Rock Band goes one level above other music games and delivers a solid and wonderful rock-star simulating experience
Despite the massive delay it took for this game to grace our fine landdownunder shores, Rock Band is every bit as fresh as the day it first was released in the US a mere 12 months ago.
Rock Band is developed by ex-Guitar Hero gurus Harmonix, and instead of focusing on just the Guitar aspects, Harmonix have opted for a full band experience. And what is that? Well, it consists of Guitar, Drums, Vocals and to some extend, Bass. If the addition of extra instruments/game elements have you worried, Rock Band pretty much plays the same as Guitar Hero.
If you've been paying attention you'd know all about this game already. You have a series of plastic and fake instruments. A plastic Fender Guitar (in the case of Rock Band that is), which has a series of colored fret buttons which you hold down and strum with a strum bar as the notes appear on screen. You have a drum set with four drum pads, each with a different color assigned to them, and much like the guitar, you smack a particular colored pad as it shows on screen. Now the vocals play differently than previously mentioned gameplay elements, and play out much like the Singstar games (and if this concept confuses you, than please go check it out for yourself). And lastly, Bass plays out like Guitar..... yes, I know.
Guitar, Drums and Vocals have there own solo tour mode, where you play through a list of songs that increase in difficulty. Each instrument have a varied set list, so if you intend on playing through on each, you'll find a slightly different line up each time. Rock Band features a 'create your own rocker' feature, which is levels above GH's own standard rocker list, as well as GH:WT's 'create your own rocker', Even though the templates you can choose from in terms of face and hair are limited, the character models look very nice.
Where Rock Band really highlights is the World Tour mode. As the name suggests, players form a band (2 - 4 people) and enter a simulated world where they travel the globe playing gigs and earning cash and fans. There is a list of major cities, all with three venues to play at, and various different gigs to perform at. These range from one off song lists, to make your own set, to random song selection, to 20+ song sets fitted within a theme (i.e rock and roll etc).
Even though it seems shallow on paper, the World Tour mode is deep, drawing you in and consuming your time for hours. You can continuously keep earning more cash and more fans, unlocking more larger venues and harder set lists.
Now, as important as an amp is to an electric guitar, so are the songs to Rock Band. With only 40 or so songs in the main set list of the game, and an extra 10 or so appearing as bonus songs, Rock Band covers a variety of musical genres and tastes. First play through will find yourself cringing at some of the choices as the set list moves into some country and southern rock (which isn't everyone's cup of tea). However, these songs strangely grow on you, especially in Band Tour mode where you are forced to sometimes play the same song in repeated set lists in a short amount of time.
Not only is the set list strong, with acts such as 'Weezer', 'Metellica', 'Aerosmith', 'Black Sabbath', 'The Clash', 'Sound Garden', 'Blur' and others, but due to Harmonix's dedication over the past year, Rock Band comes to Australia with a full 300+ song catalog of down loadable content (for 360 and PS3 users).
Apart from being an addictive game, Rock Band also outshines it's rival with amazing presentation. The game engine looks better than any Guitar Hero game to date, despite being a year old. There are also nice little touches, such as, get a high note streak, and the crowd cheering you on will start to sing along with the song. Rock Band is full of little moments that make this experience worth while.
It may be a year old game, but Rock Band is truly the king of music rhythm games. The soundtrack is diverse, with catchy numbers, and a back catalog that is updated weekly with several new tracks, Rock Band is a sound investment for anyone interested in music, or music styled games.