Ultimate Band Wii, DS Preview
New Disney Music and Rhythm Video Game Requires No Extra Accessories
No doubt about it, Activision's Guitar Hero is one of the most popular video game series around. Disney's Ultimate Band is the latest attempt to grab a piece of Guitar Hero's market share, and Disney is looking to attract gamers on a limited budget with this Wii and DS title.
Rock Out Without the Extra Peripherals
Ever since the release of Rock Band, it's almost a prerequisite for all new music-and-rhythm games to allow players to rock out with drums or a microphone in addition to the standard guitar. However, the addition of drums and microphones to the wannabe musician's repertoire has caused the price of such music games to skyrocket, with the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour carrying a price of at least $190.
Thus, Disney hopes to provide a solution with its upcoming Ultimate Band: using the standard Wii Remote and Nunchuck or DS stylus as the gamer's drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, or microphone. Though Disney hasn't provided any specifics on how the controls will work, an early screenshot for the Wii version of the game shows that the gamer must hit the "C," "Z," or "C+Z" buttons on the Nunchuck to play certain notes on the guitar.
No Disney Characters Here
Though the game is indeed being created by Disney, gamers won't be jamming with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Instead, gamers will take their fledging neighbor garage band to music stardom with characters of their own creation. Disney is promising a variety of clothing and hair styles so that created characters will "reflect [players'] unique personalities and attributes."
A Recording Studio for DS Gamers
Nintendo DS owners specifically will be able to create tunes with a special built-in recording studio. According to the company's press release, this will involve using the DS stylus to "lay down tracks for each instrument and apply creative mixing effects." DS gamers will also be treated with online functionality, though it's unclear whether the online mode will involve any of the tunes that gamers create in the recording studio.
Set List
What makes or breaks music-and-rhythm games like Ultimate Band, though, is certainly the song list. The company in its press release, noted that the game will include "some of the very biggest names in rock, alternative, popular, emo and indie rock music, allowing band mates to play sets from a broad selection of current hits and all-time rock favorites."
Recently, some of these songs were confirmed: Devo's "Whip It," Plain White T's "Our Time Now," The Raconteurs' "Steady, As She Goes," The White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl," and The Who's "My Generation." Songs from Blondie, The Cars, Cheap Trick, Jonas Brothers, Paramore, and the Weezer are also expected.
Outlook
Currently, not much else is known about Ultimate Band. Thus, the biggest question is whether what Disney is saying is all hype or reality. How big, exactly, will the song list be? Will Wii owners also be treated with an online mode? And, without extra peripherals, does Ultimate Band stand to match up with the likes of Rock Band and Guitar Hero?
Though Ultimate Band could very well be a quick cash-in, Disney, if it wanted to, could also put a lot of money into making this good and licensing some top-notch songs for the game. Thus, Suite101 currently advises a wait-and-see approach. On the one hand, this could be a great alternative for those with limited budgets. But on the other hand, it's unclear whether this game will be able to stand out from all the other music-and-rhythm games.
Those looking to play other inexpensive music games may also be interested in the recently released Battle of the Bands for Wii or the upcoming Samba de Amigo for Wii. Otherwise, gamers may be interested in waiting for the more expensive -- but almost certainly top quality -- Guitar Hero World Tour (for all systems).
