Jam Sessions
Posted September 30, 2007
When the concept of Jam Sessions was made public, the possibilities seemed endless. Creating your own music is a daunting task, but only limited by your own imagination. Plato developed this virtual guitar game and is marketing it to professional musicians. Jam Sessions is easily the most unique title to be released for the DS this year, but it’s much more of a tool than an actual game. 
Gameplay
Jam Sessions shipped with 20 pre-loaded tunes (3 of which are locked), a diverse selection of recent and older popular artists. My favorite songs include Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby Mcgee,” and Coldplay’s “Yellow,” which is especially fun to play due to the quick pace. Songs load up at the top of the screen as well as the words to sing along. The screen breaks down the chords that need to be played as well as the timing of the strums. The game also includes a metronome for the rhythmically challenged.
Pre-loaded songs can be finished in any fashion, including just strumming through all the chords quickly. The songs really aren’t designed for the player to learn correctly, but rather geared toward a musician’s need to play the song correctly. Plato did include demos for half of the music to give the player an idea how to run-through the song.
Playing chords in Jam Sessions is very simple. The player just slides the stylus up or down on the touch screen while holding down a chord via the D-pad. On the same chord, strumming down will produce a different sound than strumming up, just like a real guitar. Leaving the chord button alone while strumming will produce a quiet click. There are eight possible chords that can be pressed via the D-pad. Additionally, holding down the left or right bumper will bring up another eight chords to strum. For those with adult sized fingers, Jam Sessions will seem cramped to control on the DS Lite. I often missed chords due to the awkward position on the D-pad.
The 16 possible chords can be altered in the menu. A chord can be assigned to any position on the D-pad as well as altered slightly in pitch. . Jam Sessions has over 120 chords, which are fairly accurate to a regular acoustic guitar. You also have the option of separately tuning the chords by pitch. Additionally, Plato included a number of distortion effects to modify the acoustic sound. Unfortunately, there is no way to play specific notes on the virtual guitar, only chords.
The amount of tweaking options within the menu structure is very expansive. Players have access to changing timed delays, modifying the rate and depth, increasing or decreasing levels, and a bevy of distortion changes. Players can assign two effects to work jointly while the remaining four effects are stored for later use. Modifying the strum responsiveness is also a nice addition for those who play guitar already.
There is no multiplayer support for this DS title. While the design of the game doesn’t lend itself to playing against folks over the net, there is sadly no inclusion of downloadable songs through wi-fi support.
Graphics
The visual style in Jam Sessions is fairly utilitarian, but highly customizable. There are over 50 color template background options in addition to several strum animations. Still, everything on the screen has a distinctive blocky feel and unpolished look. The chords usually stick out like a sore thumb when playing a pre-loaded song. For the most part, Jam Sessions is nearly a completely static experience. One benefit from the sparse graphical style is nearly instantaneous loading time.
Audio
The DS built-in speaker really doesn’t do Jam Sessions justice. Guitar strums sound weak and muted compared to an actual guitar through the DS speaker. In the sound options menu, you can choose to output the sound to an external source, such as headphones or an amp. The guitar strums will be richer and have more depth through an external source. Also, the DS microphone can output your voice through the external speaker. While you can record up to five of your own custom songs, it’s important to note the DS microphone cannot record your voice during a song.
Overall
The question of purchase is dependent on what you are looking for, a game or a musical tool. As a source of gaming entertainment, Jam Sessions fails miserably. There is no challenge in finishing the pre-loaded songs, nor is there a reward for total completion. Without a basic knowledge of chords and guitar lingo, the enormous learning curve will push entertainment seekers far, far away.
As a tool for musicians to create tunes, Jam Sessions is easily the most innovative game on any system. Aspiring composers will love the amount of customizable options as well as integrating Jam Sessions into a regular band. In short, Jam Sessions should be avoided by anyone expecting the next Guitar Hero and snatched up by everyone actually learning to play a real guitar.
Gameplay
Jam Sessions shipped with 20 pre-loaded tunes (3 of which are locked), a diverse selection of recent and older popular artists. My favorite songs include Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby Mcgee,” and Coldplay’s “Yellow,” which is especially fun to play due to the quick pace. Songs load up at the top of the screen as well as the words to sing along. The screen breaks down the chords that need to be played as well as the timing of the strums. The game also includes a metronome for the rhythmically challenged.
Pre-loaded songs can be finished in any fashion, including just strumming through all the chords quickly. The songs really aren’t designed for the player to learn correctly, but rather geared toward a musician’s need to play the song correctly. Plato did include demos for half of the music to give the player an idea how to run-through the song.
Playing chords in Jam Sessions is very simple. The player just slides the stylus up or down on the touch screen while holding down a chord via the D-pad. On the same chord, strumming down will produce a different sound than strumming up, just like a real guitar. Leaving the chord button alone while strumming will produce a quiet click. There are eight possible chords that can be pressed via the D-pad. Additionally, holding down the left or right bumper will bring up another eight chords to strum. For those with adult sized fingers, Jam Sessions will seem cramped to control on the DS Lite. I often missed chords due to the awkward position on the D-pad.
The 16 possible chords can be altered in the menu. A chord can be assigned to any position on the D-pad as well as altered slightly in pitch. . Jam Sessions has over 120 chords, which are fairly accurate to a regular acoustic guitar. You also have the option of separately tuning the chords by pitch. Additionally, Plato included a number of distortion effects to modify the acoustic sound. Unfortunately, there is no way to play specific notes on the virtual guitar, only chords.
The amount of tweaking options within the menu structure is very expansive. Players have access to changing timed delays, modifying the rate and depth, increasing or decreasing levels, and a bevy of distortion changes. Players can assign two effects to work jointly while the remaining four effects are stored for later use. Modifying the strum responsiveness is also a nice addition for those who play guitar already.
There is no multiplayer support for this DS title. While the design of the game doesn’t lend itself to playing against folks over the net, there is sadly no inclusion of downloadable songs through wi-fi support.
Graphics
The visual style in Jam Sessions is fairly utilitarian, but highly customizable. There are over 50 color template background options in addition to several strum animations. Still, everything on the screen has a distinctive blocky feel and unpolished look. The chords usually stick out like a sore thumb when playing a pre-loaded song. For the most part, Jam Sessions is nearly a completely static experience. One benefit from the sparse graphical style is nearly instantaneous loading time.
Audio
The DS built-in speaker really doesn’t do Jam Sessions justice. Guitar strums sound weak and muted compared to an actual guitar through the DS speaker. In the sound options menu, you can choose to output the sound to an external source, such as headphones or an amp. The guitar strums will be richer and have more depth through an external source. Also, the DS microphone can output your voice through the external speaker. While you can record up to five of your own custom songs, it’s important to note the DS microphone cannot record your voice during a song.
Overall
The question of purchase is dependent on what you are looking for, a game or a musical tool. As a source of gaming entertainment, Jam Sessions fails miserably. There is no challenge in finishing the pre-loaded songs, nor is there a reward for total completion. Without a basic knowledge of chords and guitar lingo, the enormous learning curve will push entertainment seekers far, far away.
As a tool for musicians to create tunes, Jam Sessions is easily the most innovative game on any system. Aspiring composers will love the amount of customizable options as well as integrating Jam Sessions into a regular band. In short, Jam Sessions should be avoided by anyone expecting the next Guitar Hero and snatched up by everyone actually learning to play a real guitar.