Rock Band

"Rock Band has arrived on the Wii."

When Rock Band came out several months ago on the XBOX 360 and PS3 consoles, it established itself as a game of its own kind. You can play drums and sing as well as guitar and bass. It featured a full career mode, where you can gain fans, create your own rocker, and travel around the world playing in venues on multiple continents, for a solo experience or up to four players can rock out as a band. Also, you can download new songs and play them along with the 58 songs within the game. And you can play online with people around the world. Indeed, Rock Band was a welcome addition to any game library for those who wished to party like a rock star. Now, Rock Band has come to the Nintendo Wii console, but can it capture the same experience as its predecessors?

The biggest difference between this and the X360/PS3 versions is Solo and Band World Tour modes. As stated above, the X360/PS3 versions allows you to create your own rocker, travel to venues around the world and gain a fanbase on your way to being a Rock Legend. However, the Wii version of the game plays quite different. You cannot create your own character in the game and you cannot travel around the world or gain fans. Instead, you'll play five songs in an "Act" and by successfully completing the five songs, you'll unlock the next act. Think of Guitar Hero. That's basically how the Solo and Band World Tour modes work in the Wii version. It's a bit of a bummer that Wii players can't experience probably the biggest draw of Rock Band for the X360/PS3.

Also, missing from this version is the Online mode. You cannot play online against friends or anyone else on the Wii version of Rock Band. Even though it would be nice to include online play, it really isn't a big issue.

Now, these two things don't take away the Rock Band experience. The game can still be played by up to four player offline and quite frankly, it's the best thing about this game for all the versions of the game. The gameplay itself is fun with other people and you'll sometimes find yourself wanting to play with your friends. Graphically, the game is nearly identical with its X360/PS3 counterparts. And the pre-rendered videos look very clean and very well done. Of course, because you cannot create your own character, you'll see the same characters on the same songs. It's not a big deal, but you might get bored of seeing the same faces when playing Wanted Dead or Alive or When You Were Young.

The songlist is still enough for plenty of fun. There are 58 songs from various artists are included in Rock Band. While most are master recordings, there are still a few covers which a few are good while some are just plain bad. You'll get to rock out to Foo Fighters, The Killers, Coheed and Cambria, The Clash, Weezer, and many others. The Wii version of Rock Band includes 5 bonus songs: Dirty Little Secret by the All-American Rejects, Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis, Roam by the B-52s, Rockaway Beach by the Ramones, and Roxanne by the Police. But even though the game includes these songs, you still have to unlock them, which kinda sucks, but a small minor problem and not enough to ruin the game.

Now, the Special Edition of Rock Band for the Wii includes the game, one guitar, one mic, one drumset, and a USB hub. The Fender Strat guitar has ten frets, five at the top and five at the bottom of the neck. The five bottom frets can be tapped for guitar solos. Also, it has an effect bar which changes the way the guitar sounds when you hit the strum bar. Now the strum bar has been a bit of problem to some Rock Band players and the Wii Strat is no different. There are times when there may be a quick triplet of notes and you may try to move the strum bar up-down-up, but sometimes the middle strum won't register. It happens occasionally and while it isn't enough to ruin the experience, it may raise an eyebrow or two when you miss an easy note. And for those who own Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii, the Les Paul won't work for Rock Band for the Wii.

The drum set also has its share of small problems. The pads are loud when they are hit and they can sometimes drown out the music from the TV. Also, the kick pedal has to be pressed hard in order for the bass drum to be registered. Sometimes, you'll step on the kick pedal and miss a bass hit. Older drumsets for the X360/PS3 had a faulty kick pedal which would sometimes break after pressing it too hard. The Wii kick pedal can take some damage as its reinforced with a better spring and studier plastic pedal. However, still be careful about stepping down too hard as it could still break.

The microphone is a bit more confusing to use on the Wii than the other versions of Rock Band. You cannot have anything plugged into the Wii Remote in order to use th mic. And on segments of songs that uses a cowbell on the vocal track, you press the A button on the Wii Remote. I've tried several times to tap the mic like the other versions but it doesn't pick up. It's a small hassle to hold the mic and the Wii Remote in your hand while singing. It's not too bad, but a bit annoying.

Rock Band has finally arrived for the Nintendo Wii. Although it's missing some features from the other versions along with a couple of small of issues that may annoy gamers, Rock Band still shines and is an experience on the Wii that's not to be missed. While by yourself or with your friends, you can count on Rock Band to provide you with many, many hours of awesome fun.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/08

Game Release: Rock Band (US, 06/22/08)