Title Rock Band Date 11.23.2007 Genre Music Platform Xbox 360 Developer Harmonix Publisher EA Games

There are many battles in the video game industry. Mario vs. Sonic; Halo vs. Killzone; World of Warcraft vs. Guild Wars; Hot Pockets vs. Lean Cuisine. Wait... no…
That last one still counts. Anyways, the battle this year is Guitar Hero 3 vs. Rock Band. It's the battle to see which of these will be the biggest rhythm game to date. I have to say that after playing both games, this is a toss up. You'd think that this would be conclusive, but it's not. In fact, it all depends on what you want. If you want a great single player campaign with a good multiplayer backing, get Guitar Hero 3. If you want the biggest party game ever made, get Rock Band.

GRAPHICS
This is the kind of game, like Guitar Hero, where the graphics aren't exactly the most important feature. But, this game is definitely better than Guitar Hero's graphics. In Guitar Hero, the graphics were always more cartoony and showboaty. Here, the graphics are more down to earth and realistic. When you look at the band in the background, they aren't going for flash and stuff. It looks like a real rock band here. Also, the motion-capture technology used in Rock Band is a lot more extensive than most rhythm games. The singer's lips move pretty close to the real words in the song. The guitarist’s hands are playing in the game what they would be really playing on a guitar. The drummer's motions are true to the song. Yeah, he's still robotic, but it's definitely progress. The arenas are great and they look entirely different from each other and by how big the arena is. Obviously the smaller arenas aren't going to be as glamorous, and it shows. Also, some of the arenas will have your band's name in the background! How cool is that! Overall, these graphics exceed the expectations of a rhythm game's typical graphics.

SOUNDTRACK
Obviously, for any music game, you're going to have to have an incredible soundtrack. Thankfully, Rock Band delivers on most fronts. We've got some great bands here spanning all decades, from the early rockers of The Who, The Rolling Stones, and Rush, to the newer greats like Weezer, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. This game's soundtrack has some of the best rock bands to date. Then there's Fall Out Boy. WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! I hate them so much! Now, these are some great bands, but some of the songs that contribued aren't so great. Aerosmith's song "Train Kept A Rollin" is a good song, but I could have thought of a better song ("Dream On" ahem). Same goes for Stone Temple Pilots (Interstate Love Song). But there are still some great songs in here too. There's "In Bloom" by Nirvana, "Reptilia" by the Strokes, and "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi. Regardless of all of the song choices, almost all of them are fun to play. So overall, while there are a couple of bad choices (FALLOUT BOY, OK GO), everyone can enjoy this game's songs. The real problem here is that there are only 45 songs. That's not enough, especially for the expansive multiplayer career (more on that later). But, there's always Rock Band 2.

SOUND
Time for the sound quality part. Almost all of the songs in this game are the master cuts themselves. That's great, especially since the hype surrounding the game meant the guys had their work cut out for them. Unfortunately, the ones that are covers are bad ones to have covers for. You can't cover Rush. YOU JUST CAN'T! These covers definitely don't live up since most of the others are masters. As far as the sound effects, the game doesn't give you annoying clangs on stage if you mess up on guitar (Thank God), but you do get annoying clicking stick sounds for drums. They didn't need any sounds for the mic, since you'll be able to tell for yourself. I can't say much for this since the soundtrack pretty much covered it, but everything seems really good here. It could use a little fine tuning for Rock Band 2 (which I'm definitely sure will happen).

HARDWARE: THE GUITAR
Before I can talk about the gameplay, I have to talk about the peripherals in this game. First, the guitar. This model is based off of the Fender Stratocaster. Now, this guitar model has the 5 buttons as usual at the top of the neck, but it also has 5 smaller buttons at the bottom of the neck to help make the solos easier. Now, I just can't get used to these buttons, since I've played Guitar Hero for so long. So, I just use the top ones. Also, this model features a new bar on it that changes the sound of your guitar in the game to a different effect in solos or when you're using Overdrive (more on that later). These effects range from "Wah-wah" to "Echo" to a "Chorus". This is a very nice touch to a familiar formula. Now, my favorite part of these new guitars is that there's no annoying clicking noises when you're playing. Also, the guitar itself looks the most like a real guitar than any controller on the market. This is a great guitar for this game, but thankfully, if you're used to using your Guitar Hero controllers on the 360 version, you can use your X-Plorer controller.

HARDWARE: THE DRUMS
The drum kit itself isn't really that close for a drum kit. I'm a drummer, so here's where I'm getting picky. This kit has 4 drums and a kick pedal. To separate it out further, the red pad indicates the snare drum, the yellow has the hi-hat, blue has the toms, and the green has the crash cymbal. The thing that's missing is a separate cymbal shape. That'd definitely make it more realistic. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun to play. Now, unlike the guitar, if you already have rhythm (or have already played Guitar Hero), you can't just pick up the drums like that. The easy and medium is all right, but if you try hard or expert on most songs, you will get your butt handed to you. Don't you DARE try "Tom Sawyer" on expert for drums unless you're DAMN ready to pass it. Now, the best part about this is that if you are that good on this game, you probably really could get in a band as a drummer. This is the peripheral that translates the best to a real instrument.

HARDWARE: THE MICROPHONE
Now for the microphone. If you've played any sort of singing game, you kinda know what to expect. The microphone looks like any old microphone. This microphone, however, is pretty cutting edge. Not only does it pick up your pitch pretty well, but it also can tell what words you're singing as well. Unless you've got a nasal voice like mine. Anyway, this comes in handy since there are sections in the singing that require you speaking the words to something. That's actually most of "Sabotage" right there. Unfortunately, only the Rock Band mic will work here, so don't think Karaoke Revolution will help (for once). Still, this microphone works the best of any I've played yet.

