Rock Band

"Rock on Harmonix, rock on"

Now, as a reviewer I've taken a solemn oath not to compare games directly with one another unless they're lined up in a series. Too often a perfectly decent game is shunned and overshadowed by a better one and unfairly lost to the sands of time because it was only good instead of AWESOMELY SPECTACULAR. So if you're looking for a comparison between Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, look elsewhere.

Rock Band: Rock on Harmonix, rock on

Presentation: 9

The relatively low-polygon low-texture character models may put off some people who are looking at screenshots, but you'll quickly learn to forgive this minor problem once you see it all come together in action. These pleasantly customizable avatars animate very well, every single one of them. The singer, the guitarist, the bassist, the drummer, they all move with amazing lifelike fluidity and almost always in-tune to the song. The only time they're not actually playing to the beat is when they're busy doing extravagant showboating like finger-twirling their drumsticks or kicking the camera.

Even facial expressions are well captured and do a good job of fitting the mood of the sing. Singing “Enter Sandman” will have the singer screaming into his mic, while a slower song like “Creep” or “Wave of Mutilation” will have him closing his eyes and making more gentle expressions. Even the Guitarists get into the face-making action, though the drummer gets shafted here and does nothing but smash their drums like an animal. Which is pretty much like real life, I suppose.

Some problems do arise, however. When you're not busy looking at your note-chart, you may notice that the band members have a tendency to jump positions around the stage without warning as different scenes play out without any sense of progression. One scene will have the singer go crowd surfing, while two seconds later he's suddenly singing a duet with the guitarist in the middle of the stage, and then the next second they're all back in their standard positions. This is a consequence of the mo-cap and scene-editing used to string the songs together, and I can understand why it's this way. There's no other way to do this short of motion-capturing a completely unique stage performance for every song, and it absolutely doesn't take away from the thrilling atmosphere the performances provide. Especially when they even provide extravagant lighting effects, like turning off all the lights and then shining a spotlight on each band member one by one once they begin to play.

The note-charts themselves are now comprised of rectangles and squares, something that may be disconcerting to Guitar Hero veterans, but with a little bit of time it's not that difficult to get used to.

The game does definitely raise the bar for presentation in the music and rhythm genre. It's quite simply the best performance in this regard the world has ever seen, and other music and rhythm series' would do well to try to bring a bit of this spark and style into their own games.

Audio: 10

A diverse selection of tracks from across many genres and from many different time periods makes this one of the best selections of music in the genre. You probably won't agree with all of the choices, but I'm sure everyone can agree that there's something here for every musical pallet. Even the scarce bonus songs are fairly high-quality, and the massive amount of downloadable content the game boasts is just as diverse as the main setlist, featuring all sorts of songs from many time periods and many different styles. Quite simply, the setlist in this game, taken all together, cannot be beat.

Gameplay: 9

Guitar, microphone, drums, or all of the above. What's your preference? Well, if you buy this game, it'll probably end up being all of the above because the game takes really complicated performances and simplifies them for a casual gaming audience. The guitar is the same as it is in other games of the genre, and the mic is probably the same principal used for other karaoke games like SingStar, but the drums are a powerful and unique addition to the genre. Yes, I know there have been drumming games before, but none that came packaged with a four-pad drum kit complete with a bass pedal and has you jamming along to an awesome collection of rock tracks. As far as the drums go, it's the most complete and realistic experience you can have short of picking up a real drum kit.

As noted many times in many places, the game's primary focus is on multiplayer where a different person is playing a different instrument, except that there are two guitarists. There's a Quickplay mode and then the Band World Tour Mode, where your band travels from place to place gigging like a real band does. Well, that's the theory behind it, at any rate. In reality it feels more like choosing from lists of lists and finally finding some songs hidden in there. The presentation here isn't up to par with the in-game graphics, but the gameplay they offer is great.

Different places have different individual songs to play, along with pre-made setlists that challenge you to play certain songs with a theme one after another, such as a list comprised of all of the songs from the 90's, or those songs with ripping guitar or drums. There are also Mystery Setlists that randomly string a number of songs from your music library together. The songs included in these increases with your Downloadable Content, which is a great way to keep the mode fresh for longer. Then of course there are setlists which you can create, drawing from any songs you've unlocked along with those songs you've purchased from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Band World Tour mode is a great way to enjoy the game. Though the complaint of playing the same songs over and over is certainly a valid one, the feeling of racking up the fans and stars required to progress is a great one. It can keep you and your friends and family busy for a long time until you achieve the rock and roll hall of fame, and keep you coming back right up until you're finally ready to conquer the Endless Setlist, a 52 song set that can fill up a lazy day all by itself.

Even for those times when you're alone, you can still play through the games' three (one for each instrument) Solo Career Modes which are basically the same as the Career Modes from the first two Guitar Hero games. After gigging through Band World Tour these modes can seem a bit droll and dry, but if you need to brush up on your skills with one of the three instruments then this is a good way to do it, and you'll even be earning cash you can spend on new clothing and instruments to individualize your rocker to a great degree, along with earning special clothing such as the wicked Wyvern Slayer body armor. And of course, your solo scores can be compared with other rockers online through the Leaderboards.

Online modes including Band Quickplay (no Online World Tour, sadly), along with Tug-Of-War and Duel modes for all three instruments if you want to see how your skills stack up when put directly up against other players with a given instrument.

Story: N/A

This game features no story aside from some text that tells you that something is happening in your rock star career. So… no score here.

Features: 7

If coming packaged with three gaming peripherals isn't good enough for you, the amount of customization you can do to your rocker is excellent, and the massive amount of downloadable content available for purchase puts any other game on the market to shame. The online modes work well, though you'll be hard pressed to find a singer for Band Quickplay. It seems not many people like the idea of singing in this game for some reason.

The reason for the 7 here is because the Fender Stratocaster Guitar doesn't work. There's no “you're playing it too hard” or “it's your fault” here, the thing is simply flawed by its very design. And coming packaged with a damaged peripheral has got to strike a blow against the game.

Overall: 9

The game is massive fun for parties and a wonderful time-waster alone, just be ready to send your Stratocaster back for a new one. Or just buy one of the Gibson guitars, they feel better anyway.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/08

Game Release: Rock Band (Bundle) (US, 11/20/07)