Party all night and rock 'n' roll every day with Harmonix's musical masterpiece.
by Ben Silverman
Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5
Pros:
- Loads of content
- Peerless multiplayer
- Great gameplay
- Will teach you the drums
Cons:
- Some odd song decisions
- Solo play isn't exactly riveting
Every legendary rock band has, at some point in its career, delivered an overblown, overstuffed and initially underappreciated magnum opus. Led Zeppelin drew its grandest stroke with Physical Graffiti. The Who blew ears, minds and decibel counters with Quadrophenia. For the Beatles, it was The White Album.
And for game developer Harmonix, it's Rock Band. This is a sprawling, ambitious project from the undisputed masters of the genre, a musical love letter that reinvents the rhythm-game wheel only to roll it over your face in the name of rock. Like any great concept album, it's a major, groundbreaking success, marred by just a few bad notes.
Rock Band is a music rhythm game built very much in the vein of Harmonix's own Guitar Hero series -- play along with the music by hitting colored buttons to match on screen notes -- but where that tune ends, this one is just reaching the second verse. With Rock Band's innovative trio of peripherals, you'll go beyond the thin strings to pluck bass lines, scream choruses, and pound on the drums like a wannabe Ringo.
The instruments truly are the stars of this show. Modeled after the Fender Stratocaster, the guitar is a more realistic step up from older guitar controllers with bigger fret buttons that don't awkwardly pop out of the neck. Guitarists and bassists will find it easier to slide from fret to fret, a fact that comes in handy when you reach the higher difficulty levels. Another set of frets at the top of the neck let you hammer your way through solos like Eddie Van Halen, but it's definitely a case of style over substance; most players will likely stick with the regular strumming. Interestingly, Rock Band's guitar and bass parts are far easier than what you'll find in Guitar Hero III. Vets of that series might be a bit disappointed that the challenge isn't as tough.
On the other hand, that's only one bar of Rock Band's addictive song. For the first time ever, a video game simulates playing an entire drum kit by essentially dropping the thing in the middle of your living room: four sturdy pads and a kick pedal let you pound the skins like a real drummer. That's not an exaggeration; unlike tapping the unrealistic guitar fret buttons, playing the drums on Hard or Expert means you're pretty much playing the drums for real. Given, only those with a background in drumming will start anywhere past Easy, and it can be a long, slow road to Medium and Hard for novices. But stick with the drums and you'll be doing much more than playing a video game - you'll literally be learning a new instrument.
You'll also learn a lot about your atonality by screeching into the included microphone. Vocals are handled much like in Karaoke Revolution, as Rock Band accurately identifies pitch and, to a lesser degree, consonants. The ability to lower the volume of the mic's input lets the shier singers do their part without going all red in the face, a nice touch,
Amazingly, the game manages to get all this onscreen effortlessly. It's got a much cleaner look than Guitar Hero and includes nifty touches like avatars who accurately lip-synch, strum and drum. Crank up the surround sound and let her rip, too, because the audio is, unsurprisingly, pitch perfect.
The song list shows some cracks, though. Rock Band's initial set covers nearly 60 songs spanning four generations of rock. Our hats off to the decision to go so eclectic, but you'll inevitably come across songs that you either don't know at all or can't stand to begin with. Sure, they're all technically rock bands, but not a lot of folks equally dig Boston, Fall Out Boy, and Metallica.
The good news is that thanks to a steady stream of downloadable material, you'll eventually be able to unlock the jukebox by adding whatever songs you wish. With a decent pricing scheme that includes song packs, full albums and -- thank heavens --individual tracks, it's sure to lengthen your infatuation with Rock Band while turning MTV's already fat wallet into a bottomless piggy bank.
Considering how much gameplay they pack into this product, they deserve the payback. Each instrument other than bass enjoys its own Solo Tour mode, effectively tripling the output of Guitar Hero. After creating a character, players can hop into a fairly conventional tour through the game's song lineup. The order changes depending on the instrument -- Rush's "Tom Sawyer" is a lot harder on drums than guitar, for instance --but otherwise every tour works the same way. Cash earned through playing is spent on an enormous amount of awesome rock gear, from clothes and instruments to hairstyles and tattoos, which you can even design yourself using an editor. Unfortunately, the character management system is a bit wonky, forcing you to create separate avatars for each instrument (with different names, too) rather than tracking the progress of one uber musician regardless of the gear.
Ultimately, you'll use the solo mode as practice for the inevitable month-long party that will ensue the moment you let any of your friends over to play. They won't leave. That's because Rock Band multiplayer is quite simply one of the greatest party games ever created.
You can hop into Quickplay if you just want to bang through a few songs, but the real treasure here is Band World Tour. Grab three friends, give your group a sweet name, and off you go playing gigs in fake venues around the world. It's far more involved than Solo Tour, incorporating finances, fans, managers and tour vehicles into the mix. Nailing songs at higher difficulty settings nets you greater rewards, so there's an incentive to help your bandmates get better at their instruments.
The magic happens when all four of you are rocking at the same time and simultaneously slam into 'Overdrive' (the game's power-up score multiplier mode), your singer belting out a hypnotic wail as the drummer lays four on the floor. For a brief, glittering moment, you might think that you're actually playing music in a real band in front of real people, and chances are you'll have the real sweat to prove it. If one of gaming's foremost functions is to help us fulfill our most unlikely fantasies, multiplayer Rock Band is one of the medium's brightest stars.
And, at the moment, its most expensive. Currently the only way to play is by picking up the basic bundle -- guitar, mic, drums, sticks and game -- which will set you back roughly $170, and you'll have to add the cost of an additional guitar (Rock Band supports most third-party guitars) if you want the full experience (and you do). It's also a wiring nightmare, so don't forget to ask permission from whoever runs the living room before you turn it into a spider web.
But provided you take up a few extra paper routes and get the OK from your housemates, there's almost no good reason not to give Rock Band a permanent gig in your pad. It's light years past any other music game, yet is accessible enough to make anyone feel like a living room superstar. KISS was dead wrong: God didn't give rock 'n' roll to you. Harmonix did.
Posted: 19 Nov 2007
