Review: Rock Band

TonyDaytona

81%

Once again a perfectly good chance to make a fucking awesome rock-n-roll game has been wasted. Where are the groupies, drug binges, and spats of violence that made rock into the legendary orgy of greatness it is remembered as?
   If I were in control of Rock Band when you started hitting a hot streak, instead of the audience singing along like they begin to do, the girls in the audience would start to flash you their tits. The guys in the audience would begin to get really violent and rowdy, and after the show you would be partially judged by how many fans were injured in the mosh pits.
   The world tour feature is one of the things that could have really distinguished Rock Band from Guitar Hero. It’s kinda like doing a complete season in a sports game, which I totally dig. I found this feature very boring initially though because there were too few songs. There are 45 total in the game, but many begin locked and aren’t available until you have played a lot. Get ready to jam out the same song 20-30 times, sometimes back to back, in order to unlock all the other songs on the disk.
   With all the peripherals like drums, guitars, and mics you are already dropping a huge chunk of change on Rock Band. I thought MMORPG players were dweebs for paying monthly to play, but this is like playing a full year in advance just to begin. With downloadable songs the game is asking us to reach even further into our pockets and pay extra for songs that aught to have been included. Personally I’m not impressed enough to take out another student loan in order to play this game

EuroTrash

95%

I was excited to get Rock Band and jam out with my friends. I rushed home with all the gear and invited a few friends over to check it out. I have to say this may be the best party game ever created. I got a keg for the occasion and once we all had our buzz going it was a constant struggle to get an instrument and participate.
   Karaoke is something people around the world do for entertainment. Rock Band takes it to the next level, incorporating multiple guitars and drums into the mix along with the singer. Turning Karaoke into a group activity like this is the greatest musical advancement since inward singing! It was by far the best response I’ve ever had to a game I tried to get my “cool” non-gamer friends to try out.
   Immediately those of us who had played Guitar Hero felt the guitar play in Rock Band was far inferior. I wonder if this was a conscious decision in order to have Guitar Hero stay competitive, because it is also their game after all. It’s very weak that a newer game with a lot more money behind its development takes a second seat to Guitar Hero in any regard. They said this was “the game they always wanted to create”, but they neutered it in order to keep selling copies of both.
   The singing was by far the most entertaining part. Maybe it was being drunk, but on songs I knew I don’t think I did half bad. Drumming was also extremely fun, and since this party I’ve found playing the drums is the only way to experience this game solo. I just couldn’t take singing to the game seriously alone, and like I said the guitars pale in comparison to Guitar Hero, so drums were the only way to go when the party was over.

Newton

89%

I enjoyed Rock Band, but it’s really not the game for me. I had a great time at Euro’s party playing it, but I can’t justify going out and buying my own copy with all the required crap. I play WoW and CS in my spare time and don’t think I have nearly enough parties to justify such a huge expenditure. When I do have friends over we are mostly interested in getting wasted playing drinking games like beer pong or asshole.
   One thing I can say about the game is that I did have a lot of fun when I played. The feeling you get when you play a song you actually know well is really great. As a beginner you go from missing most of the notes on random songs you haven’t heard to hitting almost all of them when it’s a song you were you are into it and have an idea of what to expect. That feeling alone gives you that “Hey I really know this song and I can keep the beat” rush, or at least it did for me.
   The ugly side of the game is the association with MTV. I mean, it would be cool to be on TV for playing Rock Band. Supposedly MTV has a new reality show coming out that involves the game. My question is “is it going to be on between my super sweet 16 and The Real World?” I mean, just being on MTV is a sign of total lameness these days. This television station has done worse by its own public image than Don Imus and Michael Richards combined. I find anything to do with it reprehensible at this point due to the lack of respect they showed to all the original fans. You know, the ones that made MTV into an institution based on music videos.