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- Rock Band. The true sequel to Guitar Hero II, reviewed
Rock Band. The true sequel to Guitar Hero II, reviewed
- By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
- Published 01/31/2010
- Music Simulation
- Unrated
Title: Rock Band
System: Xbox 360
Publisher: MTV Games, Electronic Arts
Circa: 2007
Intro
For everyone who played the first two Guitar Heroes, this is more your style game. While Guitar Hero kept one for a new installments with just guitar work, Rock Band was the first to branch out into the other instruments of the band. Supporting up to four players in a co-op band mode, this game lived up to its name and delivered something that was needed, hard rock ‘n roll. While it came out alongside Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, this game had a things Guitar Hero would lack for a few more games.
Story
You are a lowly no-name artist/band. This is your story telling of your rise to fame. Get sponsored!
Gameplay
With singing, drums and the two styles of guitar, this was the first game to really bring out all the choices you have with playing in a band. It certainly is possible to mix it up and change around what you are playing fairly easily too. The only caveat here is it seems a different Rocker is needed for the different instruments. However, it is very easy to make a nice customer rocker and then continue to improve their look and wardrobe as you go through the game, earning money. It offers a good bit of customization, more so with the tattoos than look, as you can only change the color and what you are wearing with it.
Regardless of the musical instrument used, there is a scroll bar that will show what you are going to be aiming for next. A lot like the DDR series, it leads you through the song. Opposed to the circular notes of Guitar Hero, Rock Band has simple bars showing what to hit when.
Singing is a slightly different creature. Similar to the Karaoke games out on the market, a horizontal scroll-bar is shown. As the lyrics come, a line is shown here, and an arrow so you can see where your pitch is. Just like with the karaoke games, the idea is to have the arrow spend as much time on the pitch-line as possible. How harsh or forgiving it is depends on the difficulty setting for the singer.
The drums are fairly simple. Bars will show to indicate which pad should be hit. If a yellow line appears, you need to hit the foot pedal. The Overdrive for this is also activated differently from the others. There will be segments for a drum roll, if you hit the pads, you will see a glowing note bar show up on one of the tracks. After the finish of the drum roll, hit that note to trigger your Overdrive. Drums take some practice to get because of that.
When it comes to controllers, there are some notes to be made on the Guitars for Rock Band. While they are longer necked, have a sound effect switch and were the first to have two sets of fret buttons, they also have a very spongy strum. That strum is a solid gripe of mine, as it feels like it interferes slightly with some songs. For everything else this guitar offers though, it more than tops the Guitar Hero ones.
Multiplayer
While at first glace, the screen seems very cluttered, it shows a remarkable amount of forethought and planning. To have the various instruments marked and put in their own specific spots is a very helpful thing. The more players you add, up to the maximum of four, the more notes need to be shown and done so in a way everyone can tell what is what. In this, it exceeds.
Another thing of very worthwhile about this is the support system the game has while in Band Mode. If someone just messed up a bit or got nailed by a section that was more than they could handle and have “failed” the song, another member of the band can use their Overdrive to revive the fallen band-mate up to three times. After that, it is hoping that the crowd bar will hold until the end of the song.
Controls
The most complex would be either the drums, with a golden bar-line showing you need to hit the foot pedal, or the singing, just given the nature of it. Much of what Guitar Hero handles like remains here. Learning the controls is just a matter of practice for any instrument.
Graphics
Even though it is a little dated now, it looks great. It is easy to see all the tattoos, piercings and everything else you put on your character, or the random characters have on them. The instruments in game are well rendered as well, making it very easy to see, in fair detail, just what the performer is doing. This is very cool in some of the animation sequences with the camera on the guitar itself.
Sound Effects & Music
This is one of the key features of the game. What sound effects there are in can be eclipsed very easily by the music tracks. The music though is top notch. Having a good variety of songs, like “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Dani California” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Wanted, Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi and many other great songs.
Obscurity
This is a well-known party game at this point.
Summary/Author's Take
While I might not be a big fan of the guitar controller, everything else about the game I like. I feel it offers a better track selection than most of the Guitar Heroes have to do. It is also possible to export the songs from Rock Band and import them into Rock Band 2. That is not something Guitar Hero has done to date and it looks unlikely to happen.
Story: 80% Very basic, but there is something.
Gameplay: 93% Easy enough to get interested, takes time to get good.
Multiplayer: 97% Excels here.
Controls: 92% Practice, practice.
Graphics: 94% Well rendered.
