5 Kid-Friendly Music Games That Aren't Rock Band or Guitar Hero

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:04:00 GMT

Kicking out the kid-friendly jams with Wii Music.

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's no such thing as a mistake 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
The Naked Brothers Band's first music-rhythm game was built on a good idea (join Nickelodeon's flagship kid rockers on a world tour) and a fan-enticing soundtrack, but for anyone used to Rock Band-style gameplay, the game can 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. (Unlike the DS version, those two editions also include an external mic.) That said, my Naked Brothers-obsessed 5-year-old amazingly had less trouble adjusting to this game than he did figuring out Guitar Hero or any other title requiring "real" fake instruments. That may be because, given the target audience's age, the room for error on The Naked Brothers Band The Video Game is unusually 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 axe-slinging experience to a pick stylus and a fist-sized "fretboard" that plugs into your DS Lite's Game Boy Advance slot. Although there are some cool features (you blow into the DS' mic to extinguish pyro blasts, for instance) and a welcome sharing mode that lets you stream tunes across both versions of On Tour, the game's core mechanics haven't changed much. The experience, however, has: You can customize your character based on its era and shred along to 28 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 lyrical content, but there are no truly naughty words to be found.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Hits Stores Today for Xbox 360

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:04:00 GMT

You've never needed to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Microsoft's Viva Piñata video-game series, and with all the fun, easy-to-grasp features packed into the game's latest edition, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, you'll be hardcore about bringing the whole family along for the experience.

Rare Ltd., the development team behind Viva Piñata, has returned for Trouble in Paradise, but this time around, it's expanded the game's features well beyond those of the original piñata garden. Here, we find Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians wiping out all the computer records behind Piñata Central, so when you take the controller, you're tasked with helping to rebuild the piñata database by sending piñatas at "full candiosity" to parties all over the world. In other words, where Viva Piñata made for a fun solo adventure, this one's loaded with all sorts of social, multiplayer-friendly features that let you rope friends, family and friendly strangers into the game.

Using Xbox LIVE, you can invite up to four players into your personal Piñata Island journey, contact other gamers to trade items and piñatas you pick up along the way, and compete in various sporting events. You can also invite friends and family into a game simply by plugging in an extra controller this time. The game also packs a ton of awesome customization features, including "Piñata Vision," which allows you to drop piñata cards -- which you make by taking printable photos of your prized piñatas during gameplay -- into the game by flashing them at your Xbox LIVE Vision Camera, as well as 32 new species of piñatas (some good, some bad) that can make their way into your personal piñata garden.

If you're not familiar with Viva Piñata, or if you're trying to introduce an especially young or green gamer to the series, the learning curve's also been lowered significantly with Trouble in Paradise. In the new "Just for Fun Mode," you can jump right into the action without any of the bad guys or piñata health problems that might befall a more advanced game, and using the new Player Guide System, you can have a veritable hand-holding through the entire game. Not to worry, though: It's such a blast overssing your piñatas that you'll become an expert by way of addiction.

Exclusively for Xbox 360 and rated "E" for everyone, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is available at major offline retailers, as well as online for $39.99 via Amazon.

droolicious : kid-friendly games

5 Kid-Friendly Music Games That Aren't Rock Band or Guitar Hero

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Hits Stores Today for Xbox 360