Rock Band

In this day and age of interactive music in video games, it stands to reason that after Harmonix brought the Guitar Hero franchise on the world it would be the same developers that took it a step further.

That step is Rock Band, a game (from Harmonix and EA Games) that is actually four games in one and has a multiplayer element that allows players to form their own band and work through a career mode that is challenging and entertaining.

At its core, Rock Band is a matching game. Like Guitar Hero, you match the notes that scroll down a bar in the middle of the screen with buttons on the neck of the guitar, or with the appropriate drum pad. Timing is key and some of the “notes” scroll past in a fast and furious manner, meaning your cognitive abilities (and reflexes) have to be in top form.

There are four modes of play: Easy (play this and you can’t gain access to all that the game features in the career mode), Medium, Hard and Expert. You can play the solo mode in three areas – the guitar, the drums and vocally. As for the latter, think of Rock Band as a karaoke SingStar type game. Words scroll and you have to match the pitch on the bar while reading the words (if you don’t know the song). While the words do matter, you are judged more on pitch. You score points by hitting the right notes and successive notes hit in a row will trigger a multiplayer that will score more points faster. With the vocals, another element has been added – a tambourine (or other independent struck instrument) that you use by tapping the head of the microphone.

On guitar, easy mode uses only three buttons and the pacing is slow. Crank it up to medium and you get four buttons at a faster pace with double notes flying about. Hard is five buttons (the buttons are all represented by frets on the neck of the guitar), and Expert is five buttons at an insane pace that only someone who can shred like Herman Li could match.

The drum employs five buttons from the onset, with the fifth button (the orange button) represented by a foot peddle. The harder the difficulty, the more foot pedal is employed and the faster the runs.

Where multiplayer comes into play is when you can have up to four people in the game playing guitar, bass guitar, vocals and drums. However, it needs to be noted that Rock Band will not recognize (at this stage) the wireless guitar from Guitar Hero III as another guitar (there are two guitar parts, the rhythm/lead and bass). And good luck finding an independent RB guitar controller right now. The initial setup also ran into a problem with the microphone. PlayStation 3 owners need to plug in the SIXAXIS controller and activate it and then unplug it and plug the microphone into the same USB port. The SIXAXIS will allow players to make the selections needed to continue the game, but the microphone is live for use. Those having the 40-gig PS3 will need to buy a USB hub to play Rock Band. You will need up to four USB ports, something the 40-gig machine does not have.

Of the instruments (guitar, drums, microphone), only the guitar is wireless; the rest need to be plugged into USB ports on the PS3.

Whereas there were no problems with lag in Guitar Hero III, Rock Band (likely attributable to the four instruments) did have some lag and the options for calibrating the instrument to the display has been used on a couple of occasions). Which brings us to …

The guitar

Rock Band features a replica of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, with two button sets on the neck. The first occupies the first five frets on the neck while the other is positioned down the neck where the fret width is much narrower. This is intended for those with smaller hands that can’t do the stretch (covering five hot buttons with four fingers) comfortably. However, if you do a side-by-side comparison between the RB Fender and Guitar Hero III’s Gibson models, the latter wins. There is a better button distinction and the strummer is much more fluid, even though it clicks. At events like E3, the RB guitar was much more substantial, and the media was led to believe that the heavier guitar would be the one shipping with the game. Not so. The RB guitar feels lighter than its GH wireless counterpart.

The songs

Rock Band boasts 75 songs available in the release and you can now download more songs off the PlayStation Network (some are bundled for a discounted price of $4.99 for three songs while individual songs sell for $1.99 each). Some of the songs are identical to what is featured on GHIII. In at least one instance, though, the GHIII song is a master recording (done by the artist who made it famous) while the RB version is a sound alike (this is the case with Mississippi Queen by Mountain). According to the press release, as the game matures, entire albums will be available for download (at a price, of course).

Rock Band has a very good mix of songs, though, featuring classics like Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones up to more contemporary artists. You’ll find Nirvana, Garbage, Wheezer, The Mother Hips, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Fallout, Queens of the Stone Age, Hole, Jet, Smashing Pumpkins and Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as veteran rockers like David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, KISS and Blue Oyster Cult, to name a few. The game features a progressive difficulty level so if you are playing at, say, medium level, you will have songs that are a bit easier at the start of your career path than they are as you progress.

The gameplay

There is definitely a learning curve when it comes to playing the drums. And this is quite an exercise as well. But what does not make a lot of sense is the way the game handles the build up to overdrive (the element that gives you a higher score multiplier and can help you save a band mate who has failed on his or her portion of the song). After hitting so many successive notes, the drum line opens up a drum run wherein you hit as many of the drum heads as you possibly can in a short time frame and finish with a designated crash cymbal (usually the green drum head) to launch overdrive. There is a bar on the left side of the screen that shows how individual band members are faring in the song. If one is failing, and fails, and is not saved, then the bar drops to zero and you lose the song, as well as fans. Saving overdrive for when it is needed is always a smart thing.

As stated earlier, you can start a band in easy mode, but you have a fan cap that limits how far you can take the mode. Once you hit that cap, other things, like a battle of the bands (a band you never see) with the winning getting a jet for world tours, are unavailable. And if you do decide to step it up a difficulty notch, all band members have to be at that setting, You can’t have guitar on medium, vocals on hard and drums on easy.

Of course, as you play, you open up new costuming choices and you can create band members and then mix up your band’s roster as you wish.

Striking the right chord

Rock Band is a delicate balance. On its own, the guitar portion plays second fiddle to Guitar Hero III, but as a package, this is a tough ensemble to beat. As the name suggests, this is about multiplayer. The solo efforts can be viewed as a way to practice for the important stuff. The game is not without its flaws, but generally speaking, this is a ton of fun for the whole family.

Gameplay: 8.8
There are some load times and the career path is limited for the newcomer who hopes to get his or her feet wet in easy mode. But the multiplayer, on and offline, is strong. The control scheme is a no brainer; though the drums will present a challenge.  

Graphics: 8.8
The animations are solid if a little soft displayed on a 42-inch HDTV. But who really has time to look at the animations when concentrating on the notes rolling down the screen. There is a bit of a lag that can be calibrated for in the options menu.

Sound: 9.0
Some early redundancy but overall a solid selection of songs. Some of the drums’ overdrive moments (the drum rolls) don’t make a lot of sense, but the sound is bright and robust.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Concept: 9.0
A clever idea for both offline and online multiplayer action. There have been console games that addressed drums, vocals and guitars, but this is the first to put them all together.

Multiplayer: 9.3
Definitely a shining element in this game. Playing with a band gathered around the PS3 or online is a blast. The way that players can save one another is also a very nice touch and makes playing the game a treat.  

Overall: 9.0
Rock Band is about as much fun as one can have making music in a video game. Sure there are a few flaws that prevent this game from a flawless concert, but to pull all these elements together is a remarkable achievement.