SFX & Music: 98% Nice touches and great tunes.
Obscurity: 35% Rock Band? When?
Overall: 95% A solid music party game.
System: Xbox 360
Publisher: MTV Games, Electronic Arts
Circa: 2007
Intro
For everyone who played the first two Guitar Heroes, this is more your style game. While Guitar Hero kept one for a new installments with just guitar work, Rock Band was the first to branch out into the other instruments of the band. Supporting up to four players in a co-op band mode, this game lived up to its name and delivered something that was needed, hard rock ‘n roll. While it came out alongside Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, this game had a things Guitar Hero would lack for a few more games.
Story
You are a lowly no-name artist/band. This is your story telling of your rise to fame. Get sponsored!
Gameplay
With singing, drums and the two styles of guitar, this was the first game to really bring out all the choices you have with playing in a band. It certainly is possible to mix it up and change around what you are playing fairly easily too. The only caveat here is it seems a different Rocker is needed for the different instruments. However, it is very easy to make a nice customer rocker and then continue to improve their look and wardrobe as you go through the game, earning money. It offers a good bit of customization, more so with the tattoos than look, as you can only change the color and what you are wearing with it.
Regardless of the musical instrument used, there is a scroll bar that will show what you are going to be aiming for next. A lot like the DDR series, it leads you through the song. Opposed to the circular notes of Guitar Hero, Rock Band has simple bars showing what to hit when.
Singing is a slightly different creature. Similar to the Karaoke games out on the market, a horizontal scroll-bar is shown. As the lyrics come, a line is shown here, and an arrow so you can see where your pitch is. Just like with the karaoke games, the idea is to have the arrow spend as much time on the pitch-line as possible. How harsh or forgiving it is depends on the difficulty setting for the singer.
The drums are fairly simple. Bars will show to indicate which pad should be hit. If a yellow line appears, you need to hit the foot pedal. The Overdrive for this is also activated differently from the others. There will be segments for a drum roll, if you hit the pads, you will see a glowing note bar show up on one of the tracks. After the finish of the drum roll, hit that note to trigger your Overdrive. Drums take some practice to get because of that.
When it comes to controllers, there are some notes to be made on the Guitars for Rock Band. While they are longer necked, have a sound effect switch and were the first to have two sets of fret buttons, they also have a very spongy strum. That strum is a solid gripe of mine, as it feels like it interferes slightly with some songs. For everything else this guitar offers though, it more than tops the Guitar Hero ones.
Multiplayer
While at first glace, the screen seems very cluttered, it shows a remarkable amount of forethought and planning. To have the various instruments marked and put in their own specific spots is a very helpful thing. The more players you add, up to the maximum of four, the more notes need to be shown and done so in a way everyone can tell what is what. In this, it exceeds.
Another thing of very worthwhile about this is the support system the game has while in Band Mode. If someone just messed up a bit or got nailed by a section that was more than they could handle and have “failed” the song, another member of the band can use their Overdrive to revive the fallen band-mate up to three times. After that, it is hoping that the crowd bar will hold until the end of the song.
Controls
The most complex would be either the drums, with a golden bar-line showing you need to hit the foot pedal, or the singing, just given the nature of it. Much of what Guitar Hero handles like remains here. Learning the controls is just a matter of practice for any instrument.
Graphics
Even though it is a little dated now, it looks great. It is easy to see all the tattoos, piercings and everything else you put on your character, or the random characters have on them. The instruments in game are well rendered as well, making it very easy to see, in fair detail, just what the performer is doing. This is very cool in some of the animation sequences with the camera on the guitar itself.
Sound Effects & Music
This is one of the key features of the game. What sound effects there are in can be eclipsed very easily by the music tracks. The music though is top notch. Having a good variety of songs, like “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Dani California” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Wanted, Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi and many other great songs.
Obscurity
This is a well-known party game at this point.
Summary/Author's Take
While I might not be a big fan of the guitar controller, everything else about the game I like. I feel it offers a better track selection than most of the Guitar Heroes have to do. It is also possible to export the songs from Rock Band and import them into Rock Band 2. That is not something Guitar Hero has done to date and it looks unlikely to happen.
Story: 80% Very basic, but there is something.
Gameplay: 93% Easy enough to get interested, takes time to get good.
Multiplayer: 97% Excels here.
Controls: 92% Practice, practice.
Graphics: 94% Well rendered.
SFX & Music: 98% Nice touches and great tunes.
Obscurity: 35% Rock Band? When?
Overall: 95% A solid music party game.
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