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Jam Sessions 2 Review for Nintendo DS

Jam Sessions 2 Review for Nintendo DS

Kick out the Jams

In 2007, Ubisoft made a big splash in the handheld music game world with a nifty little program that turned your DS into a fully functioning, virtual acoustic guitar. Jam Sessions was really more of a music making tool than anything else. It turned out to be a lot of fun for gaming musicians who got a kick out of crafting and performing songs on a handheld system, yet some players were left feeling a little lost due to the lack of any solid goals or gameplay in the title.

Jam Sessions 2 screenshot

Two years later, developer Plato has made a lot of changes for Jam Sessions 2 in an effort to beef up the musical making capabilities of the program while also offering a stronger gaming component to appease the average player who might not be as inclined to dig deeply into the song-crafting toolbox elements. The differences between the two titles are stark, although some of these upgrades are more successful than others. Whether or not Jam Sessions 2 is a game you’ll want to pick up instead of its predecessor depends on exactly what it is you’re looking to get out of it.

The original Jam Sessions essentially let you play high-quality, pre-recorded acoustic guitar chords by strumming a single virtual string on the touch screen. You could assign chords to different directions on the D-Pad for quick changes, allowing you to jam out easily and write full songs. The core music guitar playing aspect of Jam Sessions 2 works in much the same way, except all six guitar strings appear on the screen and can be played individually. Each string is color-coded and rests at a slight angle to make it easier to tell them apart. This alone is a pretty substantial improvement, since it lets you strum portions of chords, throw in single-note riffs, and craft more dynamic and intricate songs.

This slick interface update comes with a curious tradeoff: you can only cue up eight different chords at a time instead of 16. Chords can only be assigned to the four main D-Pad directions, and the reserve palette accessed with the L button doubles that. Sure, it’s now possible to arrange pre-set palettes that can be accessed relatively quickly with a few stylus pokes, although switching out palettes from a pop-up menu in mid-song is far from smooth. Limiting the songwriting flexibility by removing diagonal chord placement is a bummer, even if it was a little awkward to use. One welcome change is the addition of a virtual guitar fret board that appears when you’re actually picking out the chords to place in a palette. This shows you where to place your fingers on the guitar to play the chord and what strings to play – a cool feature for folks interested in learning a little real guitar work.

Jam Sessions 2 screenshot

Jam Sessions 2 sports an impressive recording studio and music tracking feature that’s a huge step up from the basic, super limited recording function in the original. First you’ll record brief sound clips of riffs and small portions of a tune to work with. Then you can enter the recording studio to piece together a full song by dragging and dropping the clips you’ve created into a sequence. For the first time, you can now add background instrumentation to each clip, which really brings the songs to life. There are a tremendous amount of bass and drum loops to use as a foundation for your tunes. Also, bass tracks automatically change key to match the current chord you’re playing. The game also lets you drop in riffs from songs you’ve unlocked in the Song Book mode.

Song Book mode is Jam Session 2’s attempt to reel in the players who want some actual gameplay with their rock-n-roll. In this new single-player mode, you’ll strum through tiers of popular rock songs by strumming chords and individuals notes that flow down a runway in time to the music. It’s a lot like Guitar Hero, except that everything you play – whether it’s correct or incorrect – is heard along with the pre-recorded music. Different difficulty levels introduce more complex moves, like single note riffs, palette-changing in mid-strum, and trickier chord changes. Music from bands like REM, The Ramones, Iron Butterfly, and The Clash appears alongside other songs by We Are Scientists, Plain White T’s, The Pixies, and Paramore, among others. It’s a mostly great mix of enjoyable songs. However, none of the tunes are original versions, and the covers vary in quality.

Jam Sessions 2 screenshot

Another big problem is you have to play through the single-player mode to unlock most of the extra goodies that you’ll want to play around with in the Free Play mode. There are lots of guitar effects to use, multiple styles of guitar to play, and other nice extras that anyone seeking to make their own music or fiddle around with the Free Play mode will want access to right off the bat. While unlockables do provide some incentive to check out the solo mode, forcing players to trudge through the game before they can even access the full range of effects and instruments is pretty tedious. The gameplay is definitely fun and surprisingly challenging, but not everyone will want to bother with it. It’s too bad they don’t have a choice.

Jam Sessions 2 screenshot

The visual presentation in Jam Sessions 2 is quite different from its predecessor, for better or worse. The art style definitely has a cartoonish, hand-drawn punk rock look that fits nicely in most areas of the game. It looks a little cheap during the Song Book mode, but it works well elsewhere. Audio-wise, the guitar sounds are definitely improved over Jam Sessions’ more limited scope. Being able to switch between an acoustic and electric guitar sound is also a welcome addition.

In trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades Jam Sessions 2 loses some of the focus and mastery of its core element as a musical tool. That’s probably a fair concession for players who’ve been looking for something more game-like in the package. This sequel could have been an opportunity to build much more heavily on the successes of the first game. Instead, it adds a little here and there and expands into slightly different territory to appeal to a broader audience. Even so, it still manages to be an enjoyable experience.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
A slick, hand-drawn, punky art style fits the vibe perfectly, though it looks a little cheap in the gameplay portion. 3.8 Control
The multi-string noodling is great, although the gaming section tends to tire out your thumb and doesn’t feel as precise as it should. 4.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The guitar sounds are nicely improved, though the cover tunes are sometimes disappointing. 4.0

Play Value
Gameplay elements are fun but we’d have liked to see beefier musical features.

3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Fun music challenges in Gameplay mode: Play through a diverse array of licensed songs to build levels. Each challenge is unique – players are not merely going faster they are developing and reinforcing the skills necessary to fine tune their electric guitar skills and write songs.
  • Learn & Play with diverse guitar driven bands like: REM, Heart, The Ramones, The Clash, Doobie Brothers, Plain White-T’s, The Black Crowes, The Pixies and more!
  • Immersive Experience: A six string interface, a streaming note chart, hundreds of guitar chords and sounds make for an authentic electric guitar experience. Choose to learn on any of the following electric guitars – Stratocaster, Telecaster, Acoustic, Old Electric & Les Paul.
  • User created content: Players can freestyle sections of featured band’s songs and make them their own. With a push of a button, players’ created works can be added to the game’s set list and instantly converted into a playable level.
  • Express creativity: Personalized artist’s profiles can be created and customized to track all achievements. Players can select their album cover and launch their debut album.
  • A community of budding musicians: Improvisations and creations can be shared with players’ songs pushed into gameplay mode along side songs of famous artists.
  • Song Creation Tools: Contains powerful multi-track song editing software that makes producing high quality music easy, intuitive and fun. Create a song and have your friends play it through song sharing!

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