Quick Notes:
What's this game all about?
It's a rhythm game similar to "Guitar Hero," but it includes more instruments, namely vocals and drums. If you've ever wanted to play in a band but lack the talent / motivation / music sense, this may be just the game for you.
Pros:
- Great party game
- Good song selection
- You get to play drums!
- Create-a-character Mode
- Living out your world-touring band fantasies
- Many modes to rock out in
- Downloadable content (DLC) to keep the party going
- You can modify and layer tattoos for ultimate character customization
Cons:
- The total package is expensive ($170 for PS3 / 360 Versions, $10 less for PS2)
- You can't buy individual instruments until February
- The 360 guitar is wired, and is more or less a piece of crap.
- The drums work fine, but the kick pedal is fragile (more on that later)
- I want MORE: more songs, more clothing, more customizations, etc.
Initial Impressions:
I am a rhythm game fanatic, so I have been excited about this game for some time. I had the special edition on reserve for at least 4 months, so I was ecstatic when I was able to take home the HUGE box of Rock Band goodies. Just opening and putting everything together was a great experience for me. The game itself has an exciting (if highly improbable) intro sequence that I recommend you watch at least once. The game's interface is clean and (for the most part - see below) easy to work with. Without going into too much depth everything seems to be in order, though I really would have liked a combo counter like in "Guitar Hero 3." That is honestly a minor complaint though, considering how many other things the game gets right. At first I did have trouble telling which notes I could hammer-on / pull-off for guitar and bass (a technique that is essential for nailing harder songs and solos). This problem is compounded when playing with other people when the screen is divided up, but if you only plan on playing on medium, this shouldn't be a problem.
Graphics: (9.5 / 10)
Rock Band's visual's impress on several levels. There is nothing particularly breath-taking about colored bars scrolling down the screen, but even with four players there is no slow-down (a deadly sin for a rhythm game; Guitar Hero 3 sometimes suffers from this when deploying star power). The scrolling notes aren't as visually appealing as Guitar Hero 3's because there are no designs scrolling down the screen with the notes, but losing this feature does very little to change the gameplay. Character models are detailed in great ways - being able to create a character that looked pretty close to me, and to have "in-game me" react with the crowd and the rest of the band is really a sight to see. Guitarists will sing along with the vocalist at certain points, and the experience is not unlike a Music Video. Polygon count is impressively high. Though the visuals are not as over-the-top as "Guitar Hero's," nothing seems boring, and the game is far from ugly. One of the most impressive things about the graphics in this game are how characters interact with their instruments - they all look like they are really playing their respective instruments. Gone are the robotic, somewhat lifeless character models of rhythm games past. I don't really know how the guitarist and bassist are playing without straps to hold up their instruments (an odd omission, considering the graphical power of the 360), but maybe Rock Band 2 will correct that issue.
Controls (9.25, as long as you don't use the Rock Band Guitar):
This is actually one of the places where the game stumbles, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. Using guitar controllers to input names and design characters was a little troublesome, that's really not the issue. The game handles exactly like you might expect, but as I mentioned above, the included guitar controller is trash. The strum bar feels cheap, and I personally didn't like the spacing of the buttons. Even the non-Guitar Hero initiated came to agree on the inferiority of the Rock Band guitars (My brother and his friends) after trying both. There is a certain novelty to using the Rock Band controller - you can use the "upper fret access" for push button solos, and you can use the 5-way toggle switch to turn on effects like "wah wah," and "chorus," to slightly modify the guitar sound, but ultimately it is not worth using a cheesier, cheaper controller. To make matters worse, the guitar and drum have both had high fatality rates. Buyer beware - the guitar strum bar has a bad habit of kicking the bucket after a few weeks use. I actually found the drum kit (the top half) to be much more reliable, but that didn't stop my bass pedal from almost breaking in two. It still works (barely), but I have not been an aggressive drum player, and I have insisted that no one play the drums with their shoes on. The fact that it STILL broke speaks of poor build quality. Thankfully, EA is more than willing to send me a new pedal at their expense (the peripherals are covered by an included warranty), but it will be a little futile if they just send me another pedal that will break in a month. I'll probably edit this post or add a new entry as I learn more, but the take home message is: if you already have Guitar Hero controllers, use those. If you are an aggressive drum player...expect to have to replace the drum pedal.
