Try as I might not to sour on a game because other players slam it, I couldn't help pushing “Wii Music” to the absolute bottom of my game queue when it was released last fall.

Between the silly E3 demonstration of Nintendo executives randomly waving their Wii controllers like instruments and the soundtrack's composition of traditional songs like “Happy Birthday” and “Yankee Doodle,” I had little reason to expect a new rhythm game giant to arise.

It turns out I had no reason, because that was never Nintendo's aim.

After finally getting to the game fallaciously thought to be the venerable publisher's response to the rhythm video game craze, I can let go of the nagging sensation that I may have missed out on another surprise gem from Shigeru Miyamoto. “Wii Music” is not nearly the work of brilliance players have come to expect from the “Super Mario Brothers” creator.

But I don't regret the time I spent with Miyamoto's latest title, nor do I echo fellow players in condemning it as an ugly offspring of “Guitar Hero.” Again, that's not the game's ambition.

“Wii Music” allows players to mimic the process of performing music with the motion-sensing powers of the Wiimote and nunchuk. By hammering the controllers like drumsticks, clutching them like the strings and neck of a guitar or simply waving the Wiimote like a conductor's baton, players dictate the sounds they hear.

This approach distinguishes “Wii Music” from other rhythm games on a fundamental level. Though “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” weave the illusion of playing music by requiring players to match songs note-for-note, they leave little to no room for improvising. Whammy bars and drum fills represent the extent to which these games enable a player's musical creativity.

In “Wii Music,” players are not only fully free but encouraged to embellish upon the classic, if slightly underwhelming soundtrack that includes “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Ode to Joy.” The main jam mode enables players - alone or with friends - to record “performances” of these songs on multiple instruments. Players can mindlessly follow the notes or make the experience fun by adding their own flourishes at will.

The only obstacle is the unwieldiness of the Wiimote and nunchuk's motion-sensing abilities, which will result in some undesirable sounds on occasion. With some instruments, such as drums and piano, the range of different noises produced by the same gesture can be puzzling and over-intuitive to the point that the game feels like it's doing all the creating for you.

Aside from these occasional problems, “Wii Music's” jam mode invites and cultivates the type of creativity forsaken by “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” in the interest of rock star apery.

Complementing this open-ended crux of “Wii Music” are its minigames, which place players in more structured challenges ranging from the familiar (the scrolling notes of “Handbell Harmony”) to the slightly amusing (“Mii Maestro,” where players control an orchestra's pace with the wave of the Wiimote wand).

Players won't approach the finger-cramping difficulty of performing music the way other rhythm games aspire to. But “Wii Music” will convince players that the sounds they hear are closer to their control than they appear.

David Wilcox

253-5311 ext. 245

david.wilcox@lee.net

If you play

Game: “Wii Music”

Score: B

Price: $44.96

Designers: Shigeru Miyamoto and Kazumi Totaka

Publisher: Nintendo

Parental rating: E for everyone

Platform: Wii

Play: Single, multiplayer

The final boss: Once players stop grouping “Wii Music” with rhythm games like “Rock Band” or “Guitar Hero,” they'll find much fun in Nintendo's creatively nourishing music title.