Rock Band (Xbox360)
- Publisher:
- Electronic Arts
- Developer:
- Harmonix Music
- Release Date:
- 23.05.2008
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Music
2 movies
We play Rock Band...
J: Usually I do these reviews on my own, but for a game like Rock Band where some of the best experience is in the multiplayer game it seemed a good opportunity to include my partner in crime.
I have to admit that Rock Band was never a game that I expected to put on my too purchase list. The idea of creating a full band was interesting enough, particularly because I loved the Guitar Hero games, but I wasn't sure that it'd be worth it. Just how satisfying could drumming or singing be? And what about storing all of the peripheral pieces? It just seemed like not nearly enough bang for the buck and the bother. Happily I have to admit that I was wrong, and Rock Band is the best party game that I've played this year.
B: I was thrilled to find Rock Band as the star attraction of a recent party. Ever since the game was announced I wanted to play those drums. I am a fan of Guitar Hero, especially as a party game. I believe that the cooperative multiplayer is where these types of games shine and Rock Band is the brightest star of all these types of games. At first I was worried about how they would present each players tracks on the screen at the same time but Harmonix did an excellent job. By placing the vocal track along the top and placing guitar, drums, guitar along the bottom they still had room for watching the bands performance in the middle. Beyond that it took some juggling and shuffling around to get four adults spaced out in front of the TV set with room to rock, but the effort of setting up was well worth the pay off.
J: It wouldn't have been as much of a problem if all of the instruments were wireless or we weren't worried about jostling the Xbox and scratching the disc. This brings up an important safety tip. While the Xbox360 is advertised as being able to stand on end or horizontally we found a normal jostle caused disc scratching that completely ruined one copy of Rock Band. The best set up had the XBOX360 securely in a cabinet in a horizontal position and no tugging too hard on the cords. The instruments were sensitive to static as well. One of the guitars got zapped and refused to register until it'd been reseated and the machine rebooted, so make sure to clear the charge before swapping instruments.
B: The basic idea behind Rock Band is to hit the color coded note on your controller that matches the note scrolling down a moving track as the note on the screen reaches a marker. In other words, it's just like Guitar Hero games for the lead and bass guitars. The Rock Band guitar controllers come with an extra set of keys way down the neck that can be used by the lead guitar in solo sections of the music without having to strum, this is an idea that sounds really cool but is hard to pull off without a _LOT_ of practice. And speaking of practice, the drums take a ton. It sounds deceptively simple to hit the color coded pad instead of hitting a button AND strumming, but in practice playing the drums is much harder than the guitars even on the easy difficulty level. Drum play is complicated by including the bass drum pedal in addition to the four drum pads. My leg ached until I learned I could leave the pedal depressed until it was time to release and then press back down for the next bass drum note. Getting the drum pads set just right is also critical otherwise it is easy to miss beats by hitting the edges of the drum pads instead of the sensors in the center. The final component of your band is the singing. The vocal line scrolls along the top from left to right with words and a pitch cue. Vocalists sing into a microphone trying to match the rhythm and pitch for each song.
J: Part of what makes Rock Band such a great party game is that it's almost as fun for the spectators as the four band members. We had people singing along to songs and a lot of air drumming and air guitar going on. I've seen some complaints about the track lists, but personally I liked the selection. There are classic bands like Metallica and Blue Oyster Cult on the list, but also some great independent music. Not to say there aren't some dogs, (Sabotage anyone?) but that's a personal taste issue and the powers that be have already stepped up to provide downloadable content for a better musical experience. I did find that I wanted a little more direction towards how to unlock more tracks. The manual isn't helpful and the on screen instruction tells you how to open more venues, but that doesn't always mean more music. Much as I liked some of the songs after the third or fourth time through I wanted more options.
B: This game could really use a cooperative free play mode in addition to the cooperative career mode. It would be great to have a song list with all the songs unlocked and where you could simply play for a score and fun instead of a forced involvement with the game play element of traveling from venue to venue and earning prestige and cash as you went to unlock more content. Another nitpick I have with Rock Band is the band leader. To start career mode you have to create avatars for each player and one of them is the band leader. All other members of the band can be swapped in and out as the players change but the band leader is fixed. Adding customized avatars to the game is a great idea. I loved seeing my own avatar in the band billboards and being introduced at the start of a set. But this is a great idea that is slightly hampered by forcing one of those characters to always be the same.
