I'd probably heard the Donnas' "New Kid In School" 500 times before my kids decided it was their new favorite track in Rock Band 2. It wasn't until my 5-year-old started belting out the song's lyrics, though, that I realized there was a naughty word in the second verse. Now, I'm hardly a prude when it comes to T-rated games, but there's something about hearing a kindergartener sing, "Better start kissing some ass!" that makes you understand why ESRB ratings exist.
While such moments are rare, they prove why edgier music games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour aren't always appropriate for family game night. So, for any parent looking for a safe-but-fun alternative this holiday season, here's a round-up of some of the more kid-friendly music titles out there -- at least one of which may surprise you.
Wii Music (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
System: Wii
Unlike most music games, which force you to hit notes (or just hit,
period) at precise moments in order to get ahead, Wii
Music is almost totally free-form: Using the Wii Remote,
Nunchuk and Balance Board, you can tweak tempos, add flourishes or
otherwise alter the arrangements of up to 50 different songs using
a veritable orchestra's worth of instruments. And unlike, well,
every other game featured in this post, there are no mistakes in
Wii Music -- in fact, the more you can improvise to create
happy accidents, the more enjoyable the game becomes. It's easy
enough that a 3-year-old could start jamming, but the possibilities
(you can create and share your own improvs over Wi-Fi, for
instance) are big enough that Mom and Dad will never get bored.
Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band
The Video Game (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
Systems: Wii, DS, PS2, PC
Given the Naked Brothers Band's popularity, this game
could've been a Rock Band killer for the junior set.
Unfortunately, things turned out a little differently in execution.
The Naked Brothers Band The Video Game was built on a good
idea (join Nickelodeon's flagship kid rockers on a world tour)
and a fan-enticing soundtrack, but the lack of real instruments
makes the game feel lacking: The Wii version has you gesturing in
thin air to play the band's six different instruments, while
the PS2 version requires various joystick combos. (Those two
editions at least include an external mic for singing along, which
the DS version lacks.) That said, my kids are huge fans of the
Naked Brothers Band, and my 5-year-old amazingly had less of a
learning curve with this game than he did with Guitar Hero
or any other title requiring "real" fake instruments.
That may be because, given the audience's age, the room for
error on The Naked Brothers Band The Video Game is
remarkably wide.
Boogie SuperStar (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E10+
System: Wii
What teen pop sensation worth his or her weight in gold albums
can't dance and sing at the same time? In Boogie
SuperStar -- the follow-up to last year's Boogie
-- kids can release their inner Fergie, Maroon 5, Fall Out Boy or
Natasha Bedingfield (just some of the stars who've lent tracks
to the game), singing into the included microphone while using the
Wii Remote and Nunchuk to bust their best dance moves. Though
it's a great game to play solo, the competition gets a lot more
fun as you add up to four friends to compete for pop-star bragging
rights in the American Idol-style "Boogie Star
Show." Oh, and budget-minded parents, take note: If you have a
mic, you can save $10 on the bundle pictured here and just get the
core game.
Disney Sing It (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
Systems: Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3
With a true karaoke-style experience that lets kids sing along to
actual music videos from Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, Aly
and AJ, and other Disney stars, Disney Sing It offers kids
eye candy to match its ear candy. The game packs 35 songs in all --
including tunes from Camp Rock and High School
Musical -- and kids can compete solo as well as in duet,
head-to-head and team modes. The game also stresses hitting the
right notes, with High School Musical star Olesya Rulin
popping up as a personal vocal coach. As with Boogie
SuperStar, you can buy the bundle (which includes a Logitech
mic) or save a few bucks and use your existing microphone with the
core game.
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (buy it
at Amazon)
Rated: E10+
System: DS
OK, I lied about not including Guitar Hero in this
roundup, but it makes sense that handheld gaming's most
kid-friendly console would get the most kid-friendly entry in the
Guitar Hero series. Decades follows up last
year's Guitar Hero On
Tour, which reduced the full guitar experience to a pick
stylus and a fist-sized four-button "fretboard" that
plugs into your DS Lite's Game Boy Advance slot. Although there
are some cool features (you can blow into the DS' mic to
extinguish a pyro blast gone wrong, for instance) and a welcome
sharing mode that lets you stream tunes across both versions of
On Tour, the game's basic mechanics haven't
changed much this time. The experience, however, has: You can
customize your character based on his or her era and then shred
along to 28 classic songs from the '70s to today (hence the
"Decades"), with artists ranging from Queen to R.E.M. to
Paramore. The E10+ rating is for mild lyrical content, but rest
assured there are no truly naughty words to be found.
