Ultimate Band: More like a phony boy band than real rock

I'll admit that when I first heard about "Ultimate Band" earlier this year (writing about it here) and also when I tried it at E3, I thought it might be a smart idea. Disney most certainly doesn't have a chance of beating MTV and Activision at the peripheral game (a lesson Konami is learning the hard way with "Rock Revolution"), so why not use the Wii-mote for some air guitar/drums (thus keeping the price down dramatically) and target the visual design, soundtrack, etc. at the tween demo that the makers of "High School Musical" and "Hannah Montana" know so well?

Sounded good, but it turns out to be a major letdown, according to Variety critic "Chris Dahlen." It's "a convoluted, inconsistent and inauthentic experience," he writes, "that emulates a phony lip-synching boy band more than a real rock experience." Um, ouch. He then adds a little more detail:

The guitar and bass parts are plagued by distractions like hand claps, whammy motions and windmill strums that are barely tied to the music or even the actions onscreen... [T]he singer... doesn't even get a microphone. Retitled the "frontman," he or she is struck triggering poses and leading the crowd in a wave. Kids who want to sing along for fun don't even get the lyrics. The guitarist and bassist each have three completely different workarounds for the lack of a fretboard, but they often get convoluted, forcing players to use arbitrary button combinations to fret the notes, all while strumming the air.

Kids will inevitably end up fighting to play the drums, which are the only instrument to offer remotely believable gameplay. Downward and sideways motions to hit the pads have a reasonably close relationship to an actual performance, though even the drummer is still saddled with intrusive spins and claps.

Sounds like rather than serving as a low cost alternative for kids who can't get their hands on "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" yet, it'll just remind them how much they wish they could be playing those games instead.

Full review: Ultimate Band