(andPOP) - The drum solo ends, the guitarist and bassist spring into action, the singer screams "YEAAAAAAAAAAAH" and the crowd goes wild.
I've been on the road for about two weeks with my band. We have about 300,000 fans and we've been all the way to Moscow. Recently we got our own private jet. Pretty happy about that. The funny thing is, I haven't left my room in two weeks.
Unless you've been living under a rock you've probably guessed by now I'm talking about Rock Band, Harmonix's latest foray into rhythm gaming.
Harmonix, after making Guitar Hero 2, decided to sell the rights to Activision and begin work on a truly ardous project that had most likely been in their blood from the first time they set out to make Amplitude. The result of this is a truly immersive experience where four of your friends can play at the same time! With choices from Guitar, Bass, Vocals, or the more popular and difficult choice- the drums.
The presentation of this game is stellar and the venues are varied. The animation of your characters (which you can create extensively) are very realistic. You can actually see them strumming and bending each string when they play. It's almost like watching a music video.
While there have been problems with the peripherals (fender strum bar breaking, non-responsive drum pads), the instruments are quite awesome. The microphone is a Logitech microphone and the guitar is endorsed by fender and actually looks like a strat. It has a pickup selector which allows you to choose effects and a separate set of buttons for "solo sections" where you can play without strumming when your fret board turns blue in the game. The drums are four pads and a kick pedal and come packaged with Ludwig drumsticks for your bashing pleasure.
I'm an expert player so I found the guitar charts to be pretty easy albeit some timing window adjustments (try in between Guitar Hero 1 and 2) but once you get the hang of it you'll be playing with one hand in no time! Watch out for Green Grass and High Times though as it makes Freebird look like a joke.
Drums are extremely difficult. It took me awhile to work my way up to hard mode and as someone that sucks at independent joint movement I am having a hell of a time beating Queens of The Stone Age's "Go With The Flow" and Kiss' - "Detroit Rock City". Expert drumming is a whole different story. Rest assured if you can play drums on expert mode you can probably play the drums in real life.
Vocals on expert are no picnic either. I find it best to sing as airy as possible and I had the most trouble with The Strokes Reptillia due to Casablanca's odd sounding voice and The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" mostly because you can barely hear Mick Jagger's voice and end up singing the female part by accident. Which brings us to the song list.
While there are a few songs in Rock Band I don't particularly enjoy singing, I find that all in all it's a pretty perfect setlist as there's something for everyone. Metal, grunge, alternative, southern rock, pop, even emo gets a nod (Fallout Boy).
While online for this game is excellent it really doesn't compare to having three people rock out with you. This game is a social experience that is mainly why when it comes to playing guitar by myself I'd choose Guitar Hero 3.
With downloadable content being released every Tuesday and the daunting task of trying to become good enough to beat the game on Expert on all instruments, I'd say this game has infinite replay value till Rock Band 2. Also, not to mention the Band World Tour mode where you set off with your band to get more fans, get more stars, buy clothes, instruments, tattooes, different hair styles and try to get inducted into the hall of fame where you stand to conquer the biggest challenge in Rockband.
The Endless Setlist (5 ½ hours straight of music). I'll let you know how that works out for me.
Buy this game now if you can find it.
Rockband Retails for approximately $170.00 CAD/$160.00 USD at the time of this reivew and is available for PS3/XBOX360/PS2.
Graphics: 4.5 / 5.0
Gameplay 5.0 / 5.0
Sound 5.0 / 5.0
Replay value 5.0 / 5.0
