this game will hook you at first with it looking like guitar hero by it ends up to dissapoint it is confuseing and hard!!
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Jam Sessions
(2007, Video Games - Music, Rated E10+, Play it on: Nintendo DS)
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings(Flash is loading. If this text does not disappear you need to install the latest flash version)
Not age appropriate for kids under 7, age appropriate for kids over 8; suggested age 8. -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Your DS becomes a guitar, but without music games.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 8 and Up
The good stuff
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Educational value:
What to watch out for
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Violence & scariness:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Jam Sessions was written by Erin Bell
Parents need to know that this game is designed to simulate playing the guitar, so gamers expecting music games will be disappointed. Younger gamers might get bored with the game's simple, no-frills interface and lack of characters, story, and traditional gameplay challenges. Older players with an ear for music should have fun teaching themselves to "play."
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about the musical pieces the child has composed and why they chose certain chords. What chords naturally sound good together? How do major, minor, and seventh chords relate to each other? Does this game make them want to play an instrument in real life?
More on Jam Sessions
What’s the Story?
JAM SESSIONS is not really a game but a portable guitar simulation that allows you to realistically re-create the experience of playing guitar along with your favorite tunes. Once you've mastered the basics, you can experiment in Free Play mode and record your ideas for posterity (you can transfer your creations off the DS using a line-in cable). You don't "win" anything by playing through a song accurately.
The interface is exceedingly simple: It's literally a guitar string stretched across the DS' lower screen with the stylus doubling as a plectrum for strumming. Up to eight musical chords (such as C, Am and G7) are mapped to the eight directions of the directional pad. By holding down one of the buttons and dragging the stylus across the string, you can strum a chord. Jam Sessions has a library of more than 100 chords you can map to the chord palette, and you can also assign effects such as Distortion, Chorus, and Flanger to the L and R buttons to apply on the fly.
CloseIs It Any Good?
It's quite amazing how realistically Jam Sessions captures the mechanics of guitar playing. For example, longer stylus strokes create louder chords. Up- and down strokes sound different as they do in real life, and you can even do muted string effects (to re-create the cool wocka-wocka sounds in "Wild Thing," for example).
Jam Sessions would be more accessible if it had some sort of game mode. As it stands, it remains a rather idiosyncratic piece of software. It's also a shame that you can't record vocals via the DS microphone along with your guitar playing. However, Jam Sessions is still a useful tool for budding composers and serves as a great stepping stone towards learning to play a real guitar.
ClosePublisher’s Details
Released on 09/13/2007, price $29.99, not online enabled
ESRB rating: E10+ (for Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes)
ESRB rating: E10+ (for Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes)
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Most Recent Reviews
- I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
Fun in the beginning
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