hands on the game. He didn't like that his precious Kid Icarus wasn't presented at E3. He was bitter about that entire experience, and as a result, Wii Music was punished for it.
gonna have to go with the IGN review here. it is a game that doesn't require any sort of skill whatsoever.. (And you can imagine the degree to which this statement is usually exaggerated)
seriously, you don't even have to play any notes... no matter what you push or do it comes out right.
" gonna have to go with the IGN review here. it is a game that doesn't require any sort of skill whatsoever.. (And you can imagine the degree to which this statement is usually exaggerated)seriously, you don't even have to play any notes... no matter what you push or do it comes out right. "
What is the purpose of reviving a bunch of Wii Music threads? On Giantbomb, that sort of thing is frowned upon
" gonna have to go with the IGN review here. it is a game that doesn't require any sort of skill whatsoever.. (And you can imagine the degree to which this statement is usually exaggerated)seriously, you don't even have to play any notes... no matter what you push or do it comes out right. "
What is the purpose of reviving a bunch of Wii Music threads? On Giantbomb, that sort of thing is frowned upon "
i'm sorry. i just assumed that in the wii music game forum people talked about .... well... wii music.
It's ridiculous. Playing Wii Music requires no skill whatsoever. True. Getting a good track together, choosing the right instruments and the right theme, and playing them in a way that makes sense, is INSANELY difficult. I stopped playing Wii Music because the learning curve is too steep. Once you're past the "hurr hurr teh piano" stage and enter the lessons, it gets ridiculously difficult to make good music and original tracks. Playing Wii Music to make something awful is easy. Making something great is equally possible, but uncomparably more difficult.
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