JAM Live Music Arcade

pro

Jam mode gives you an almost infinite amount of ways to make your very own versions of the 32 songs included in the game. Each song contains between 25 and 75 different loops and one-shots that you can combine to either challenge yourself by recreating a song to perfection, or make your very own awesome mix. Putting the game away becomes increasingly more difficult as you discover ways to make it all that much cooler.

pro

The sense of achievement you get when everything just clicks and you've made a song your own in Jam mode is extraordinary. But Jam Live Music Arcade also packs a more familiar arcade mode for those that require a more traditional music game.

pro

While you can play this game using a controller, using your existing guitar peripheral is absolutely recommended and a good excuse to dust it off. The controls using a guitar are both intuitive and simple, making it all that much easier to get into the groove.

con

While the press release might throw around words like major, chart-topping artists, the truth is that except for artist like Owl City, Modest Mouse, Fatboy Slim and Fall Out Boy, there's a lot of smaller local indie bands that you've probably never heard of. Much of the fun in jam mode is creating your own versions of songs you know. The game will have DLC at some point which might remedy some of this.

con

The point system in jam mode doesn't really matter, and I wish it did. You get rewarded for good timing and that's it, which in the end feels a bit unrewarding. Instead of getting gold just for going on long enough, it would be cool to be scored on creative mixing and transitions. I do understand that this might be hard given the creative point of the mode, but maybe points should have been excluded altogether.

pro

While two modes and 32 songs might sound a bit on the short end, the $9.99 price point gives you a game that basically lasts as long as your creativity does, which is a very good deal. Add in leaderboards and future DLC and Jam Live Music Arcade becomes a very compelling package.

con

The different venues (background visualizers) and GUI leaves a bit to be desired.