 Four player rocks out galor!!! Image provided by hexus.net |
Platforms: PS2, PS3, Xbox 360
When Rockband was first announced earlier this year, the idea seemed genius. Take what Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, and other rhythm games proved was a fun idea and mesh them together into one big rocking package. A good idea on paper, but how does the final production come out?
Story: The game does have some sense of a story, though in very small calibers. You make a rock band from scratch, making each of the members of your band, including their face, hair styles, and eventually clothing once you get the cash. You start off with a gig in a city and from there you gain fans and get more gigs to try out, thus allowing you get more fans, until you eventually reach some of the biggest stages in the world. The road is long and hard, but with your Rockband, you’ll come out on top.
Gameplay: If you’ve played Guitar Hero, you pretty much know what to expect when it comes to playing the guitar or bass; just hold the corresponding button and flick the flipper to strum a note. If you’ve endured the torture of Guitar Hero 3’s insane hammer-ons and suicidal 3 minute solos, then you’ll notice handling the guitar in Rockband is significantly easier, making the game much more fun than it is painful. While you can’t perform hammer-ons except when doing a solo, you’ll quickly get the hang of playing the guitar on easy.
The two major additions in this title are the microphone and the drums, both of which bring their own degree of challenge. First off, the microphone section of the game almost requires players to know the songs they’ll be singing, inside and out to succeed at most of the songs. While it is possible to cheat your way through songs, it’s much more fun to just sing a song you know, but in order to unlock everything, you need to (like a real singer), practice-practice-practice.
The drum addition is no different. Unless you’ve played on a drumset before, playing the drums will be an experience on its own. The real challenge is not only hitting the right pad at the right time, but preventing your leg from hitting the foot pedal when you’re not supposed it. It’s a very challenging experience, but just like the microphone and guitar, with enough practice, you can get better at the drums.
One note must be made that with all these new instruments, there is bound to be broken controllers and foot pedals as you play too hard. Be good to your stuff or you might be paying more than you want to.
While there is solo-play for people to practice or even play through the world tour by themselves, the game’s glory truly shines when you get a group of people together to play each instrument. At its core, Rockband is a party game and you’ll have some fun parties with this game.
In world tour mode, though, you encounter one significant problem, you’ll be playing the same songs over and over and over again. Not to mention that there are some feats that can seem impossible as each time you fail, you lose fans and the only way to earn fans is to complete songs of difficultly levels you haven’t beaten before. It’s a long and somewhat tedious road to fame.
Graphics: Graphically, the game presents the option to customize your singer’s hairstyle and clothing, and there are plenty of options to please the numerous fans of the many rock genres presented. While the actual performance graphics are a bit shaky at first, I got over them because the graphics players will be paying attention to run as smooth as they should in a rhythm game.
Overall, I think the graphics are nice, and while they may not be as smooth as Guitar Hero 3, I almost think they add a sense of realism. (Plus the customization is pretty cool for a rock game.)
Sound: The game boasts a good selection of songs as well as a selection of mediocre songs, depending on your taste, but there’s no doubt that you and your friends will find a song they’ll all enjoy. Personally, our group loves us some Coheed and Cambria.
The main treat from Rockband is that with online services (Xbox Live for instance) will offer new song packages for players to play. In fact, there’s a Metallica package for purchase right now and there’s only going to be more as time progresses. Most of the songs are from original artists, so why not enjoy more?
Overall: So the moment of truth approaches... is $169.99 a worthy investment, especially for college students who probably has no money anyway? The game is meant to be played with multiple people. If you have reliable friends who all want to play, why not make a investment of it and have them all chip in a little; none of you should regret it.
With tons of fun already packaged in and more to come, I give Rockband a 9/10 with a point lost only due to the constant selection of songs in World Tour mode.
