Please save me...

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:54 am

Waucod Meesman wrote:So Mr. Gamedude... what is rock band? Explain it to me

Basically, take Guitar Hero and add drums and a microphone and you and up with Rock Band. Thankfully, it is much more in depth than that. It apparently has a rich story mode that isn't as linear as Guitar Hero III and it has online multiplayer!

Click here for more information.

The neat thing about Rock Band is it can actually teach you to play drums! Yes, it is $170 for the full game (which comes with game, guitar, drums, and mic), but I've played the demo in Best Buy it it is a whole lot of fun. There's already a bunch of downloadable content available for it too.

So, the impression I get (from reviews and first-hand experiences) is that Guitar Hero III is more for hardcore GH players. If GHIII is maybe out of your difficulty setting, then try Rock Band, which seems geared toward the casual/average crowd a little more. For me, that's great. My fiance and I both loved Guitar Hero II, but I'm crappy on the Hard setting and my fiance can barely beat a song on Easy... So, if Rock Band is how they say, both of us should be able to enjoy it more than we did GHIII and we will both get a new experience out of it besides just guitars. She can go pretend she can sing on the mic and I'll go give the cat a headache by pounding on the drums. :twisted:

Note: They are supposed to release the guitar, drums, and mic as individual SKUs in February so that you can purchase them individually instead of as the $170 bundle. So, if you know you will never perform karaoke, you can just pick up the game, guitar, and drums. Or if you want someone on bass, you can go get an extra guitar starting in February.

Santos · Post by **Santos** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:32 pm

Kurke Aumea wrote:
Waucod Meesman wrote:So Mr. Gamedude... what is rock band? Explain it to me

Basically, take Guitar Hero and add drums and a microphone and you and up with Rock Band. Thankfully, it is much more in depth than that. It apparently has a rich story mode that isn't as linear as Guitar Hero III and it has online multiplayer!

Click here for more information.

The neat thing about Rock Band is it can actually teach you to play drums! Yes, it is $170 for the full game (which comes with game, guitar, drums, and mic), but I've played the demo in Best Buy it it is a whole lot of fun. There's already a bunch of downloadable content available for it too.

So, the impression I get (from reviews and first-hand experiences) is that Guitar Hero III is more for hardcore GH players. If GHIII is maybe out of your difficulty setting, then try Rock Band, which seems geared toward the casual/average crowd a little more. For me, that's great. My fiance and I both loved Guitar Hero II, but I'm crappy on the Hard setting and my fiance can barely beat a song on Easy... So, if Rock Band is how they say, both of us should be able to enjoy it more than we did GHIII and we will both get a new experience out of it besides just guitars. She can go pretend she can sing on the mic and I'll go give the cat a headache by pounding on the drums.

Note: They are supposed to release the guitar, drums, and mic as individual SKUs in February so that you can purchase them individually instead of as the $170 bundle. So, if you know you will never perform karaoke, you can just pick up the game, guitar, and drums. Or if you want someone on bass, you can go get an extra guitar starting in February.

Rock Band's difficulty is actually around on-par with Guitar Hero 2's once you hit the last few tiers, and some of the DLC (METALLICA PACK) is actually harder.

A warning about Rock Band: It's well known for having faulty hardware. The game plays fine, so if you have your old GH2/GH3 controller(s), then it's no big deal, but if not, you might have a bit of a problem. The guitar controller packaged with Rock Band has a notoriously unpredictable lifespan, ranging from breaking 2 hours after you open the box to never breaking (mine still works fine). The drum's kick pedal also can't take much stomping, and snaps in half every once in a while. On the bright side, EA has guaranteed replacement of all their hardware that breaks, and might even send you a free EA game of your choice to make up for the lost time, even another copy of Rock Band.

The gameplay is my favorite out of any of the Harmonix games so far (not including their pre-GH expiditions). Band World Tour basically lets you choose whichever city you want to play, and doing well enough in one city lets you play a bigger arena in the same city, so you won't be playing an opening act for the Zeppelin reunion if you play enough random gigs. Character customization is probably my favorite feature. You can make your own avatar from scratch, and with enough patience working with the tattoo/facepaint/art editors, people have managed to make their very own Batman guitarist.

I'd give this game a 9/10. It only looses 1 point because of the horribly mundane pace of the earlier songs, which can be as little as 300 notes total on the expert setting.

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:42 pm

Yeah, I've heard about the hardware issues, but if the game is as much fun as everyone says it is, then it's a worthy risk. Plus, I've read about a do-it-yourself fix for the guitar if the strummer dislocates itself (it was a pretty easy fix)..

