'Ultimate Band' Plays a Mediocre Tune

'Ultimate Band' Plays a Mediocre Tune DEVELOPER: Disney

PUBLISHER: Disney

SYSTEM: Nintendo Wii

PRICE: $49.99

ESRB RATING: Everyone

REVIEW RATING: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

While "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" engage in a virtual battle of the bands for consumer dollars, Disney hopes to lure the younger crowd with its interactive musical offering, "Ultimate Band." While this title does save its players a few greenbacks by not requiring the purchase of separate instruments, the experience suffers greatly as a result.

To begin with, budding musicians must use the Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers to strum their "air guitar" or hit a set of invisible drums. While this can be fun at first, it seldom gets challenging due to the inaccuracy of the motions. Because there is no strum bar and no drum set, players simply perform the motions and hope that the Wii sensor bar registers them properly.

With no microphone there can be no singing, so a "front man" replaces the lead singer. Their job is to get the crowd psyched by performing poses, punching the air and waving their hands. I may be getting old, but this sounds more like Jerry Springer tryouts than leading a band.

Oddly enough, music takes a backseat to "the band experience" as there are special moves, like "flourishes" and "grandstanding," to perform. However, the game only features around 35 tunes. Popular songs from bands such as Devo and Weezer make an appearance, but every single track is a cover. While other music games strive to provide exclusive master tracks, Disney is content to feature second-rate music in their second-rate music game.

It's a good thing that "Ultimate Band" is rated E for Everyone, because no one over the age of 8 will find it to be anything more than a starter kit.

'Legendary' Not Worth Trip to Bargain Basement

DEVELOPER: Spark

PUBLISHER: Gamecock Media

SYSTEM: Microsoft Xbox 360 (also on PS3)

PRICE: $29.99

ESRB RATING: Mature

REVIEW RATING: 1.5 (out of 5 stars)

In this time of economic crisis, bargain-bin titles may look attractive at half-price, but what good is an inexpensive game that never gets played? Gamecock's first-person shooter, "Legendary" might seem like a good deal, but anyone who receives it as a gift will surely see it as more of a punishment than a reward.

This game follows the exploits of professional art thief Charles Deckard as he sneaks into a New York museum and opens Pandora's box. This initiates a chain reaction that culminates in various legendary creatures materializing and destroying the city! Only Deckard can figure out why he's a pawn in yet another malevolent scheme to take a bite out of the Big Apple. Too bad his character has less personality than a Fig Newton.

Incredibly bland visuals, awful character animations, and repetitive environments add to the generic nature of this title. It has all the elements of a first-person shooter, but none of them are done well. In addition, the visuals are outdated, and there is so much fog in the outdoor scenes that I had flashbacks of "Turok" on the Nintendo 64.

Even the enemies are more silly than scary. Watching the supposedly terrifying giant Gryphons fly around attacking people made me laugh out loud, and the lava creatures in the subway would make great pets. I also cannot stand how most areas feature continually spawning enemies as if they materialize out of thin air.

Standard weapons like the shotgun, assault rifle, pistol and grenades would be more helpful if they performed in a more realistic fashion. It seems like they all handle as if this game was developed for the last generation of consoles.

"Legendary" isn't completely useless though, as it makes a great replacement for the proverbial lump of coal as a post-holiday gift.

REVIEW SCORING SYSTEM

5 stars = Must Have

4 stars = Pretty Good

3 stars = Above Average

2 stars = Bargain Bin

1 star = Don't Bother

RATINGS KEY

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)

E: Everyone

E10-plus: (Everyone 10 and older)

T: Teen (13 and older)

M: Mature (17 and older)

To find out more about Jeb Haught and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.