If you like music based games chances are that your house, flat or cave is filled with plastic instruments. 505 Games felt they needed to rectify this and have released We Rock: Drum King on the Wii. All you need to 'rock' is either two Wii remotes or a remote and nunchuck. Naturally these are held like drum sticks and you waggle yourself silly to the beat with UI very similar to that of Guitar Hero. You might be thinking this all sounds a bit plop and is yet another kid-friendly adult-boring title. But you'd be wrong. We Rock: Drum King is surprisingly fun and addictive with a good mixture of songs from all eras of music. The full list can be found if you read on but the one I had the most fun with was Soundgarden's Spoonman. I was actually grinning like a tosser when playing and loved every waggle. Initially you'll have one page of songs to play through with four others locked until your score increases enough to unlock three songs at a time. This makes for a good pace of gameplay and forces you to play songs you might have neglected. For example I'm not a big fan of Blur so was reluctant to play their Song 2. When I did however, I grudgingly enjoyed it. I must add though that all the songs are almost laughable covers of the originals better suited for TJ Hughes or Primark than a music game. But even Guitar Hero started with similar covers so it's hard to hold it against 505 Games.

The game does have its problems though. The difficulty is completely out with no middle ground between what is essentially quite easy and what can be very difficult. The reason mainly is because of just using two controllers means that in order to supposedly hit different notes, you have to hold down the B button and waggle. But you may also have to use the same hand to waggle without holding B straight away which can feel a bit of a blur when done at speed. Thankfully a lot of fun can still be had on the easiest setting and there's also a practice mode if you feel you want to take on the harder difficulty once perfected.

I had and still am having a laugh with We Rock: Drum King and highly recommend it to those looking for a simple and charming experience. It might not be able to stand next to Rock Band and Guitar Hero with their level of polish but does give anyone willing to put up with some dodgy covers a good value for money.



We Will Rock You - Queen
The Final Countdown – Europe
Be My Baby – The Ronettes
Song 2 – Blur
Banquet – Bloc Party
Cissy Strut (instrumental) – The Meters
In Too Deep – Sum 41
Spoonman – Soundgarden
Click Click Boom – Saliva
Can’t Get Enough – Bad Company
Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
Can’t Stand Losing You – The Police
Saturday Superhouse – Biffy Clyro
She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult
The Take Over, The Break’s Over – Fall Out Boy
Organ Donor (instrumental) – DJ Shadow
Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf
Mickey – Toni Basil
Stay With Me – Faces
No One Knows – Queens Of The Stone Age
Blister In The Sun – Violent Femmes
By The Way – Offcuts
Direction – Starting Line
All Star – Smash Mouth
Fight The Good Fight – Triumph
I Fought The Law – The Clash
On Top Of The World – Boys Like Girls
Lifestyles Of The Rich And The Famous – Good Charlotte
Pull Me Under – Dream Theatre
Let There Be Drums – The Ventures