Music (9/10):
Rhythm games life and die by their music, and Rock Band delivers the goods. There are 58 included tracks out of the box (14 of which are bonus songs). The main tracks are a mix of Classic, Hard, Modern, and Alternative Rock. There are big name acts (like the Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath) as well as bands you may have never heard of before (Freezepop, Bang Camero). In general, I was satisfied with the song selection in the game. I was pleasantly surprised by songs like "Welcome Home," by Coheed and Cambria (it's actually quite fun) and "Next To You," by The Police (a great track for drums). Even "Dead On Arrival," by Fall Out Boy, while of questionable musical quality, was still mildly fun to play. There is really no song in the game that felt out of place. What's more, DLC will allow players to pick music that matches their tastes. If they're not into punk rock, they just won't buy the "Punk Pack." A 3-pack of songs costs about 5 bucks, which stinks considering you already shell out a lot of cash for the game and peripherals, but DLC will undoubtedly be a life-saver after you've played "Say It Ain't So," for the hundredth time.
Gameplay (10/10):
This is definitely one of the places where the game shines. Actually jumping in and playing the instruments is really fun (as long as you're peripherals aren't broken). There's something for everyone in this game. If you're new to rhythm games you can jump into guitar or bass. If you're a hardened rhythm vet, drums will offer new (and considerable) challenge. If you just want to sing along to some great tunes, you can jump on the mic. Even if you're shy about your voice (or you're totally tone deaf), you can adjust the volume of your voice versus the in-game performer's voice on the fly. Now, for the inevitable question: "Is Rock Band easier or harder then Guitar Hero 3?" The answer is a clear - easier. The game is less forgiving on timing than Guitar Hero 3 (i.e. you have less time to hit each note; this is really apparent on the harder difficulties and solos. If you just flail you're fingers, you will get destroyed), but the songs themselves don't always lend themselves to the kind of finger acrobatics Guitar Hero 3 demands. Songs like Cult of Personality and Cliffs of Dover are much, much more difficult than anything Rock Band might throw at you, with the exception of the final two tiers of songs. Rock Band has hard moments (Solo 2 of "Green Grass and High Tides" makes me want to curse like a sailor), but Guitar Hero 3 is definitely more difficult overall. Six songs are included in both games (Reptilia, Sabotage, When You Were Young, etc), but Guitar Hero has no qualms about throwing more complicated fingerings at you. One more thing I should mention before I wrap this section up is that there is NO overt, obnoxious in-game advertisements like there are in Guitar Hero 3. It really baked my potato that Neversoft threw in ads to make an extra buck (The Ax body spray guitar? Seriously?). This is nowhere to be found in Rock Band. Sure, you can only buy Fender guitars (which includes Jackson guitars...sweet) and on stage you only use Fender amps, etc, but Rock Band is much more subtle about product placement. I'm just glad I won't have to perform a music video in the "Pontiac Garage" any time soon.
A Few Minor Complaints From A Salty Rhythm Game Vet:
Aside from the fact that I want MORE - more face options, more clothing, more accessories, more instruments, and more songs, there are a few other points I feel I should bring up in this review. They aren't really deal breakers if you're considering buying the game, but if they are fixed by the time Rock Band 2 rolls around, we may very well have a perfect rhythm game on our hands.
1) It can be kind of difficult to reunite your band if your bandmates are all on different 360 accounts on the same hard drive.
I had this problem today - if you don't remember what characters are on what profile, the game will not automatically call them up for you. It seemed kind of odd that the game couldn't keep track of this; when you want to jump back into the world tour you shouldn't have to jump through that many hoops. A possible solution is to have all your characters on one account (which is not unfeasible; there does not seem to be a limit on how many you can have), but no one wants to have to start over their world tour because band member x can't find their character.
2) It irks me that I can't control the camera in the dressing room.
Again, I must say that this is a very minor complaint. Still, if I want to see how something looks on my character, and he's looking off into space and I can't see it (or see it from the angle I want), I become frustrated. The same problem applies when designing tattoos (it should be noted that you can't create your own images, but you can heavily modify a good selection of pre-included images).
3) Next time around, please try to avoid songs with 2 minute organ solos.
Two songs in particular are notorious for this ("Won't Get Fooled Again," and "Foreplay/Longtime"). They're both fun to play, but if I can take a bathroom break between the times I get to play, something is not right. I wouldn't mind it if there was a keyboard attachment (keyboard games have been done before...in Japan), but until that happens, I really don't want to sit around not playing.
4) Single Player Campaign Issues.
There are a few of them. First, your back-up band is randomly generated every time you sign in to play, so 1) there's no band continuity like in World Tour Mode (or even Guitar Hero 3), and more damningly 2) your band mates usually look ridiculous or really don't match each other (much less you) at all. Also, you don't earn nearly enough money in single player mode to buy virtual bling. After completing the expert mode (with 4+ stars on every song) I was still $40k short for even ONE of the novelty guitars (for the curious, it was the goat head guitar). This is offset somewhat by the fact that you can repeat songs and still earn money no matter what score you earn (in Guitar Hero you can only earn more funds if you beat a song at a higher level, i.e. 4 to 5 stars), but it honestly seems like the extra guitars are disproportionately expensive. One other thing - blinging out one character blings out ONLY that character. All monies earned and spent is confined to each individual character.
