Publisher:
MTV Games
Developer:
Harmonix
Release date:
Nov 22 2007
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

The obvious start to any review of a game about playing rock music would be a quote from Twisted Sister “I wanna rock” or any throw out of many bands starting off with “Are you ready to rock?”. Well anything that gets you ready to belt out on the microphone, thrash on the guitar or bang away on the drums will start you off right for Rock Band. Load up your best list of rock music on your mp3 player as I take you into the world of Rock.

The latest edition of rhythm based games comes in the deluxe form of not focusing on just one aspect of music but each of the core essentials to a band. Gamers will be able to test their skill at playing guitar, bass, drums and taking the microphone to sing away some of the greatest songs in rock history. The Rock Band track list is composed of songs ranging from the 60′s to today covering most main genres of rock influenced music. So whatever your taste in music you should find something to get your motor running.

Playing each instrument gives a different experience, even when going from guitar to bass. Well I shall give you a review of each of the pieces of hardware included with the bundled edition of Rock Band.
First thing anyone probably is curious about is how the drums feel for this game. There was a lot of worry that production on the drum hardware would be hindered due to trying to keep costs down. Fear not the drums feel sturdy and makes you a little more comfortable with banging away on them. The drums come in many pieces that you can easily assemble with no need of directions. Once assembled the drums are fairly adjustable with being able to change the height of the drums and moving the kick pedal to a more comfortable place for each player. The only downfall to the drums with customized setting is where the actual drum pads are located. With a real drum kit the hi-hat is positioned to the far right and snare in the middle. Where drummers will play on the hi-hat with their right hand and snare with their left, players will still be playing each of these parts of the drums with the correct hand but the positioning is different. On the actual drum pads you have, starting from left to right, the snare then your hi-hat followed by a tom and then cymbal during main parts of the song. So this has caused some complaints from actual drummers due to having to learn a new positioning of the instrument they are used to. Overall the drums are very sturdy and players realize this as they play them more. They provide a very solid interface to the game. Rock Band even includes real wood drumsticks and not cheap plastic imitations to use, so this can confirm that the drums are built to withstand some pounding.

Next up in the line of Rock Band instruments is the Fender Stratocaster guitar. This will be the most critical part of the game due to players having the chance already to play with Guitar Hero’s style guitars in the past. At first the guitar is a reminder of child hood days with the toy plastic feel to the neck of the guitar. This is a small detail that will soon be forgotten when gamers start to rock away at the songs. Many new design features have changed between the Rock Band guitar and the Guitar Hero guitar. The Stratocaster guitar seems to make the step into music based rhythm games easier as the fret buttons are easier to reach with your fingers due to being closer.

Something else new with the guitar is the addition of the solo buttons. At the base of the neck there are second set of buttons, that are smaller, which are intended for playing the solo part of songs. When playing the solo buttons you won’t have to use the strum bar and can simply tap your way through the solo. For players with longer fingers, this will probably require you to use two hands due to the buttons being so small and making it awkward to try to play with one hand. Another change in the guitar design is the color facing of the buttons. With Guitar Hero guitars your buttons are the color of their intended notes in the game, while the Rock Band guitar fret buttons are the same color as the rest of the guitar’s neck. Instead they put the color bar on the side of the buttons so if you can take your eyes off the screen you will be able to look at the neck and see which colors your fingers are placed on. Another change to the guitar is the strum bar. The strummer feels more fluid and doesn’t make a clicking sound like the Guitar Hero guitars. At first this seemed like it was throwing off the groove of the song because we have been so accustomed to hearing that sound it was like a metronome to the song. In my experience with the guitar, after a few songs, players of the previous Guitar Hero series will either decide which guitar style the will sign allegiance to. So far in my entourage of friends it seems hardcore Guitar Hero players series still prefer the old guitar over the new Rock Band guitar. Another note to the guitar is there were a rather large number of faulty guitars but EA Games has been very quick to allow free replacements for them. Rockers will just have to be without a guitar for a few weeks while they wait on shipment of the return box then the process of sending the guitar back and having a new one returned.

Last but not least is the microphone. There isn’t much to say about this piece of hardware since there are no moving parts. The real instrument here is the players vocals and the microphone is just the way for the game to interact with the instrument.

