Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When I first saw a glimpse of this game when the Wii originally released I thought it was awesome. Just the conductor snippet alone looked fun and the potential was exciting. The more I saw of it through TV spots and promotional videos the more I began to wonder about the enjoyment of the product. I will be honest in saying the moment in purchasing it I asked the store clerk "So, what do you do in the game, what's the point?" He couldn't give me an answer other than experiment with instruments because he didn't really know either. We couldn't figure it out from the package either. This should have been a clue. So, regardless of my feelings I decided to buy this game because it was titled (Wii) Music, also if anything it is finally something else that my toddler daughter will be able to do without much difficulty. Needless to say it was less than 24 hours before it ended up as a trade in. So here is why... First and foremost it was just boring. Before you think I didn't put any effort into it I did play it for 7 hours. I did most of the various instruments, the hand bell & sound mini-games, all the jam sessions, and created videos with video art. I thought well maybe it was just boring the first night so I tried it again twice the following day to let it grow on me and by the third go around on the second evening I finally said..."this game is boring". There is nothing to do except doink around for an hour with instruments that feel nothing like the real thing. The controls feel nothing like the real instruments. I've never played piano with my fists clumped just waving up and down in a single position. Most of the instruments lack a sense of actual playing. It mostly feels like you hold the position similar to the real instrument and just randomly wave the controls. It feels like they tried to force the action fit the controller instead of allowing the controller to be apart of the action like Wii Tennis & Bowling. I also think it is unfair to keep the full drum sampler locked unless you have a balance board. Seems like a marketing ploy. I felt disconnected from what was happening on the screen and was too bored to care. After a brief 15 min. of playing simple instruments and dog barks in a few jam sessions my daughter got bored and went off to do other things. (She loves to play Cosmic Family & Mario Kart because it keeps her interest). I tried to coax her into playing the songs she recognizes like daddy; but, she finally said "Don't like this game". Second, the song selection is disappointing. Now I was not expecting this game to compete at all or be in the same genre as GH or RB, again, this was mainly for my toddler daughter; but, the music is drab for two reasons. One, the selection is obvious public free midi-music, such as Ode to Joy, Twinkle Little Star, Do-Re-Mi basically most things that come packaged with a $25 mega-store keyboard. There are no lyrics on any songs and it sounds like a children's educational instrument. Does Nintendo need to save money? Two, not only are the song choices drab again the quality of the music sounds like the $25 keyboard. I know Nintendo is big on midi music for some reason and it causes Wii Music to fall short. The drums sound fake, the guitars sound fake and the only thing that doesn't sound like it came from a computerized sound patch is the electric piano. I did play long enough to unlock the Zelda theme song and I can honestly say they would have been better off adding and pushing more Nintendo originals towards the front of the game. I would have been far more interested in playing drums and trumpet to Mario or Donkey Kong themes. I know the few Nintendo songs are there; but, why do I need to do hours of Bethoven and nursery rhymes to play them? Lastly, the reason why I am giving this two stars and not one is because the conductor portion did amuse me for a period. I was impressed that I could hold the baton (Wii Remote) in a single position and the orchestra would hold their note/position; but, again who wants to conduct a choppy version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star? This was neat; but, the rest of the game is so boring it kind of defeats the enjoyment of the act. This should have been a larger factor of the game and possibly included a music mix generator. Can you imagine how much fun it would have been to conduct Zelda with a personalized dance beat? So, that is about it. I typically don't write this long and I usually love what Nintendo has to offer. I have always appreciated their originality and attempts to experiment. I will continue to support the family oriented products and company, they have been great for years. I did appreciate that they were exposing more worldwide instruments other than the basic rock band types; but, the presentation causes it to fall short. I assume being a full-time musician I defaulted to expect more; but, for everyone I believe there will be some level of disappointment and eventual boredom. Finally, all I can say is I would probably be more forgiving if this game had a $29.99 price tag or was a WiiWare download. It is definitely not worth the retail price of $49.99. I would pick it up used or wait for when it drops shortly after Christmas like the other original Wii titles have. I guarantee you wil be happier playing this as a weekend rental and using the remaining $45 on a great previously owned game.