J: As far as progressing through the various venues I have to say I was impressed. There were a lot of options that set Rock Band apart from other rhythm games. They bring in the idea of not only earning cash for gigs, but also collecting fans and vehicles and roadies, all things that really brought home the feel of being a rock band. I also liked the challenge modes where you were given the option to complete a goal for extra reward, for example we played a set where we could earn three times the cash for our performance. The catch was that everyone had to play on medium and get four stars on each piece. In this case we had the chance to accept the challenge or to back out. We still got to play the set, but at the standard incentive instead of the increased reward.
Admittedly we didn’t play a lot of the solo mode, but what I did play around with was impressive. There are a lot of tutorials to help you learn the tricks of each instrument and what the markings on the screen mean. We figured most of these out in multiplayer, but only after some trial and error. Most of the solo play seemed to be best suited towards getting practice so that you’d be better in the multiplay and I didn’t have much urge to play the entire game through solo. If I wanted to do that I can keep playing the other rhythm games I’ve got.
B: In spite of its minor flaws there’s no question, in my mind, that Rock Band is the reigning champion not only of rhythm games but of party games in general. The varied game play lets the game continue much longer than just playing guitar alone would. Each time it was my turn to play again I was excited to get back into the band and there was always something new to try. Fingers tired of the fret board? Then bang those drums or belt out the vocals. Rock Band shows that Harmonix understands the appeal of their game as more than just a solo experience and has worked hard to keep the game play fresh and entertaining. This is a challenge to imitators that they will be hard pressed to match.
Top Gaming Moment: B: The second set I did on the drums, this time with the pedal plugged in. Score improved 85%, rock-and-roll ego improved 100%. J: My first shot at anything on hard. My fingers nearly fell off, but made it all the way through the set!
I have to admit that Rock Band was never a game that I expected to put on my too purchase list. The idea of creating a full band was interesting enough, particularly because I loved the Guitar Hero games, but I wasn't sure that it'd be worth it. Just how satisfying could drumming or singing be? And what about storing all of the peripheral pieces? It just seemed like not nearly enough bang for the buck and the bother. Happily I have to admit that I was wrong, and Rock Band is the best party game that I've played this year.
 |
 |
|
| Belt those high notes | Ready to rock and roll |
B: I was thrilled to find Rock Band as the star attraction of a recent party. Ever since the game was announced I wanted to play those drums. I am a fan of Guitar Hero, especially as a party game. I believe that the cooperative multiplayer is where these types of games shine and Rock Band is the brightest star of all these types of games. At first I was worried about how they would present each players tracks on the screen at the same time but Harmonix did an excellent job. By placing the vocal track along the top and placing guitar, drums, guitar along the bottom they still had room for watching the bands performance in the middle. Beyond that it took some juggling and shuffling around to get four adults spaced out in front of the TV set with room to rock, but the effort of setting up was well worth the pay off.
J: It wouldn't have been as much of a problem if all of the instruments were wireless or we weren't worried about jostling the Xbox and scratching the disc. This brings up an important safety tip. While the Xbox360 is advertised as being able to stand on end or horizontally we found a normal jostle caused disc scratching that completely ruined one copy of Rock Band. The best set up had the XBOX360 securely in a cabinet in a horizontal position and no tugging too hard on the cords. The instruments were sensitive to static as well. One of the guitars got zapped and refused to register until it'd been reseated and the machine rebooted, so make sure to clear the charge before swapping instruments.
B: The basic idea behind Rock Band is to hit the color coded note on your controller that matches the note scrolling down a moving track as the note on the screen reaches a marker. In other words, it's just like Guitar Hero games for the lead and bass guitars. The Rock Band guitar controllers come with an extra set of keys way down the neck that can be used by the lead guitar in solo sections of the music without having to strum, this is an idea that sounds really cool but is hard to pull off without a _LOT_ of practice. And speaking of practice, the drums take a ton. It sounds deceptively simple to hit the color coded pad instead of hitting a button AND strumming, but in practice playing the drums is much harder than the guitars even on the easy difficulty level. Drum play is complicated by including the bass drum pedal in addition to the four drum pads. My leg ached until I learned I could leave the pedal depressed until it was time to release and then press back down for the next bass drum note. Getting the drum pads set just right is also critical otherwise it is easy to miss beats by hitting the edges of the drum pads instead of the sensors in the center. The final component of your band is the singing. The vocal line scrolls along the top from left to right with words and a pitch cue. Vocalists sing into a microphone trying to match the rhythm and pitch for each song.