Another piece of hardware needed to be mentioned, since this review is based off the Xbox 360 version, is the USB hub that comes with the game. Each of the instruments are wired where this can requires a new way to plug in since the Xbox 360 only has 3 USB ports. While the USB hub gets the job done, it does seem like the cheapest piece of hardware with the game. With a thin plastic shell, it feels like you would be able to crush it with your bare hands. Another downside to the USB hub is that it requires another power source and this itself causes new problems due to the power cord is rather short as is the cable used to plug into the game system. A suggestion would be to find an extension cable for the power and USB extension cable to use.

As with any music based game, a look at the songs that make up the game have to be looked at. The included songs with Rock Band is a great list of tunes to rock out to. Check out Rock Band’s Official Site for the full list. This is a very diverse track list and provides hours of fun for players. When Rock Band was in production it was announced there would be a generous supply of downloadable content and it’s nice to see they are keeping the promise. Already there are several new songs available for download from Xbox Live with just as diverse of a selection as the default setlist. The songs seemed to be priced a little bit higher then Guitar Hero songs have been in the past but it has to be taken into account that the programming for these songs takes a bit more then just designing guitar notes.

Graphically Rock Band doesn’t push the envelope. This isn’t that big a deal because rhythm based games tend to not be about all the high end graphics. Some time was put into the character design which is a nice change from the Guitar Hero games. Players will be able to create their own custom designed character, changing the aspects of height, weight, hair style and clothing style. Also, with the money made from playing the single player career or multiplayer band career, you will be able to purchase new outfits and instruments for you characters. Another nice feature to the graphics of Rock Band is the way the show is presented. Each venue gives the showmanship of being at a rock concert with the flashing lights, pyrotechnics and smoke machines. The characters also act in more of a lively manner instead of seeming as though they are tied down to the stage. Watching the special effects of the show presentation and the way the characters move on stage mixed with the excellent camera work, it would be like watching a band’s live dvd if not for the note bars on the screen. The note bars for each character have been managed well on the screen. With four players you will have a guitar on the left and right sides with drums in the middle while the vocals scroll across the top. On a large TV it can help to keep the screen from being smothered with distracting objects and help keep players focused on their own notes. End the end the graphics are nothing spectacular but get the job done.

This is a true multiplayer game as the multiplayer band version is more detailed then the single player campaign. Features that are in multiplayer that are lacking in the single are the band having to win fans and a score based on stars from venues to be able to progress further into the game. To attain more fans players will have to move up to the next difficulty, which is nice because it pushes gamers to get better at the game instead of staying at a level they feel safe with. Rockers will also be able to play location specific venues that provide challenging events with random selected songs and local favorite artists. So if you were playing in Seattle you could expect local favorites to be artists like Nirvana and Sound Garden. The one lacking feature of the multiplayer is the competitive part. With only two competitive modes, Tug of War and Score Duel, there isn’t much of a fun experience when playing against others. The two competition modes are so similar that it really only feels like one mode. Out of the box you wouldn’t be able to play these modes unless you already have a guitar from previous games or Xbox Live. If you were looking to play the drums competitively with someone else you will have to wait until the drumkick is available as a separate purchase or take your fight online.

This is a true multiplayer game as the multiplayer band version is more detailed then the single player campaign. Features that are in multiplayer that are lacking in the single are the band having to win fans and a score based on stars from venues to be able to progress further into the game. To attain more fans players will have to move up to the next difficulty, which is nice because it pushes gamers to get better at the game instead of staying at a level they feel safe with. Rockers will also be able to play location specific venues that provide challenging events with random selected songs and local favorite artists. So if you were playing in Seattle you could expect local favorites to be artists like Nirvana and Sound Garden. The one lacking feature of the multiplayer is the competitive part. With only two competitive modes, Tug of War and Score Duel, there isn’t much of a fun experience when playing against others. The two competition modes are so similar that it really only feels like one mode. Out of the box you wouldn’t be able to play these modes unless you already have a guitar from previous games or Xbox Live. If you were looking to play the drums competitively with someone else you will have to wait until the drumkick is available as a separate purchase or take your fight online.

Grade: A