Wii Music was doomed to fail, which is ironic considering that it's a part of the "license to print money" games otherwise known as the Wii Series. Why Wii Music? Well, there's a number of reasons. First, the music genre is absolutely saturated with titles, and in the last few months we've seen a number of new, "me too" titles like Rock Revolution and Ultimate Band enter the fray as well. With all of this Rock Band fever, you'd think Nintendo could find a way to uniquely capitalize on the craze in a way that'd once again rake in mounds of cash. Wii Music is not that game, but that doesn't make it a bad game. The truth is that Wii Music knows exactly who the target audience of the Wii is (nongamers) and crafts a well-designed but ultimately flawed world for them to enjoy.

          Probably the biggest problem with Wii Music is that it oversimplifies an already quite simple genre. Guitar Hero and Rock Band may be hard to nongamers but they are by no means complicated. Nintendo forced itself into a Catch-22 with Wii Music by, essentially, taking any real depth out of the game. Worse, even in Wii Music's world of "score yourself" antics, Nintendo did a poor job of giving the player control over their instruments. While I applaud Nintendo for letting Little Timmy play the marimbas, Wii Music does a terrible job of helping you figure out what exactly it is you're doing. You may be exactly on-beat while playing the Mario Bros theme, but pressing the 2 button instead of the 1 button may land a bizarrely out-of-place honk of a note that completely destroys your recording. Of course, you had no intention to PLAY that note but the game makes no effort to tell you which button is preferred at any given time (assuming it even matters at all).

          Wii Music is divided into a number of modes of varying degrees of enjoyability. Jam mode is nothing more than pressing random buttons to a slew of mediocre MIDI renditions of public domain tunes (with a few exceptions). Handbells is a surprisingly entertaining "Bell Hero" sort of game that is far too easy and features such timeless classics as O' Christmas Tree and a Japanese song from ages yonder that most Americans wouldn't recognize. I can see how Bell Hero would be fun with four people as it really does emulate the concept of hand bells nicely, though I doubt it'll hold interest for anyone desiring a challenge. There's also a conducting minigame that is about as responsive as a dead skunk. I played in band for eight years of my life and have experience conducting bands and orchestras, but believe me when I tell you that the Wii Remote does an awful job of determining whether or not you're conducting well. It's disappointing at the very least. The final "scored" game is a pathetic mix of mini-events like Wario Ware which are neither fun nor educational.

          While I've been harsh on Wii Music, the fact is that little kids will probably love it. The only problem, however, is that little kids will also love Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but will likely play those games more often than this one. Wii Music seems destined either for toddlers or complete non-gamers with no interest in plastic instruments, and those people will probably be satisfied, if only from a lack of understanding that a $50 should come with far more content.