Rock Revolution

"wow, the bad reviews, this game isn't that bad people!!!!"

I was shocked to see this game sitting on the clearance rack for a mere $20 so I decided to pick it up, DESPITE my knowing this game got bad reviews. I saw the song list and it was an instant purchase regardless. So did I make a wise decision??? Let's start the review. THIS REVIEW IS FROM A GUITAR STAND POINT ONLY, I DO NOT HAVE THE DRUM SET.

First of all, the review from Gamespot, gets it totally wrong. There are 41 songs, not 30, and most, if not all are true rock, heavy metal songs. The only other game I have to compare this two is Guitar Hero II which had a terrible song list and turned me off on Guitar Hero games completely unless a specific band game is released, like GH Metallica. The other thing they completely fail to mention is the fact that some TV's have a delay between sound and graphics. You can adjust this and allow for the delay. Once you do this, the game plays perfectly.

SONG LIST: I like the song list, a lot, it's tons better than GHII. And who cares that all the songs are covers, they are done very well and some sound better than the originals. From Metallica to the Ramones, true rock fans will like the set list despite it only being 41 songs. So the song list gets a big thumbs up from me.

GRAPHICS: Graphically who cares. You're too busy looking at the notes to really admire what else is going on around you, so this category is irrelevant to me.

GAMEPLAY: This is where most reviews get it completely wrong. As I stated before, when you calibrate the game to your tv, the game plays perfectly fine. PERFECTLY FINE. Which leaves me to ask, did anybody else that reviewed this game bother to even do this? I know they failed to mention it to people in the reviews. Is it that Guitar Hero Fan boys don't want to let people know there is actually a decent alternative out there? And here comes the best part, and I'm going to say it, GameSpot, YOU GOT IT REALLY REALLY WRONG. The career game is better than Guitar Hero, at least Guitar Hero II, the career mode is, you play some songs, go to a better venue, play more songs, go to a better venue, repeat until it ends. Is this correct? Yes, so how can they say the career mode on this game is boring when you have multiple styles of play? From recording studio mini games where you have to remember the notes, to poison note mini games where you have to avoid playing notes. There's so much variety that I have to wonder, did they even play the game at all or just bash the living hell out of it because it wasn't Guitar Hero? They did get the online play right though, there is nobody playing this game online. So again, I have to wonder, did they play the game at all? When you release a CD, there are 6 options, usually 4 songs to play and 2 variety type mini games. The problem with it is that the mini games and the songs are the same. So 2 songs, depending on what game you play, will be duplicated. The songs are good, so it shouldn't be an issue, but for the songs you don't like, you may end up playing them twice per cd. Once you get 2 CD's you can book a gig, in which you pick 3 songs from the 2 cd's you release. This is awesome because you can play the songs you like again, while unlocking a new venue, and during each song there's time allotted to you to free lance a guitar solo. Cool feature.

What I do not like about this game is the fact that the notes come down 100% vertical. This is a big change from GH, and will take some time to get used to. With my 42" lcd at 720p, the notes are kinda small again, taking some time to see. But the difficulty on Medium is no more difficult than Guitar Hero's Medium setting. The other thing mentioned was the small window to hit notes. Total BS. Again, when you set the tv up to match the music, it works perfectly fine. It may take some getting used to, especially from folks used to playing Rock band and Guitar hero.

OVERALL: There is a learning curve, it will take some time. A good thing is that all songs are available right off the bat, no need to unlock anything, so you can play whatever song you want and practice before you play the actual game. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you calibrate the tv to the game in the settings. I'm pretty sure by what I've read that nobody else has done that before playing the game. And I'm pretty sure Gamespot didn't play the game at all, as there's no way in hell this game is a 3.5. It's no perfect 10 by any means, but it's so far from a 3.5.

For $20, you can't go wrong, it's a very good deal for how fun the game is.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/21/09

Game Release: Rock Revolution (US, 10/15/08)