 |
 |
|
| Four track, 16 multiplier! | Jem would still be on the air if she was as cool as this chick |
J: Part of what makes Rock Band such a great party game is that it's almost as fun for the spectators as the four band members. We had people singing along to songs and a lot of air drumming and air guitar going on. I've seen some complaints about the track lists, but personally I liked the selection. There are classic bands like Metallica and Blue Oyster Cult on the list, but also some great independent music. Not to say there aren't some dogs, (Sabotage anyone?) but that's a personal taste issue and the powers that be have already stepped up to provide downloadable content for a better musical experience. I did find that I wanted a little more direction towards how to unlock more tracks. The manual isn't helpful and the on screen instruction tells you how to open more venues, but that doesn't always mean more music. Much as I liked some of the songs after the third or fourth time through I wanted more options.
B: This game could really use a cooperative free play mode in addition to the cooperative career mode. It would be great to have a song list with all the songs unlocked and where you could simply play for a score and fun instead of a forced involvement with the game play element of traveling from venue to venue and earning prestige and cash as you went to unlock more content. Another nitpick I have with Rock Band is the band leader. To start career mode you have to create avatars for each player and one of them is the band leader. All other members of the band can be swapped in and out as the players change but the band leader is fixed. Adding customized avatars to the game is a great idea. I loved seeing my own avatar in the band billboards and being introduced at the start of a set. But this is a great idea that is slightly hampered by forcing one of those characters to always be the same.
J: As far as progressing through the various venues I have to say I was impressed. There were a lot of options that set Rock Band apart from other rhythm games. They bring in the idea of not only earning cash for gigs, but also collecting fans and vehicles and roadies, all things that really brought home the feel of being a rock band. I also liked the challenge modes where you were given the option to complete a goal for extra reward, for example we played a set where we could earn three times the cash for our performance. The catch was that everyone had to play on medium and get four stars on each piece. In this case we had the chance to accept the challenge or to back out. We still got to play the set, but at the standard incentive instead of the increased reward.
Admittedly we didn’t play a lot of the solo mode, but what I did play around with was impressive. There are a lot of tutorials to help you learn the tricks of each instrument and what the markings on the screen mean. We figured most of these out in multiplayer, but only after some trial and error. Most of the solo play seemed to be best suited towards getting practice so that you’d be better in the multiplay and I didn’t have much urge to play the entire game through solo. If I wanted to do that I can keep playing the other rhythm games I’ve got.
 |
 |
|
| Ahh…familiar gound | Anyone that doesn’t want to play these is nuts! |
B: In spite of its minor flaws there’s no question, in my mind, that Rock Band is the reigning champion not only of rhythm games but of party games in general. The varied game play lets the game continue much longer than just playing guitar alone would. Each time it was my turn to play again I was excited to get back into the band and there was always something new to try. Fingers tired of the fret board? Then bang those drums or belt out the vocals. Rock Band shows that Harmonix understands the appeal of their game as more than just a solo experience and has worked hard to keep the game play fresh and entertaining. This is a challenge to imitators that they will be hard pressed to match.
Top Gaming Moment: B: The second set I did on the drums, this time with the pedal plugged in. Score improved 85%, rock-and-roll ego improved 100%. J: My first shot at anything on hard. My fingers nearly fell off, but made it all the way through the set!
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Gameplay Trailer #1
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Rock Band is so much fun from day one. Not only that, but it has also stood the test of time over these last months. Only 1 tip - get some mods like that at <a href="http://www.DrumPads4RockBand.com." title="http://www.DrumPads4RockBand.com.">http://www.DrumPads4RockBand.com.</a> There are others also. I hope they keep the songs coming, because <span id="readMoreHide_777_633">...<br /><br /><a class="orangBold" href="javascript:toggleReadMore('777_633');">Read more...</a></span><span id="readMoreShow_777_633" style="display:none">I am really addicted now.</span> |
