Ultimate Band review

Does Guitar Hero know Disney just released a better portable music game?

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Four instruments

  • +

    each with nice feel

  • +

    Very versatile recording studio

  • +

    Wii connectivity (but Wii version's weak)

Cons

  • -

    Song list is too short

  • -

    And they're all lame covers

  • -

    Some notes tough to see

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One of 2007’s guiltier DS pleasures was Hannah Montana: Music Jam. The pleasure came from several different well-realized instruments and a robust recording studio, all on a DS cart. Not even the Guitar Hero games do that on DS. The bad? It was full of Hannah Montana songs and couldn’t have been much girlier if it had forced us to paint our toenails pink and giggle into the microphone to start playing. Any male over the age of 10 was hard-pressed to find an explanation for playing it in public. Or at all, really.

Luckily, publisher Disney Interactive has followed up with Ultimate Band, a much more manly – or at least unisex – music simulation. Basic gameplay is mostly unchanged, though there are now fewer trips to the mall and hairdresser.

The impressive thing is that there are four instruments in play here (although three are guitars), and they all feel pretty solid. We’ll start with guitar. Whereas the DS Guitar Hero titles require a hand-cramping attachment to choose your notes, Ultimate Band gets the job done with just the touch screen and the d-pad. You see your guitar onscreen, and notes slide down the strings from the top of the string. Once a given note hits the target area on the lower screen, you strum the appropriate string or strings with the stylus, sometimes also holding the d-pad in one of four directions.

If you’re playing bass, there are four strings to manage. With a lead guitar, you get six. And if you’re playing rhythm, you’ll strum multiple strings at once instead of tapping individual notes, which actually does feel different. Granted, you still never buy into the idea that you’re playing a real instrument, but that illusion is pretty much shattered as soon as the giant plastic guitar-shaped controller is taken away anyhow.

The fourth instrument is drums, which you play by literally tapping the various parts of a drum set shown onscreen as notes fall from above and “land on” the drums. It’s a straightforward mechanism, though it took us awhile to get used to the different drums being at varying heights. The kick drum is much lower onscreen than the snare or toms, let alone the cymbals. You can’t just look for the note closest to the bottom of the screen and assume it’s the next one you need to hit.

More info

GenreFamily
DescriptionWhile the DS version of Disney’s rocktacular music game has a weak song list and strong controls, the Wii version flips the script with more songs and broken controls. It’s not remotely as good.  
Platform"Wii","DS"
US censor rating"Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+"
UK censor rating"",""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.