What guitar hero and rock band should have been!
User Rating: 9 | Rocksmith PS3
When I first heard about this game I was skeptical, but after checkin out gameplay reviews and user videos, it seemed legit. I play guitar and bass pretty well but it never hurts to get some real lessons. that is where this game came into play. The set list is very good and covers a variety of styles, the only downside is that there are only about 40 songs on it and no songs in the download library yet. Not a big issue since those 40 songs will keep you playing for a long time as you watch yourself get better and better at guitar. The game works with any guitar (hopefully bass someday *crosses fingers*). Its peripheral cord reads precisely and accurately with the FPS. The display that reads what strings and chords to play is easy to read and you can flip it upside down if you prefer (if you are used to reading tabulature). The leveling up progression system is really cool, it has you gaining points as you complete songs and with enough points you earn new pedals and effects, along with letting you know that you are getting better at guitar. It also scales up the songs difficulty level when you start new songs. So if you are in New Band (Level 2) then it starts you off with plucking and simple two note chords and so on as you level up. When you mess up in a song enough times, the game realizes that you need some practice with the song and scales down the difficulty until you get it right. It also has lessons in hammer ons/offs, muting, slides, etc that give you points to increase your level.
Now for the obligatory downsides. The number of times to strum a chord can be a bit hard to read but after hearing the song you should be able to get the right count. Another little annoyance is that it checks your tuning every time you start a song, i just played a song, my tunings most likely fine, relax game. The game constantly saves after pretty much everything you do. The sliding tutorial is very touchy as it requires super accurate timing on your part or you wont get any points. not too many gripes if i do say so myself!
All in all, this is definitely a must buy if you are into band games or are really interested in learning guitar because so many people pick up guitar only to never play again because they do not have a tutor. This game is a great tutorial and keeps making you better at guitar. I never play guitar for more than a few hours at a time but I played for about 5 hours after I got this, I just wanted to get better and get more points! also it has really fun mini games like space invaders where you have to hit the right note to kill the bad guys etc. It's really a lot of fun and I def say buy it, and dont listen to the bad review that joystiq gave it.
