Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour Hands On

We won't lie; we're pretty proud of ourselves. At a recent Disney Interactive Studios press event, we were first in line to step up to the Wii to try out the upcoming rhythm game from Disney and developer Avalanche Software, Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour for the Nintendo Wii. This was not necessarily because we were eager to play the game or because we were fans of the Disney Channel show. Instead, we figured if we were going to make fools of ourselves by dancing to a rhythm game aimed squarely at female tweens, it was best to get it out of the way early.

As a rhythm game, a good deal of your time spent in World Tour will be on stage where you'll guide Hannah through her choreography while she belts out her hits for an assembled crowd. Hannah's moves are controlled with both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk. Depending your level of self-consciousness, there are enough moves to keep you entertained throughout the entire song.

As a virtual Hannah boogies away on the upper part of the screen, various icons scroll horizontally across the lower part of the screen. Each color-coded icon stands for a different move you need to pull off. For example, a pink arrow means you should hold your left hand out to the left. A green guitar icon means you should make an air-guitar motion with both hands. There are also options for clapping both hands together, holding your hand out directly in front of you, holding the Wii Remote like a microphone, as well as combos that will have you stringing moves together. In between rhythm stages during a song, you might also be asked to high five or wave to the crowd simply by moving the Wii Remote.

The timing may take a little bit of getting used to because you have to align your move perfectly with the icon's arrival. As you progress through the routines in the game, a star meter on the right-hand side of the screen will keep you notified on your progress. The more moves you nail, the more stars you'll earn for your performance. Later, when not on stage, you can guide Hannah around various shopping locales, purchasing new outfits and accessories with the stars you've earned on stage. Before a concert begins, you'll also have a hand in designing the look of your show, which includes stage settings, wardrobe, and such special effects as lighting or pyrotechnics.

World Tour will feature nine areas to tour with Hannah, as well as locales that include Tokyo, London, and Paris. Each tour stop level will require you to perform three or four numbers. Among the songs featured in World Tour will be 14 older Hannah Montana tunes, in addition to two songs from her latest CD.

There's no doubt that the makers of World Tour are aiming the game directly at young female fans of the show who are probably going to gobble this one up. Still, parents might get a kick out of dancing along to the music with their kids too. Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour is due for release later this year.