GAMEPLAY: GUITAR
Again, I have to break this down due to the sheer size of this game's options. The guitar part plays dang near exactly like Guitar Hero. You strum the colored note when it comes on the screen. Now, there are some key differences. In this game, the solo buttons will come into play a little more, as fast stuff will make using the solo buttons a necessity unless you've already had Guitar Hero experience, in which case you're already used to fast stuff. There are also designated solo sections, designated by a blue background, in which you can get bonus points for your band or yourself if you play well during it. It'll tally up a percentage as you're playing it letting you know how far you are. The solos may be quick, like in "Reptilia", or they may be long, like in "Green Grass and High Tides", and you may have more than one, "Train Kept a Rollin". This is a cool thing, as it actually lets you know when it's time for you to shine. Awesome. Now, the "Star Power" in this game is called Overdrive.

You activate it just like Star Power in Guitar Hero, tilting the neck of the guitar upwards. This has the purpose of obviously upping the multiplier for your score, but now it can also save a member of your band who might have failed. This is a great touch for the people who aren't that good. Another new thing is that some songs have endings to them where you can strum and switch notes all you want, and as long as you hit the designated notes at the end, you'll get a bonus. This is another great touch to make you feel like a real band. Now, the songs themselves are for the most part, not a challenge at all for anyone experienced. The only real challenges are the solos in some songs, and a couple songs overall (Green Grass and High Tides, Enter Sandman, Run to the Hills, there are more). That's the only real complaint I have is that the songs are easier this time around. Now, on to the drums.

GAMEPLAY: DRUMS
This is probably the hardest of the instruments to play in hard or expert. Mainly because you need more rhythm and coordination for drums than guitar. Obviously, the parts reflect it. Now, here is where you have a little more freedom. There are parts in this game where as you earn overdrive by playing white notes on the song, the drums have no real tilting or button way to activate it. So, there are sections of a song where you can play anything you want so long as you hit the green at the end. If you can do that, you'll activate your overdrive. The endings make their appearance here as well, and it's great that they added all of this to make you feel like a real drummer. Because most drummers add their own parts to other songs anyway. The gameplay is fun, hard, and realistic, and that's great for a rhythm game.

GAMEPLAY: SINGING
This is the other hard one for hard or expert. The obvious way of singing is to sing into the microphone at the pitch indicated on the screen. In easy or medium, the game isn't too picky about what pitch you're at as long as you're in the general area. All of a sudden, hard or expert become REALLY tough. Now, the overdrive for this is activated by hitting a phrase that's marked yellow. Then, you simply say anything ("Hello Cleveland!") in an area where there is naturally no singing and the entire track is yellow. Sorry if my description is vague, but you'll know it when you see it. Simply say something, and it'll echo and you'll get the overdrive multiplier. This is also fun, but definitely not as fun as the drums or guitar. It's still great to see it included in the overall package.

SINGLE-PLAYER
The single player campaign is obviously going to be like Guitar Hero. You just play through a career by playing through the songs in an order. You can play lead guitar (no bass for some strange reason), drums or singing. This is fun for a while, but it gets repetitive real quick. Even playing by yourself in the home while you're playing with friends online gets old quick. You have to have friends there for this. Period. You need party people for this game.

MULTI-PLAYER
And here's where this game excels the most. The career for a group is a lot different than single player. First, you create your specific characters with the game's somewhat robust character creation system. The faces are limited, but I can forgive it since accessories, clothes, hair, tattoos and stuff make up for it. Then you make up a band name. You can make up your own, or if you're not that creative, you can let the game pick random adjective/noun combinations for you. Next, you pick your hometown. From your hometown, you pick up gigs in local clubs (the dead-end ones) earning stars (that's what you earn in points playing songs) and fans with your shows. You also earn money to buy new equipment and costumes, and later roadies, buses, and jets. These will obviously help you reach new places for new shows. Now, playing the shows is the cool part. When you reach a club, you can either pick your own setlist, or you can pick a pre-set list. These can include hometown favorites (so if you're in Seattle, you'll want to play Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun") or mystery setlists. Now be warned, using mystery setlists will earn more fans, but will likely have you doing songs you haven't played yet, so if you fail, you lose more fans. Obviously, you can't play in some clubs without a good number of fans or stars. So you have to pick your battles.

You also have certain instances in which you can or can't play charity gigs, or playing for things that make you "sell-out". This multiplayer sets out to do what it means to do: emulate the full, true rock band experience. This includes picking and choosing your gigs and playing your songs. Not only can you play with your buddies in a career, but you can play songs quick-play too. AND THAT'S NOT ALL! You can play with others online as well! The online play doesn't have any real hiccups to it at all, and that's great planning on Harmonix and Xbox Live. Not only can you play online, but you can ALREADY download tons of songs and albums. That just adds to the replayability. The only nitpick with this game is that you will play some songs a bunch. As much as I love Nirvana's "In Bloom", I've played it way too much. Regardless, this multiplayer is excellent.

OVERALL
Overall, this game is one of the greatest party games of all time. It's also one of the best music games of all time. The only real problems are there are some things that need nitpicking and the single player needs work. The soundtrack could also be bigger. But this is still a great game and a great holiday gift… if you've got $165.

Game Score

A-

Reviewed By: Contributed