Wednesday November 12, 2008
Wednesday November 12, 2008
Game Review: Rock Band
After the high success of the Guitar Hero series in the gaming and music world, Harmonix Music decided to go for a full band experience. Hype was building up like a skyscraper, with talk about drum sets and bands and rocking. So the developers got to work, and then in the holiday season of 2007, Rock Band arrived.
Visuals/Quality
Rock Band was targeted immediately as a fierce competitor to Guitar Hero III, especially because of their shared release period. In the field of visuals and quality, Rock Band blew away Guitar Hero, creating a battle that would go on until 2008. Rock Band really shined with its stunning graphics and life-like visuals. Especially on HD with the Xbox 360 and PS3, Rock Band stood out and created a visual sensation like no other. Character creation was phenomenal, and graphics held their own even with a whole band playing online. Rock Band's processing performance was superb, even under tough conditions. No matter what the other categories say, just for its visuals and performance, Rock Band deserves a 10. Quality was also excellent, with lots of excellent menu designs and interface nuances. As soon as I popped in the Rock Band disc, I was absorbed by the high quality playing experience. Okay, okay, I'll stop gushing. You get the point: Rock Band had the best performance of any music game to date.
Gameplay
Rock Band burst the world of music video games wide open. Combining a guitar, drum set, microphone and a realistic band experience was absolutely ingenious. Rock Band quickly became the ultimate party game, with bands rocking out for top dog on the scoreboard. Rock Band's drums were the first video game drums, so there is no comparison. They were solid and my favorite instrument to play on, but they had a somewhat cheap, unstable feel. The guitar looked great and was more realistic in shape than GH's guitars. However, the strum key was horrible, and made fast strumming impossible. Also, the hammer-on keys were a nice feature, but hard to use because switching to them was too hard. The guitar experience wasn't great at all, and I would take GH's guitars any day. Rock Band's mic was responsive and fun to sing with, but it also was too small to allow multiple singers and picked up some background noise. The gameplay experience was truly amazing, with a realistic feel like no other. The band experience is addicting and fun, and made up for the drawbacks of the instruments.
Rock Band burst the world of music video games wide open. Combining a guitar, drum set, microphone and a realistic band experience was absolutely ingenious. Rock Band quickly became the ultimate party game, with bands rocking out for top dog on the scoreboard. Rock Band's drums were the first video game drums, so there is no comparison. They were solid and my favorite instrument to play on, but they had a somewhat cheap, unstable feel. The guitar looked great and was more realistic in shape than GH's guitars. However, the strum key was horrible, and made fast strumming impossible. Also, the hammer-on keys were a nice feature, but hard to use because switching to them was too hard. The guitar experience wasn't great at all, and I would take GH's guitars any day. Rock Band's mic was responsive and fun to sing with, but it also was too small to allow multiple singers and picked up some background noise. The gameplay experience was truly amazing, with a realistic feel like no other. The band experience is addicting and fun, and made up for the drawbacks of the instruments.
Features
Rock Band is loaded with an unbelievable feature set. It is a lot, but lets start with the most important thing: the setlist. Rock Band's setlist is good, but nothing compared to GH3's. There was music for everyone, but hard rock, metal, punk, and 60's rock songs were scarce. However, with the huge Rock Band store with add-ons and songs, there were expansion options for the setlist. Alternative and classic rock were the main focuses of Rock Band, and despite the expansion options, I wasn't very impressed with the setlist overall. Rock Band makes up for those misgivings though with an excellent array of features. The main mode is band world tour, where a band is formed with you and your friends, and you tour the world, rising to superstars. There is also solo modes, and band online world tour modes. You can create players and buy them new clothes, instruments and gear, which works really well with good graphics power and seamlessly integrates into the world tour modes. However, the most fun mode of Rock Band is band multiplayer. Band faceoffs, quickplays, and solos make this the ultimate party mode. Get all your friends and come on over to jam for hours at end! This mode was super-fun, and that is what makes Rock Band so enjoyable with friends. The more the merrier!
Rock Band is loaded with an unbelievable feature set. It is a lot, but lets start with the most important thing: the setlist. Rock Band's setlist is good, but nothing compared to GH3's. There was music for everyone, but hard rock, metal, punk, and 60's rock songs were scarce. However, with the huge Rock Band store with add-ons and songs, there were expansion options for the setlist. Alternative and classic rock were the main focuses of Rock Band, and despite the expansion options, I wasn't very impressed with the setlist overall. Rock Band makes up for those misgivings though with an excellent array of features. The main mode is band world tour, where a band is formed with you and your friends, and you tour the world, rising to superstars. There is also solo modes, and band online world tour modes. You can create players and buy them new clothes, instruments and gear, which works really well with good graphics power and seamlessly integrates into the world tour modes. However, the most fun mode of Rock Band is band multiplayer. Band faceoffs, quickplays, and solos make this the ultimate party mode. Get all your friends and come on over to jam for hours at end! This mode was super-fun, and that is what makes Rock Band so enjoyable with friends. The more the merrier!
Online
In the online portion of Rock Band, you could play band world tour or have band faceoffs. Performance was excellent in terms of connection, speed, and graphics. There was minimal to no lag, based on the wireless connection. The online gameplay was fun, and Rock Band also had many online expandable options. There are new tracks for purchase and loads of add-ons for the game. In the online field, Rock Band excelled and made good use of the technology with expansion options.
Overall, Rock Band wowed me with its graphics and processing, and stunned me with its unique gameplay and fun party style. The instruments and setlist failed to impress, but those were insignificant nuances compared to the magnanimity of the features and graphics. Rock Band really outperformed GH3 in the holiday season and continues to be the reigning champ of music games. All in all, Rock Band was one of the best games that I have ever played. So what are you waiting for? Get rocking!
Score: 9.3 out of 10
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