Since the Wii’s release, Nintendo have sought to draw in a broader audience with a variety of games sporting the console’s name in the title. Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit are the three biggest sellers on the platform outselling established Nintendo heroes Mario and Link by several million.

Just over a year ago, they released another game in the Wii [Blank] arsenal with Wii Music. From a simple conductor’s demo at E3 2005, the project had grown into a product which featured more than 50 songs and 60 instruments yet it has gone down as the least successful entry in the series with 2.65m copies sold.

Nintendo were hit with broad condemnation at E3 2008 when Wii Music was unveiled as their big release for the Christmas season (alongside Animal Crossing). An utterly embarassing demonstration from Shigeru Miyamoto and some unfortunate souls from the Nintendo office did not help matters and gamers across the internet dismissed the game as little more than a poor child’s play thing.

To an extent, they’re right on the money. Wii Music is nothing like the music games which we’ve come to expect after  Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Unlike these games which rely on beefy plastic peripherals for precision music mastery, you simply have your Wii Remote and Nunchuk to play an instrument. Strum the remote up and down for the guitar, stroke it back and forth for a violin or shake it with the Nunchuk as it you’re striking keys on a piano.

The controls are as simplistic as they read and the game is happy to correct the notes for you. Some will see this as a joke, with all the point of playing an instrument for accuracy stripped away from you. Others will see this as a good thing, where the emphasis has now been placed on experimentation. These Jam Sessions are where you’ll be spending most of your game time.

You could play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the exact tune you have known since you were a toddler, or you can throw in an extra note here, take one out there and make it your very own composition. If you’ve got the time and the imagination, you (and three friends if you’ve got them) can put together a pretty unique take on an old favourite.

Those “old favourites” however are somewhat limited. Plucked straight out of the public domain alongside Twinkle are O Christmas Tree, La Cucaracha and Happy Birthday To You. There are some pop classics and genuine, classical classics but you’re not going to get the same soundtrack as you would in the previously mentioned big-selling music games.

The MIDI sounds that come out of the instruments will be harsh on the ears of many, but they get the job done. Where the biggest flaw in the Jam Sessions lies is how you play. How many people are really going to put the Wiimote up to their mouths like a trumpet while tapping 1 and 2? How silly do they want to look amongst friends and relatives? That demonstration from E3 2008 put many people off, and for good reason. You do look silly. But if you can stop being self-concious for five minutes and just go with the flow, you may find yourself enjoying it.

The Jam Sessions are supported by three mini-game modes, which feel largely tacked on, and an in-depth drum mode which uses the Balance Board. The unco-ordinated need not apply for this as there’s a lot of button pressing in combination with Remote and Nunchuk shakes and taps on the Board.

As for the mini-games, they’re largely forgettable. The conductor demo from 2005 remains pretty much that, a demo, where you simply wave your arm to keep the orchestra going. Now we have Wii Motion Plus, we know we could get so much more out of this experience, so you’ll barely touch this after one, maybe two playthroughs.

Handbell Harmony is a more traditional rhythm action game, but is slightly hampered by the responsiveness of the Wii Remote in much the same way that a similar mini-game in Zack and Wiki left players pulling their hair out.

Pitch Perfect is the worst of the three. A series of pitch and tempo challenges are thrown at you in a near endless loop with little variety and depth. Snore.

Wii Music is tough to recommend at full retail price, but I picked it up for a tenner and for the occasional cheap laugh of seeing Hitler in a cheerleader’s outfit, yelling along to Daydream Believer, it’s worth it. Casual experimentation is the name of the game, so if you’re curious go for it. Younger siblings (really, much younger) will find it a fun gateway into music but this really is the weakest entry in the Wii series.