In 2007, Harmonix Music Systems (Guitar Hero, Amplitude) and MTV Games released a game called Rock Band. It got rave reviews, and made tons of moolah. With a sequel a month away, I finally got my hands on a stand-alone copy (can't afford the full pack, due to the Catch-22 that says you cannot get a job without job experience). Therefore, my review is just of the guitar portion.
The game has a minimal plot. You create a rocker (bout freaking time) and...play in a cover band. Spoiled? That is the plot. But if you need a plot in every game you play, go play in the corner while I boot up Tetris. My point is that not every game needs a plot. This game does not.
The character creation is awesome, especially for a first attempt. You make up a name (my most recent character is named Richard Salieri), gender, hometown (about 9 choices, deciding what order the venues are in), type of rocker (decides what moves your rocker makes, skin color, face (several presets and eye colors), and hair (many styles and colors). The number of possible combinations is staggering, to say the least. And that's not even getting into stuff you can buy later, like clothes, tattoos, and customizable guitars.
After making your rocker, you start playing. There are 9 venues, each with 5 songs, bonus songs (which you don't have to buy. Glee!) and downloadable songs (more on this later). The song variety is awesome. You have punk ("Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash), prog rock (a rather meh cover of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush), metal ("Enter Sandman" by Metallica), glam rock ("Detroit Rock City" by Kiss) and even southern rock ("Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchet.) The first song in the game is "Should I Stay or Should I Go", while the very last, and by far the hardest for guitar, is "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws (cover, but a damn good one). The songs have a very smooth progression from easy to hard, and there are no brick wall moments like in GHIII (except for maybe GGAHT). All in all, Activision should be making notes.
The bonus songs are fairly good, but mostly standard fare...with one exception, Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld. That's right, the South Park band. What's even more surprising is that on guitar, this is easily the most brutal song on the list, with me barely passing it. You have HMX bands, Freezepop, Crooked X...but come on, how can you go wrong with South Park?
The downloadable support is amazing. Every week, new songs come out for Rock Band. These songs range from bands like Dream Theater ("Constant Motion"), to Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Fortunate Son" cover), to Duran Duran ("Rio"), to Boston (several songs, my personal favorite being "Hitch a Ride")...there is just so much variety. They also tell you what tier the song is in before you download it, give you a preview of the song, and tell you if it is a cover or not. The songs cost, on average, $2 apiece, but you can save some money by downloading a three pack or even a full album (current album choices being "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest, "The Cars" by The Cars, and "Doolittle" by The Pixies). Or you could switch to Geico. *ahem* There are also several songs out there that only cost $1 (my favorite being "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx A.M.) and two free songs ("Still Alive" by GlaDOS and "Promised Land" by Vesuvius). Overall, I am more impressed by the quality of this DLC than either of the Guitar Hero sequels.
There is no reason to not by this game. If you have friends that play, it is an absolute blast, but if you are forced by circumstance to play by yourself, like me, it is still far better than the Guitar Hero games. It is money you will not regret spending. Just avoid using the Stratocaster unless you have to. It has a silent strum bar, which will likely throw you off beat if you've been playing too much Guitar Hero, and feels really flimsy.
The game has a minimal plot. You create a rocker (bout freaking time) and...play in a cover band. Spoiled? That is the plot. But if you need a plot in every game you play, go play in the corner while I boot up Tetris. My point is that not every game needs a plot. This game does not.
The character creation is awesome, especially for a first attempt. You make up a name (my most recent character is named Richard Salieri), gender, hometown (about 9 choices, deciding what order the venues are in), type of rocker (decides what moves your rocker makes, skin color, face (several presets and eye colors), and hair (many styles and colors). The number of possible combinations is staggering, to say the least. And that's not even getting into stuff you can buy later, like clothes, tattoos, and customizable guitars.
After making your rocker, you start playing. There are 9 venues, each with 5 songs, bonus songs (which you don't have to buy. Glee!) and downloadable songs (more on this later). The song variety is awesome. You have punk ("Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash), prog rock (a rather meh cover of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush), metal ("Enter Sandman" by Metallica), glam rock ("Detroit Rock City" by Kiss) and even southern rock ("Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchet.) The first song in the game is "Should I Stay or Should I Go", while the very last, and by far the hardest for guitar, is "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws (cover, but a damn good one). The songs have a very smooth progression from easy to hard, and there are no brick wall moments like in GHIII (except for maybe GGAHT). All in all, Activision should be making notes.
The bonus songs are fairly good, but mostly standard fare...with one exception, Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld. That's right, the South Park band. What's even more surprising is that on guitar, this is easily the most brutal song on the list, with me barely passing it. You have HMX bands, Freezepop, Crooked X...but come on, how can you go wrong with South Park?
The downloadable support is amazing. Every week, new songs come out for Rock Band. These songs range from bands like Dream Theater ("Constant Motion"), to Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Fortunate Son" cover), to Duran Duran ("Rio"), to Boston (several songs, my personal favorite being "Hitch a Ride")...there is just so much variety. They also tell you what tier the song is in before you download it, give you a preview of the song, and tell you if it is a cover or not. The songs cost, on average, $2 apiece, but you can save some money by downloading a three pack or even a full album (current album choices being "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest, "The Cars" by The Cars, and "Doolittle" by The Pixies). Or you could switch to Geico. *ahem* There are also several songs out there that only cost $1 (my favorite being "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx A.M.) and two free songs ("Still Alive" by GlaDOS and "Promised Land" by Vesuvius). Overall, I am more impressed by the quality of this DLC than either of the Guitar Hero sequels.
There is no reason to not by this game. If you have friends that play, it is an absolute blast, but if you are forced by circumstance to play by yourself, like me, it is still far better than the Guitar Hero games. It is money you will not regret spending. Just avoid using the Stratocaster unless you have to. It has a silent strum bar, which will likely throw you off beat if you've been playing too much Guitar Hero, and feels really flimsy.
