Ultimate Band
The recent news that music games have overtaken sports titles as the second most popular genre reveals just how much impact Guitar Hero and Rock Band have had on the world of videogames. Of course, one of the side effects of such giant popularity is the deluge of imitator releases that try to jump on the bandwagon long after it’s sped off.
Ultimate Band, at first glance, looks to be just one such copycat release, presenting a rock and roll group taking to various stages en route to stardom. However, there are a number of different elements that mark the title out from its rivals. For one, it’s a Disney Interactive game aimed squarely at the family market, so the band line-up is of the squeaky clean, Hannah Montana variety, rather than the Iggy Pop, Johnny Rotten sort.
Secondly, the game’s controlled exclusively by the Wiimote and Nunchuck, which work in unison to approximate the instruments, so there won’t be any plugging in of plastic peripherals. Finally, whereas most rhythm games require players to time their button presses in order to trigger the music, in Ultimate band, making a mistake during gameplay won’t affect the music at all, a decision that might put off players used to feeling like their actions directly control the music as in Guitar Hero et al.
The meat of the game is contained in Career mode. Here you play through a series of venues, three songs per location, which increase in size as you progress. Your band is composed of four players, lead guitar, bass, drums and a frontman. You can play as any of the instruments, each of which employs a different set of twirls and capping gestures to approximate the instrument you’re meant to be playing. From what we’ve seen so far, drums and guitar best ape their real life counterparts, the former requiring you to switch between indicated frets using the C and Z buttons.
As front man there’s no singing to be done. Rather you’ll be posing your way to victory, punching your fists, waving your arms and clapping in time to the music for points. In fact, these flourishes can be inserted during any break in the music, for any of the instruments. Holding a button and flicking the Nunchuck or Wiimote will cause your performer to execute an outlandish move, smashing their guitar or back flipping off the drum kit to great effect.
The game’s library of 40 songs seem a little limited to fans of Rock Band, and the fact that they’re all cover versions performed by the same two vocalists is a shame. Nevertheless, the exuberant visuals, over the top animations and loose, easygoing gameplay may well ensure that, while Ultimate Band will never be the ultimate music game, it offers a solid introduction to the genre.