5) Multiplayer Campaign Issues.
There are two major complaints I have about the Multiplayer Campaign. First, if you don't have someone in your group that has songs unlocked (either through another band or single player mode), you will be playing the same songs (notably the EARLIER songs) many, many times over. If you weren't already sick of "In Bloom" or "I Think I'm Paranoid," trust me when I say - you will be. Secondly, if you do have someone who has cleared all the songs, the difficulty is much more unpredictable when doing "random setlists," (which are actually common to almost every gig you can play). One moment you may be on the easiest tier, and the next you may jump to the hardest song in the game. This might not be a big deal to people who have some familiarity with the game, but I could see how it might be discouraging to a first timer. Also, bonus songs never seem to be picked on a random set list, which I found odd.
6) The Bass Parts
It may be the nature the songs, but they're (usually) nowhere near as hard as the guitar parts. To make matters worse, they can get very, very repetitive. Where's my YYZ (Rush, see Guitar Hero 2) style bass lines?
7) The Ending / Unlockables
I won't spoil the ending for you. Actually, I couldn't even if I wanted to, because their is no discernible ending. There is a slight ending for the single player drums, but there certainly wasn't one for guitar. There isn't really an ending to the Multi-player campaign either. You can be inducted into the "Rock Hall of Fame," but there is really no motivation to do this other than the joy of being inducted. It should be noted that as you progress through the multiplayer campaign, you are slowly required to ramp up the difficulty. You can get to the hall of fame playing only on medium, but at a certain point you stop earning fans. If you don't earn enough fans, you can't play certain gigs / locations. I didn't appreciate this feature at all; I wanted to be able to enjoy all the locations without having to worry about finding 1-3 other expert players. I was honestly quite disappointed that there weren't difficulty specific unlockables like there were in Guitar Hero 3 - but I suppose the "battle ax" (ax shaped guitar) couldn't easily be topped.
Closing Thoughts:
It's official, this game ROCKS. It's expensive, but it's a great party game. It offers a great new way to interact with the music you love (or may come to love) with the drums, and offers highly competent versions of instruments you already love to "play." Sure, it won't imbue you with some mythic rock talent, but it might encourage you to get out there and get that old high school band back together...if not, at least you can still rock the virtual arenas and stadiums.
Final Verdict (not an average): 9.8 / 10
Mini Review: Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords (DS)
Pros:
- It's easy to pick up and play.
- It's very addictive.
- It's long.
- There is good incentive to keep playing even after you've beaten the main quest.
Cons:
- The writing is terrible.
- The characters are all one-dimensional.
- The game can be brutally difficult.
- The game can get repetitive.
- It's horribly ugly compared to the PC version.
Features of Note:
Without repeating what I said above, this game has some fine qualities. I liked being able to level up my character, and I thought there was a good selection of items and spell combinations to try. I think this game works particularly well on the DS because trying to play this game with a cursor and a D-pad would get very irritating very quickly. The "anime" aesthetic doesn't really impress me much, and the cut-scenes were never more than picture cut outs of characters and scrolling text, but story is definitely NOT one of this game's stronger points.
Things That Sucked:
One of the aspects that irritated me most about this game was the soundtrack, which consisted of about 4 tunes. They would constantly repeat, and they really started to grate on me because of the pops and general crap I heard out of the DS speakers. What's more, even on the easiest difficulty setting you are penalized for making an "illegal move," or one where you do not match up enough game pieces. It would be okay if you just lost a turn, but the game also takes away 5 life points. When 5 life points can make the difference between victory and defeat, and when the stylus can be a little unwieldy after you've selected an orb to move, this seems harsh. I thought the capture system was a good idea (kind of like Pokemon; once you've captured an enemy you can use their power in battle), but I had a hard time capturing many foes (these were often much harder than the battles themselves), and an even harder time figuring out how to actually get them to appear in my skill set after I captured them. The game makes you jump through a lot of hoops to get enemy skills, and I think that's lame, considering you've already beaten the monster and captured it. One final note: especially later in the game, the computer can arrange massive combos that allow its turns to go on for a really long time. In a game where a turn shouldn't last more than a few seconds, something is wrong if the computer can combo you for 30 seconds. Sometimes it felt like the computer was much more interested in helping itself, dropping in just the right orb for my opponent to screw me over. That proved very, very frustrating.
Final Verdict: 7.8 / 10
If you can get past the difficulty and you like puzzler games, this one should be a nice diversion. Ultimately, the replayability and fun factor override the bland story, soundtrack, and difficult challenge.
