game review
Harmonix
Rock Band

published by EA
street date of 23/05/08
| more Xbox360

Unlike said fat kid, Rock Band doesn’t get a consolation medal. You know, the crappy blue ribbon that is almost more degrading than nothing at all. No, it get’s the ‘FREAKING AWESOME MEDAL’.

…or does it?

I am pained. Never before had I had to rejig my thoughts quite like I have with this review. This is because Rock Band is a bittersweet experience, for a number of reasons. The set up and execution is near enough flawless - a fantastic range of kit with some cracking songs guaranteed to keep you going until you get yourself a bit of DLC.

Less flawless… in fact, unavoidably flawed, is the price.

But let’s get to that later, shall we? I’m certain you learned gamers know the premise of Rock Band, but in case you don’t, here’s a shrewd, obscure simile – it’s like the less demanding offspring of Guitar Hero 3 on acidmating with a drunk Amplitude. Too intense? Put simply, you take any combination of guitar, bass, drums and vocalist (providing you have enough peripherals), and must whack, strum or warble your way through a series of ever-harder tunes, all the while gaining fans, gaining cash, gaining wheels and eventually gaining severe and unrelenting hand cramps.

If you’ve played any track-based music game you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect. That said, it wouldn’t be anything special if that was it. And it’s not. It is special. The addition of a multiplayer ‘World Tour’ mode, progressing through gigs, mystery setlists and arena concerts with up to 3 of your friends is an immensely satisfying experience. Everyone can cheer on each other and strangely there is nothing funnier than having your vocalist crash spectacularly out of ‘Roxanne’, taking the rest of the band with them. That said, our vocalist was me. And by ‘funny’ I mean ‘more likely to get your vocalist a beating’.

The other BIG POINT to make is the addition of drums. Everyone’s had a shot of Singstar, so vocals aren’t new, but few have had the joy of Drum Freaks. Now... they can. 4 pads and a bass pedal make up the sturdy kit, as well as the inclusion of 4 face buttons and a D-pad. The sheer pleasure of thumping the pads, even on Easy, rivals the excitement of Expert solos on the guitar. There already are battle scars amongst my flatmates from the ‘who gets drums?’ fights. It also gives you a new found appreciation for drummer in bands, who doesn’t seem to ever get much credit. Unlike the bassist, who is definitely shit.

Those accustomed to the silly difficulty spikes of Guitar Hero 3 will be glad to know that few such irritating moments exist in Rock Band. In Solo mode each instrument’s setlist is tailored to the difficulty of that instrument’s part in the song. Even more ‘family-and-inept-friend-friendly’ is the ability to set each instruments difficulty separately in Multiplayer mode. So you’re game-shy cousin can play Easy bass, whilst your strangely attractive mum can rock out the drums on Expert. This also works for Online multiplayer, which is just super.

I guess we now need to confront the BIG BAD POINT of Rock Band… it’s bloody pricey. To be fair, you can get the game ‘solus’ for around £40 online, and if you already have a GH3 guitar then you can blast away solo-style. But for the full experience, drums and all, you really need to shell out the full amount – somewhere between £140 - £180, depending where you shop. Considering the game + kit costs $170 in the U.S., it really feels like Europe is being slowly but forcefully bent over, then lubed up. I mean, come on! Over double the price! Not only that, but the only extra songs we get are some terrible European songs, and a fairly poor Blur song. Boo, EA! Booooo!

If you can get over the thorough Euro-shafting, you’ll have an amazing time with Rock Band. It has everything that was good about the previous Guitar Heroes – great songs, a decent difficulty curve, and fun multiplayer – then builds upon it, with lovely next-gen effects and graphics, some really cool visual touches, an effects switch on the guitar, mostly master recordings, plus plenty of multiplayer flourishes that I won’t spoil for you. Not only that, but The Music Store is well integrated into the game and the song choice is varied and interesting, and needless to say like most current 360 games the XBL integration is excellent. A wise buy for parties, nights in and pre-nights out.

If you can’t get over the pricing? Persuade a friend to get it!

posted by pandrewh on 2008:06:04 at 09:24:54. e-mail me about this entry, or add a comment (3). spread the word; digg this | del.icio.us | furl this | fark it | add to my yahoo |