Customer Reviews

Ultimate Band

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wii Song List
· Girls Not Grey
· Complicated
· Hanging on the Telephone
· Song 2
· I Want You To Want Me
· All Right Now
· Anna Molly
· Club Foot
· Won't Go Home Without You
· Dashboard
· Helena
· Get the Party Started
· Crushcrushcrush
· Just
· Stumble and Fall
· When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
· In Too Deep
· Unconditional
· Somebody Told Me
· Always Where I Need to Be
· Debaser
· Fell in Love With a Girl
· Break on Through
· Beverly Hills
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation

My kids got this yesterday and have played it non-stop. When we ordered it a week ago it was $20.00 cheaper on Amazon, now it is the same price as everywhere else but with free shipping I was thrilled. My 15 year old takes band in High School and he is loving it. They wanted Rock Band but we don't have the room for all drums etc. so this is a great alternative.
They like it better than Wii Music.
My 9 year old is having a little bit of a difficult time with it but it took him a while to master Guitar hero so he is getting better slowing. This definitely is a game for many age groups probably aged 8 and up.

GAMESPOT COM wrote a great in-depth review & also see on YOUTUBE COM videos of gameplay & how the controls work.
this game was made/influenced by Disney, so any objectionable lyrics have been cut out & the graphics are ultra friendly. I rented this & played for about an hour.
It has a great in-game tutorial & the symbols are very easy to understand & the moves are intuitive. You get the name the band, male/female for the drummer, singer/front man, guitar & base. There is easy, normal, hard & possibly advanced settings you can switch up right before the song plays. There is a practice area, etc. The customization is a bit limited, but it seems you'll unlock more stuff to "shop" in.
The game seems very lenient on how it grades for timing, it seems as long as you don't do it wrong or keep going when the next command comes, you get credit. This can make it a bit boring for EASY, but great for younger kids, Normal good as a beginning for teenagers & Adults & then Hard for those with good dexterity or once you've played a few times or so.
Each song you have to play & pass doing all 4 instruments. On easy there are less things to do compared to normal & hard & also therefore less things to hit.
Here are all the different things you do for each instrument from what I remember:
Drums - down beat for each hand, both hands down, side for cymbals, clapping, fast down beats, twirling sticks in one or both hands.
Guitar - C, CZ, Z, or no buttons for fret & strumming always for the note, B for whammy, arm circles w/wiimote, clapping
Front man/Singer - punching fwd one or both hands, holding remote/mic up angled to face, normal up & down, swinging in circle one or both hands, clapping, waving both hands
I didn't do bass in the 1 hour I played.
There are also flourishes - gestures you can do to get more points when you're not hitting a note/command to get more points since you don't get any points for notes you don't hit. These make the characters spin/dance w/extra colorful graphics.

I was happy with the response to the moves I did, I only had trouble with recognition in clapping sometimes, but then again I really breezed through the tutorial. Since there are so many movements involved, on normal & definitely on hard, you will start feeling like you are rubbing your stomach & patting your head since each hand will do a different movement. In that regard, this game is much tougher, but with the lax grading on timing as said & it makes it easier, actually probably too easy. I did the mic on hard difficulty & my first time & got a very good score. I did have more problems with the drums, but passed & didn't clear the guitar, so this def is geared to kids.

Pros:
Intuitive controls/movement
Good choice in symbols for movements which requires almost no memorization
Menu setting details/choices
Characters videos on cell phone after play with their judging

Cons:
Songs - are covers & lack passion or something, I had trouble getting into the songs at all.
Song List - too short & many I didn't like, even the first only 8 that are unlocked.
Gameplay - even if you screw up, the song playing doesn't reflect that at all. The only sounds that go with your movements are clapping & the cymbals on the drums.

I have a 8 year old boy that gets easily frustrated and easily discouraged when he can't keep up with the family on Guitar Hero. Now he has his very own band game that he can play by himself or with his friends. With Ultimate Band you can play up to four players it it uses additional Wii Remote Controller and Wii Nunchuk Controller for each player. The band includes, Bass, Lead Guitar, Drums and Vocals. Game playing level can be set to easy or harder as they progress. Gameplay is quite basic so you just follow the button sequence or remote movement. Even if you are not following the sequence correctly it will not effect the music play. Of course, the more difficult level you play the harder it will be. There is a lot of repetition of songs in career mode. However, I believe this game is geared more for children under 10 years old.

The song selection is much more "cleaner" and family-orientated than the other Wii band games out on the market. The list is complied from recent to late 60's hits. Here is the list with songs and artist.

