Rock Band

"Perhaps the greatest rhythm/party game of all time."

Why play the guitar when you can play the drums and sing? Better yet, play them with friends, instead of sitting in a dark cold basement, playing Hit Me With Your Best Shot on easy in the game "Guitar Hero III: The Legends of Rock". You could be playing Rock Band with your friends while playing Enter Sandman or Run to the Hills. Harmonix decided to continue their legacy of rhythm games and created the god of rhythm games; Rock Band.The masters of rhythm games have created their best invention yet. Instead of sticking with just a Guitar, they decided to move to bigger and better instruments; a drum kit and a microphone. These legendary instruments would all come together to make Rock Band, the ultimate rhythm game.

Gameplay 10/10

The simple objective of Rock Band is to hit the notes in time with the music. There are four instruments you're able to play; Guitar/Bass (Bass is for multiplayer only), Drums, and Microphone (Vocals). Each instrument has their own peripheral made to look and feel like the real instrument. There are 4 difficulties you can play in; Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert.
I will explain each instrument in different sections, with their purposes and uses.

Guitar/Bass

Guitar and Bass players will use the guitar shaped peripheral. There are ten fret buttons on the guitar in total. If you are familiar with Guitar Hero, then you will know how to use 5 of the frets. There are 5 frets buttons at the top of the neck, and 5 solo fret buttons at the bottom of the neck. These solo frets are used in solos, and you can just press the buttons instead of strumming and pressing the buttons. Personally I've never used these 5 solo fret buttons, but I'm sure someone apprieciates them. Then there is the strum bar, which is used for strumming, to hit the music as it comes down into the strum bar, and keep in time with the music. There is also the whammy bar, to control the pitch of the sound of your guitar, and to earn extra points. If you are familiar with Guitar Hero, than you would know how to activate star power. Except in Rock Band, it is called overdrive. You activate it by holding the guitar upwards, and getting ready to rock out. While in overdrive mode, your points are doubled.

Drums

Drummers will be the ones keeping the beat in Rock Band. There are 4 pads on the drum kit, and one bass pedal. The drum pads are durable, although the bass pedal can snap easily. The bundle comes with everything; 4 drums pads, 2 drum sticks, and 1 bass pedal. You'll be ready to rock out and keep the beat as soon as its out of the box and set up.

Gameplay is pretty much the same thing as the guitar/bass. Notes come scrolling down the screen and you must hit them in the bar the bottom of the screen, and keep the beat. The only difference is their is only 4 rectangle boxes, and 1 line. That line is orange and is used for the bass pedal. The easy and medium songs are quite easy, although the hard and expert songs can give anyone a challenge. Overdrive for drummers is activated by earning half of your overdrive meter, and then waiting for a drum fill, in which you can hit anything you want, and finish it with a bang from the crash cymbal. Sometimes at the end of a song, you'll be able to get a big drum finish, in which you can hit any notes you want.

Vocals

Vocalists will be the the microphone peripheral. These vocalists will sing the song into the mic. It is quite simple. It plays in such a way that anyone can sing the song if they know it. Another part of the vocalists job is the cowbell/tambourine/beat. You tap the mic when the dot comes up. Ever wanted to play the cowbell in "Don't Fear the Reaper"? Now you can.

Vocalists play a bit different from drummers and guitarists. They are given a side scrolling chart. The lyrics come down the charts, and so does a line. This is the line of pitch. You have to follow the pitch and the lyrics to play the song.

Sound 10/10

The is perhaps the most important part of a rhythm game. The track list is extremely important, and the quality of the sound. Harmonix does a good job of both of those. The track list is impressive. To name a few: "Enter Sandman - Metalllica", "Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden", "Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers", "Tom Sawyer - Rush", and "Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria". This game covers most range of music. Harmonix really did a good job in this department.

Another important part to the track list is "Downloadable Content". If you are not too happy with the track list and want some more music to jam to, then use your microsoft points to buy more songs. Every week, Harmonix puts on more songs, that are actually good. Ever wanted to sing My Sharona but it wasn't included in the game? Well now you can buy it and sing as much you want to it. You can download the amazing Metallica pack, which includes "And Justice for All...", "Blackened", and "Ride the Lighting". Yes, now you can play that crazy solo in Ride the Lighting.

Graphics 8/10

Although the graphics aren't bad, they're not great. Not that I was expecting good graphics from a rhythm game. Everything else is good. They could have spent a bit more time on the graphics, but like I already said, you don't need good graphics for a rhythm game. The graphics and colors are actually much better than I expected, and much crisper and cleaner than Guitar Hero. It plays a big role in the notes scrolling down.

Replayability 10/10

This game has probably the most replayability ever in any game. You can practically play this game forever. Want to rock out? Play the Guitar/Bass. Want to keep a beat? Play the drums. Want to shriek like a rock star? Be a vocalist in-game. Have some friends over who are interested in video games? Play some Rock Band, and create your own band, and jam out to an amazing track list. If your thinking hard it not a challenge anymore, than try out expert, and train yourself to finally be able to play those drums rolls in Run to the Hills. You can possibly do whatever you want. The game isn't about beating it once on easy, and never playing it again. You'll want to beat easy, than medium, than hard, and on to expert. Not only that, you will want to achieve the highest scores possible and rise to the top of the leaderboards.

Final Score 9/10

As much as I love Rock Band, it still has its flaws. Its one of my favorite games of all time, but no game is perfect. Its by far the best rhythm game of all time. The main flaw is some of the songs in the track list, such as "Mississippi Queen", which is possibly the worst song of all time. But in the end, Rock Band is almost perfect. It may have a heavy pricetag, but it is well worth the price. If you have the money, then I would go buy this right now. Have fun.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/08

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