Better than Guitar Hero?
Like it's Guitar Hero counterparts this is a musically based rhythm based game, unlike the former however Rock Band introduces drums and vocals to the mix of music that definetly set it apart. Also, the songs available in Rock Band are alot more appealing to a wider audience. From bands like Okay Go to Rush, Rock Band is not pigeon holing itself to a specific genre kindof like Guitar hero is doing by offering more heavy metal and hard rock songs than anything else.
I've only been playing the game for a couple of hours but I'm already addicted, the game play is very fun. It's also a blast to try your skill at the different instruments. The drums, guitar/bass are very responsive, and though the microphone is fun for tambourine and cowbell, many people will be finding the scoring on the vocal end to be very punishing. EA is using the Karaoke Revolution Engine for the vocal aspect of the game so you must sing exactly on key with no alteration from the master or cover tracks of the songs or you won't score very high.
The online play aspect of the game is very fun. Who's best at what is going to be the hardest thing about the online play. The clear winner is anybody at bass. The hardest I would say is drums just because it really takes some getting used to. Guitar obviously if you've played any guitar hero game is going to be fine.
All in all if you're looking for a guitar hero substitute or are looking to do alot of multiplayer or have a good party game, Rock Band will be more than enough. While it's not as unforgiving as Guitar Hero, it still is challenging enough to give you something to shoot for and while the game is definitely worth a buy it is a very steep price.