Rock Band Review
A Review - By Steve Heller
It seems a million years ago that a little developer named Harmonix teamed up with Red Octane to bring the world Guitar Hero. Harmonix has since sold the rights to that franchise and moved on to bigger and better things. A year ago in the USA Rock Band was the first, and only full band experience you could get on your consoles, but that was a year ago. Now the game has finally landed on Australian shores, does it compete with its rival Guitar Hero World Tour? Does Rock Band bring enough rock to the stage?
Rock Band offers a full band experience, based on fun and music more-so than competition. This works in the games favor as it gives it a feel of it's own, something that separates itself from World Tour. It features your standard Quickplay mode, and of course Xbox Live battles, but for most of us who get sucked into this game, you will be spending most of your time in the World Tour Mode.
World Tour Mode places you on a map featuring a bunch of cities across the globe (Sydney is in there!) with each city having a series of venues. As you play gigs you will earn cash, get fans and unlock competitions for you to compete at. The non-linear approach to the series gives it a sense of freedom, rather than just playing through a list of tracks and unlocking more, it makes you feel like you are achieving something with your music. As you move along you will compete at such competitions as Battle of The Vans, which as I'm sure you guessed it, wins you a nice rusty old van to hit the road with. Make a bad performance, you won't get paid, and you will lose fans, which will hinder your chances of unlocking the next venue. The best part about World Tour mode is that it can be played alone, or with up to three other people as a full band. This offers an even better experience, and you get a real sense of being in a band as you travel around performing a plethora of tunes. The good thing here is if one of you band members fail a song, you can "save" them by using your star power up to three times. This shows the real co-operative spirit of the game, and a sense of comradre is present.
Game mechanics aren't going to surprise anyone here, hit the coloured notes as required, as they frantically scroll across the fret board. The guitar and bass play beautifully, and the new guitar peripheral adds a sense of realism, both in look and feel. The drums are solid, but make an annoying noise as you are bashing away on them, not too bad if the game is turned up loud (and it should be!) but could be enough to annoy the hell of those rocking out around you. The drums flow well, and regardless of the millions of threads about the foot pedal breaking, it feels firm and safe.
Fret boards are clear and easy to see which is a nice change from the Guitar Hero ones which can be muddles and cause confusion during those hard to play solos. The fret board changes to a blue haze when entering a solo, signaling to use the upper fret buttons on the guitar. It's not necessary, but it's good fun when showing up the other members in your band. The guitar also features a "pickup" switch, which can change the sound of your guitar during these solo segments.
One thing that lets the game down is some minor lag when playing a full 4 player game. Often when a lot is going on at once the frets seem to lag a little, and while it's not a deal breaker, in a game that is based on rhythm, it is detrimental to the title.
The Final Verdict
It may be a year old, but Rock Band is still as relevant today as it was 12 months ago. Featuring an alternative to the sometimes mainstream Guitar Hero track listing, fantastic visuals, decent peripherals and more DLC than you can throw a Snare drum at, Rock Band is worth every beat you will bash out of it
Graphics
8/10
Fret boards are clear and clean, which some players will prefer. The game has gone for a more realistic art style and character models than the guitar hero series, which serves the game well. Camera angles are very reminiscent of some classic music videos. Stages are varied and you never get the "been there done that" kind of feeling.
Audio
9.5/10
Rock Band features a soundtrack that is full of classic tunes, as well as the more underground scene. Featuring bands such as Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie and Hole, right down to bands like Interpol, OK Go and Tokyo Monsoon. It has a wide variety of musical styles, and manages to keep a mainstream but not kind of sound to it. It's the little things in Rock Band that sound so great, like if you band is doing particularly well on a song, the crowd can be heard singing along, it's a nice feature which adds to the overall experience.
Value
9.5/10
If you have finished the world tour and are getting a little sick of the track list never fear, Rock Band DLC is here! With over 300 tracks already on Xbox Live for download, and more uploaded every week, it will be pretty hard to grow tired of Rock Band. Also a note worth remembering, all you purchased DLC will work on Rock Band 2 when it is released here!
Overall
8.8/10