All Day and All of the Night, The Kinks
All Right Now, Free
Always Where I Need to Be, The Kooks
Anna Molly, Incubus
Beverly Hills, Weezer
Break on Through, The Doors
Club Foot, Kasabian
Complicated, Avril Lavigne
Crushcrushcrush, Paramore
Dashboard, Modest Mouse
Bebaser, Pixies
Fell in Love With a Girl, The White Stripes
First Date, Blink-182
Get the Party Started, Pink
Girls Not Grey, AFI
Hanging on the Telephone, Blondie
Helena, My Chemical Romance
Hold On, Jonas Brothers
I Want You to Want Me, Cheap Trick
In Too Deep, Sum 41
Just, Radiohead
Just What I Needed, The Cars
Move Along, The All American Rejects
My Generation, The Who
Our Time Now, Plain White T's
Rock Lobster, The B-52's
Somebody Told Me, The Killers
Song 2, Blur
Steady, as She Goes, The Raconteurs
Stumble and Fall, Razorlight
The Take Over, the Breaks Over, Fall Out Boy
Unconditional, The Bravery
When Did Your Heart Go Missing, Rooney
Whip It, Devo

Wii Ultimate Band is geared towards kids who want to make music without the complexity of multi-note combinations. Instead you wave your nunchuck and swing your controller along with the rhythm. It can actually be challenging!

First, the basics. For people used to a Guitar Hero or Rock Band world, this is quite different. It's not about following notes up and down a guitar neck, or about combinations of tom toms and cymbals. Instead, it's primarily about rhythm. You do get to choose from singer, drums, guitar and bass - but each instrument is then played by rhythm.

So let's take the singer. You don't actually sing. Instead you hand-bunch, wave your hands in the air, clap and so on. For the guitarist you do strum, but all you do is "high strum" or "low strum". You can also do arm windmills and claps. Drummers are at least doing hits and stick twirls, so that makes sense.

That being said, it can be quite fun. They'll have the singer punching forward with one hand while turning in circles with the other hand. It's like patting your head and rubbing your stomach - quite challenging!

The character customization is very basic - a few face styles, a few hairdos. I do like that they have the song sung in a male or female voice based on the character who is singing the song. The graphics for the venues are fairly impressive given the Wii's limited capabilities.

The songs? This is always going to be highly subjective based on the player. If you take any song list and give it to 20 different people you'll get 20 different reactions. For us, there are too few "good classics". The versions they have are not wonderful. You have to unlock them in story mode before you can play them in free play.

Speaking of unlocking, it's really annoying. In other games you can play through each song once to move on to the next area. Here you have to play songs multiple times. Why? Not only that, but you have to play as different instruments to get more points. So let's say I really like being a singer. I can sing through each song in a level - but them I'm *forced* to go back and play drums or do something else through each song an entire second time before I can move on. I don't like that. If you play with a friend at least you only have to play through one song twice - instead of three - but for people playing solo that's a lot of song playing through songs you may not like in the first place just to finally unlock songs you enjoy.

Especially as this is a game aimed at kids - and you can definitely tell by the "gentle" grading and the fact we could play on hard right away without much trouble - you would want to let them have fun. If a player loves drums and wants to play drums all the way through, why force them to replay songs on another instrument to progress? I don't see the logic there.

A great idea, but a few tweaks could make it even better.

Ulimate Band is a great alternative to other band games if you are concerned about ratings. The varying difficulty levels and use of Disney channel type songs make it fun and appropriate for all ages. Can be used by 1-4 players at a time, provided you have enough Wii remotes/nunchucks.

My parents got this for my son's 5th birthday. This is by Disney so you know the music is okay for the younger crowd. My son loves to watch me play RB but he keeps getting kicked off stage so this seemed like a nice alternative. The music fits his taste, but it's not by the original artist. You only use the controllers so no equipment to store. Over all he seems to like it. I was bored after one set but he wanted to keep playing for a while. Good for the younger music fan who cannot quite get the RB or GH.

This is a game our whole family and a few friends have really enjoyed. (Adults and young teens)

The music is good: really upbeat and current (or at least recent). The game play is pretty easy on the easy setting. Naturally, the harder levels are harder, but even those aren't particularly challenging. Since different band members can play at different levels, nobody has to be bored at the simplicity or frustrated by the complexity.

The storyline that the band follows is cute and amusing. My husband sees no point in changing the clothing / hairstyle / instruments for the band and buying things for the members. All the girls seem to be pretty amused by this, however, and I think being able to refine the look of your band as you progress is good fun.

You need a Wiimote and nunchuck for every person who plays. If you need to purchase more nunchuck controllers, you may want to go with the wireless version. I've gotten whapped by the cord a few times playing this game and wish I'd gone wireless.

I just wish it had more songs and more up to date songs.....I do like it. I wish the game were longer.

Excellent game-bought it for my neighbor girl, who is 9. She loves it! Carrys a DS with her at all times, on the way to school, and back, and anytime there is a road trip. And at home, it's the WII. She is a downs syndrome child, but so smart! The games help her with hand eye coordination, memory, and lots of other educational activities.