Last night I had the chance to discuss Disney Interactive Studios’ Ultimate Band with Tim Huntsman (senior producer), Mark McArthur (development director) and Mike Thompson (art director) from Fall Line Studio. The game is launching November 25th on the Wii and DS. In case you don’t know, it’s a rhythm game with no peripherals but with actual songs to play.
The team at Fall Line Studio set out to make a performance based game to take advantage of the unique controls schemes offered on Nintendo’s platforms. Development began back when the Wii was still called the Revolution, Rock Band didn’t exist, and Wii Music was still a budding idea in Shigeru Miyamoto’s head. The game was designed for tweens and teens in mind, especially boys, so this appeals more to the younger generation.
Ultimate Band plays in a way that anyone can get in and enjoy the experience. Whether you’ve never played a game before and want to hop in on Easy or are a seasoned veteran and shred on Hard, there’s something there to get the whole family together. The game features a decent-sized story mode where you take your band from nothing to something. When you first start off, you create your own character with a fairly robust creator tool. Every song you play has a vocal track by the gender you choose, so your little boy won’t be signing like a girl.
Various band members are available to play, such as guitar, bass, drums, and the front man. Since there are no peripherals, the front man won’t be singing, but focusing on hyping up the crowd. Other instruments require you to complete certain gestures, such as the Pete Townsend Windmill guitar move. The team spent a lot of time perfecting the feel of the game to get things just right. The intention is to make it feel like you’re revving up the crowd by playing guitar, bass, or drums. Scoring is based both on timing and how well you perform the required gesture. For example, the Windmill guitar move is performed during a certain segment of a song. The more times you successfully perform the Windmill during that period, the higher the score. Seems pretty cool.
The DS version of the game uses the stylus in place of the Wii Remote for strumming guitars or banging on drums. Neither version features online multiplayer, but the DS will have local mulitplayer capabilities with another DS in the area (if you have friends with the game). Ultimate Band will not have any DLC, so you’ll only get the songs that come shipped on the disc (which are a good mix of decent tracks).
With the target demographic being younger tweens and teens, it may not hit big with older gamers. If you have kids or are younger, this could be a big hit. Once of the biggest criticisms of Wii Music is that you aren’t playing any noticeable songs. Ultimate Band could capitilize on that crossover area and be a big hit with it’s target market.
