Review : Rock Band for Xbox 360

Editor's note: This is a P-I Reader Blog. P-I Reader Blogs are not written or edited by the P-I. They are written by readers, for readers. The authors are solely responsible for content. If you see any posts you consider inappropriate, please send us a note at newmedia@seattlepi.com.
· Want to blog for the P-I?

« Review : Logitech Vantage USB Microphone for Wii/Xbox 360 | Main | Game Links for November 27th 2007 »

Harmonix's Rock Band is an incredibly ambitious game. It is a multiplayer follow up to Guitar Hero 1 and 2 that has a completely new graphics engine, networking and was built for the Xbox 360 and PS3. (all though a PS2 version is in the works I doubt that it will be as good as the next-gen versions.) Harmonix also developed Karaoke Revolution for Konami and this is not their first singing music game. Haromonix has been making music games for over a decade and rather than making Guitar Hero III themselves they broke away from their previous publishers Red Octane and Activision and signed up with MTV and EA to work on this new ambitious project.

Rock Band 's gameplay is based around four players working together to play a song, either in the same room or online. It is an incredibly innovative game that is an attempt to bring gamers to work together on a common goal rather than trying to kill or beat one another. The game play features a singer on a Microphone, a lead guitarist with a Guitar Hero style controller, a bass guitarist with a Guitar Hero style controller and a drummer with a pretty good size all new digital drum kit. It is not just Guitar Hero times four but has a variety and complexity that has never been seen before in music games.

This is a major advance in videogame interaction by having players use immersive controllers together in a common task. It is one of those rare games that pushes the boundaries of human computer interaction. The player is not about pushing buttons and joysticks with your thumbs but is all about strumming out a song or bleating out some tunes at the top of your lungs.

Currently the game is only available as a disc only game for $60 or a mega bundle of game, guitar, microphone and drum kit for $170. That is right ladies and gentleman. The Rock Band Special Edition mega bundle is more expensive than some video game systems on the market. But if you can track one down this winter and if you are already into playing music games and you really want to play some awesome music games with your friends than accept no substitutes. Man I tell you this is a huge box that is going to be an interesting challenge for retailers to find shelf-space for it's girth. The box is bigger than Steel Battalion for Xbox and is almost as expensive. I would much rather sing or play guitar so I opted for the game only but what ever package you decide to get they both come with the exact same game.

Now just getting the games is a perfectly awesome alternative if you already have a guitar controller from the Guitar Hero games or you are not that into playing drums. Starting February 2008 they are going to be selling the drum-kit, microphone and guitar separately but they have an open platform and will try to allow the users to use what ever music controllers they already have with Rock Band. I found out that I could just use the Xbox headset microphone but the Logitech USB Microphone that comes with High School Musical and Boogie on Wii is the exact same one that comes with Rock Band.

The guitar controller for Rock Band is a bit bigger than GH controllers and the strum button has a bit more spring to it and it also features a second set of fret buttons closers to the body and an effects switch for echo and reverb. I think that it's a little weak that you only can use Reverb and effects if you have a Rock Band Branded guitar and since the effects are all done in software then they could have hypothetically done it using the d-Pad in the GH 2 or GH III controllers. But that is neither hear nor there since the effects are optional and don't add that much to the gameplay experience. I got my hands on a Rock Band Guitar at a Best Buy Demo unit but I was not instantly sold on it. I totally prefer the design and layout of the Guitar Hero III guitar and it is also wireless on the Xbox 360. It a matter of personal choice. The guitar tracks seems a lot easier than Guitar Hero but are still a challenge.

The drum kit is a fascinating work of controller design. It is pretty much an almost full size digital drum kit with four drums and a really awesome kick peddle. I personally don't have any room in my game lair to have a drum set and I just know that my cats would knock it over and mess with it. However I am constantly impressed with the speed and skill that people have be able to adapt to the new drums. It all looks way too complex for me and I would rather play guitar or sing.

For most of my Rock Band experience I've been singing with a USB Microphone. I've done my best to learn the songs but I still have a long way to go to be proficient at all 45 main song in the game. After playing Rock Band for a couple days I actually do consider myself a better singer than I was before and it's really gotten easier to belt out some tunes without running out of steam. One little thing that gets me is that you have to hold down the L or R trigger on the controller to broadcast your singing to the rest of the band if you are playing online. There are some singers that either don't know about that or don't want their singing to be heard by the rest of the band. I sort of think that if your going to play online that you might as well go ahead and let the other three players what you can do on the mic.

After playing gigs in the regular tour you can buy accessories and clothes to customize your virtual rocker. My singer rocker has been frequently commented on that it reminds them of Harry Potter despite the fact that I based it on me and my unique rocking look. The online game play is a perfect example of what can be achieved with Xbox Live and I've gotten a whole bunch of new friend requests since there seems to be a deficit of good singers that will actually broadcast their performances and try to sound good.

The song set list is a pretty impressive line up of classic rock through modern rock. and they have a pretty ambitions plans for additional downloadable content. They have planned to have new song packs for sale every week and will be using the full strength of MTV to try and get as many classic and modern rock anthems on board. I am quite a sucker for downloaded content and I have no problem with buying new song to extend the already awesome rockband experience.

It's just a game but man what a game. It's all about the amateur want to be musicians playing a video game together but it helps you to pretend and live out a fantasy of being a rock star. This is not only the best party game ever made but an incredible online multiplayer experience. I don't think the game suffered much when they announced that you can't create a band online since of the difficulties of bringing people together at the same time over Live but bands that are put together for player matches over Xbox Live the share experience of playing music with others is a real rush. It is almost a massively multiplayer online RPG but rather than killing monsters and collecting treasure your all working together to rock out.

When I first got Rock Band I was trying to get over a cold and I sung as best I could until my throat was raw and loved every single moment of it.

This might not be the best introduction to music based games but for any gamers who is already great at Guitar Hero and is ready for something more than this is exactly the game. This game allows you to experience what it's like to play music in a band without the years of experience and practice required but it actually instills a sense of appreciation of what musicians go through. I learned a lot about music by plying Rock Band. It's hard to think of this as just another game and not as an entirely new platform for music games. It's not just a prefect example of next generation music games but a wonderful example of what videogames can become.

Posted by at November 26, 2007 12:22 a.m.

Comments

#69698

Posted by mon-roe hawk at 11/26/07 6:39 a.m.

Nice review. I have this game on the PS3 and it is amazing!!! I haven't been this addicted to a game in a long time and I finally have a game I can see never having an end to it because of 1) the challege of expert level on all instruments and 2) the DLC. Great game!!

July 2008
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31