Jam Sessions (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, from publishers Activision and EA respectively, have introduced a new generation of gamers to an onslaught of plastic shelled controllers to play vast selections of music from generations old and new. Yet while these offer the ability to play the songs, they do little to provide information or a learning experience for those looking to learn the instruments for real. This is where Jam Sessions comes in created by Plato and published by Ubisoft with the ambition of providing a versatile set of tools to help educate potential new guitar heroes and allow them to create their own songs. But does this package strike the right chord with the gamer?

Gameplay

The first thing to note before even mentioning anything else in reference to Jam Sessions is that it is not a game. Repeat, not a game. Jam Sessions has been created in the mind set of enabling a learning environment within which those interested in playing guitar, either experience or potential new players, can learn the basics about play the chords to some popular songs while also allowing them to create their own music. If you pick up the software expecting something along the lines of Guitar Hero you will definitely be disappointed because this is nothing like those titles and more an evolution of the music genre of games.

As has already been mentioned, Jam Sessions is all about educating you about the playing of a guitar and allowing you to create your own music. The software tailors the learning environment to your needs from the get go by making you input your handedness so that the software plays as naturally for you as possible. After this has been done, the software will take you through a short tutorial detailing how to use the basics of what is contained within the package, from playing chords to strumming. With the basics learnt, you can jump into playing through a collection of 35 songs, from various genres such as rock, pop, and soul, and after choosing a song, the game will display the sheet music for the game on the top screen, with the accompanying lyrics, while the touch screen showcases the chords and strummer. If you know the song, you can play through as you please but for those who perhaps don't know how the guitar goes, the software includes the ability to have the song play along so you can see how you should be strumming the chords. At the same time, there are a plethora of options for you to change the way the guitar sounds, much like having pickups and pedals for a real guitar, allowing you to add distortion, tremolo and other effects to the songs. It's simple yet enjoyable experience, with there being no progressive nature to the content as you're given access to everything from the get go. Yet while you can play the already present 35 songs at your leisure, and it's certainly enjoyable to strum out the likes of No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley, it is in the Free Play option where the software really shows what is possible.

Through the Free Play option, you can play as you please, creating your own music. You're able to set your own chord list to assign to either the d-pad or face buttons, depending on whether you're right or left-handed, as well as the already mentioned variety of effects, with the game offering 6 save slots for different combinations of effects and settings for each of them. When you have your wanted effects and settings, you can play about trying to come up with your own music or trying to recreate your favourite songs and the best bit is that you can record your playing which is really handy for when trying to create your own songs as it allows you to play back what you have laid down and see whether the composition works together or not. It's an incredibly simple piece of software, being accessible for any range of musician, and works perfectly. It's exactly the kind of experience that both Activision and EA will hope to bring to their respective franchises in time but for now, this has them beat in terms of learning and creative environment. You can of course do some singing, if you believe you have that talent inside you as well, but lyrics cannot be recorded. It's not a bad thing as the microphone on the DS doesn't capture things in the best of qualities anyway.

Controls

After inputting your handedness into the software, the game and its controls will play slightly different. For all menus and for strumming of the guitar, the touch screen is used and it works extremely well, with the use of the stylus feeling very natural and akin to the use of a guitar pick. Depending on whether you are right or left-handed, you'll use either the d-pad or the face buttons to pick your chords, with the four main possible directions used as well as diagonals. Again, this also works well although hitting the chords which are placed in the diagonal positions can prove to be a bit of an issue when using the d-pad as it is one piece whereas with the face buttons it works much better due to each of the buttons being separate. It's not something that hinders your learning as you'll still be able to play the chords it's just a little more awkward than it should have been.

Graphics

Visuals aren't a big part of any musical training game and that remains here but the way the game looks is fantastic. It's streamlined and simplistic but it easily gets the job done making everything easily accessible and pleasant to view. You can change about the backgrounds on which the chords and strummer sit to personalise the experience to your tastes, and these latter things themselves can also be changed but it doesn't have any effect on the learning experience.

Sound

With music being the main theme of the software, it's good to know that it's of a high standard. The game provides 35 real songs for you to try your hand at, from the likes of Beck to Bob Marley to Death Cab for Cutie. There is a wide enough range of music on offer and you can play along with them playing in the background, although they only appear in the form of the guitar chords and so it may seem a little basic but it does the job perfectly for letting you hear how the guitar works in a song you may particularly be interested in. The playing itself sounds authentic with the chords sounding as they would coming from a real guitar and the various effects which you can apply to them in Free Play when creating your own music allows for huge potential in what can be made. The quality with which they are recorded is of a high standard as well, matching that of the stuff already on the card.

Dual screen

With the top screen being used to show the notation for the songs along with the lyrics and the touch screen acting as the guitar strings, the two screens are put to great use in a very functional and natural way that work together extremely well. There's very little in the way of improvements that could have been made to the way the software utilises the dual screens as it's already making the best of them.

Final comments

As a piece of software for helping people learn about chords and playing the basics of guitar, Jam Sessions is excellent. It gives a good selection of options and songs for you to learn the rhythm to so should you wish to you could pick up a guitar and know the chords to play the song right away. While it may seem very basic in its wares, the inclusion of the ability to record your own creations and have them stay on the card does away with this notion and ensures that you'll have an easy yet versatile set of tools to make your dreams come true. So long as you treat it as a creation and learning tool and not a game, then you'll really get a lot out of this.

Pro: Incredibly versatile and natural set of guitar playing tools, varied selection of music, ability to create and save your own songs
Con: Not all of the songs have their audio present
Final score: 7.6

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