Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN 1.0 / 2.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

E3 impressions - Major Minor's Majestic March

by rawmeatcowboy
16 July 2008
GN 1.0 / 2.0

You guys know that I was excited for this game. I love the developer behind the title. I also love music games, even though I’m not too into marching bands. I had no idea the game was going to be playable at the show, and I snagged the open demo unit as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, I was left very saddened by my experience. I don’t know, maybe I was missing something…

I was so tempted to be smarmy with my impressions of this game. I originally wanted to take a video of myself mimicking the game, and let that speak for my impressions. Due to internet trouble, I had to change my plan of attack. Instead of watching a fat guy mock a game, you get to read impressions from one.

I swear to you, my entire playtime with MMMM was spent moving the Wiimote in and up/down motion. Up…down…up…down…Up…down…up…down…Up…down…up…down…Up…down…up…down…getting bored yet? I sure did, and it didn’t take long at all. I stuck with the game though, and played through all the tutorials and both levels that were open. I did absolutely nothing different for my entire playtime. I hit buttons, I used different motions…I tried to see if I was missing something. Everytime I did that, the game yelled at me for stopping my up..down…repeat input.

So yes, basically, the Wiimote is your band leader baton. You walk through the levels automatically, and you have to keep the pace of the marching band song. The better you do, the more people will join up with you. You can see their appreciation of your talent via a meter above their head. If they like what you’re doing, they will run behind you. The meter on the bottom of the screen lets you see who is following, and what they are adding in.

My main problem was, if I missed adding certain people to my band, the game would let me continue on for another 10 seconds or so…then stop. It would then rewind me back to that important person, and tell me to work harder at getting them to join the band. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to keep seeing the game rewind for you to pick up people. A hugely annoying mechanic, in my opinion.

So yeah…I’m a very sad guy. While I love the team working on the title, I just didn’t get any enjoyment from the game. Like I said, it’s just an early demo. Things may come together and make me do a 180…it’s definitely possible. All I know is, the most I got out of MMMM was a laugh from people watching. They seemed to enjoy watching a large fellow perform that particular motion over and over again with the Wiimote. I don’t know what on earth they could have been thinking about…