[Now Playing| Jam with the Band - DS]

Single Player mode selection

This is one of the original launch games for the DS in Japan and I finally got around to importing it recently. I have to say that this has got to be my favorite DS game so far. I’m a DDR and other music related games fan, so this games fits perfectly well in my lineup. In a nutshell, you get to play as a member of a band.

Once you’ve selected a song, you choose which instrument track you wish to play. Each instrument track has a different difficulty rating and different pattern, so this makes mastering each song a long process of playing through each instrument until you get the hang of it, giving it a lot of replay value. This game features J-Pop songs, World music, TV themes (including the intro/credits of Full Metal Alchemist, Ready Steady Go and Melissa), Classics, and of course, Game music medleys. I think the reason we’re not seeing this game yet in the US is because they have to change the J-Pop music into American music and also some Game themes that are not available over here. Game play revolves on two buttons at first, the D-pad or any face button. As you get better, you unlock the amateur mode where each button is used, the arrows and the face buttons separately.

Multiplayer Mode selection

Another great addition to this game is the multiplayer features. I’ve only been able to try out the single cart mode as I’m the only one around here that has a copy. The single cart mode let’s you play with up to 8 players on the same song, each playing a different instrument. This makes the game very interesting as you’re all co-operating in making the song sound as it should. I’ve tried up to 4 player co-op so far, and I have to say we have a blast every time we play. Taking up hours of our time and until our DS batteries lose their charge. But even there, we keep playing while charging the DS back up. In case you’re wondering, the unused instruments are set on auto-play so that the rest of the song is still played and you don’t just get stuck with say… a drum and a bass. The song of the instrument you’re playing sounds louder on your own DS so that you know if you’re screwing up or not. The other multiplayer modes supports up to an unlimited amount of players, I am guessing you can have each instrument multiple times.

Gameplay screenshot Song selection

All in all, this game is worth importing if you like these kind of games, since it takes a couple of minutes to navigate the menus at first, but once you’re in the game, you don’t have to worry about the Japanese anymore.