GHII was a fine difficulty for me, it just seemed really geared towards the hardcore gamers (at least with the acheivements on the 360 version). And it seems like GHIII is a whole step or more above GHII, which kind of turns me off, despite a pretty decent song list on GHIII.

Still, I'm a pretty good fan of the song list in Rock Band, so I doubt I'll be disappointed. I'm really looking toward the Band World Tour mode as it sounds like it can really add some depth to the gameplay. And with all the extra stuff Rock Band does that GHIII doesn't, I'm hoping that my fiance will become a little more enticed to play video games a little more often (as opposed to playing just GHII and Sonic the Hedgehog...).

Waucod Meesman · Post by **Waucod Meesman** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:36 pm

The song list on Rock Band does seem to be pretty good. But I think I'll stick with Guitar Hero. Its a little bit cheaper and I really don't care for karaoke and not so much for the drums... doesn't look to bad though

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:38 pm

Waucod Meesman wrote:The song list on Rock Band does seem to be pretty good. But I think I'll stick with Guitar Hero. Its a little bit cheaper and I really don't care for karaoke and not so much for the drums... doesn't look to bad though

At least go test drive the drums at your nearest electronics store. Yes, Rock Band is geared as more of a "party" game, given the multiple instruments. I hear as a singleplayer game it is a bit lacking because it is just more fun to play with more people. So, if you don't have anyone to play it with, I'd say GHIII is the way to go. But I think you'd be missing out by not picking it up one day.

Waucod Meesman · Post by **Waucod Meesman** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:38 pm

Yeah I've got some rich ass friends who I can try it out with...

Santos · Post by **Santos** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:03 pm

Guitar Hero 3 is easier than Rock Band in my opinion. The timing window they give you for each note is ridiculous compared to all the other games.

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:01 am

telemchus wrote:Guitar Hero 3 is easier than Rock Band in my opinion. The timing window they give you for each note is ridiculous compared to all the other games.

Interesting... I did get to demo the drums at Best Buy for Rock Band. Timing wise I seemed pretty decent, but I kept hitting the damn pads near the edges so the notes never registered properly (because apparently you have to hit the pads directly in the middle...). I'm sure with some practice I can fix that though.

Santos · Post by **Santos** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:30 am

Don't trust the best buy drums, they've taken so much abuse they're nothing like the real product. The only time I miss drum notes from unresponsiveness with my set is when I completely miss the pad and end up making a loud clanking sound on the frame.

Santos · Post by **Santos** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:11 pm

Kurke, I spammed you with game requests on live.

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:51 am

telemchus wrote:Kurke, I spammed you with game requests on live.

Yeah, my fiance was just coming home after working all night... Needless to say, she wanted some Kurke time... Then she discovered the greatness of Rock Band! Now we rock together! lol

Jaysont · Post by **Jaysont** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:14 pm

u know she kicks ur ass kurke and u spend most of ur time locked in the cuboard *spell check rofl*

Kurke Aumea · Post by **Kurke Aumea** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:43 am

Jaysont wrote:u know she kicks ur ass kurke and u spend most of ur time locked in the cuboard *spell check rofl*

lol She loves the vocals so far. She loves doing her Bon Jovi impression... :roll:

I've mostly played guitar since whenever I've played so far it has been with her and it's just easier to play guitar since I've played GHII quite a bit. She works during the afternoon tomorrow, so I'm gonna practice a bit. (Yes, my life is that boring...)

Ri'Me · Post by **Ri'Me** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:12 am

My brother got Rock Band the other day for his PS3.. the equipment is indeed faulty, after a couple days the whammy bar and strum bar simply stopped responding, and the batteries are still fresh. Which sucks because the game kicks so much ass lol... it's the first rhythm based game I've tried and I'm pretty comfortable on medium with guitar and singing but gotta go on easy for drums, I think because it's almost like actually playing drums

Santos · Post by **Santos** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:32 am

Kurke Aumea wrote:
Jaysont wrote:u know she kicks ur ass kurke and u spend most of ur time locked in the cuboard *spell check rofl*

lol She loves the vocals so far. She loves doing her Bon Jovi impression... I've mostly played guitar since whenever I've played so far it has been with her and it's just easier to play guitar since I've played GHII quite a bit. She works during the afternoon tomorrow, so I'm gonna practice a bit. (Yes, my life is that boring...)

I must play you then!