Couple Gaming

If you were like us, you debated if you would buy Rockband, not only did it come out shortly after Guitar Hero 3, but it also came with a $170 price tag and had some of the same songs as Guitar Hero 3, along with rumors of shortages and bad equipment all over the place.

I will get straight to the point, there were no shortages, still are no shortages and Rock Band is so good, we are going to sell our GH2 and 3, we don’t need or want those games anymore,  thats how good Rock Band is.  Not only does Rock Band introduce the drums and microphone to the game, but they bring you so far into the game, it’s hard not to shout out to the audience who is singing along with you.  To all of us that thought “Oh, I’ll get GH3 OR Rock Band”.. let me just say “JOIN US!  Give up your GH3! You know the songs (and the jump from Medium to Hard) was disappointing.  Give up the ghost, and join us!”

OK, so now that we’ve fully admitted defeat, lets get to the more precise reasons we love this game, and have spent every day since christmas playing it… and converting all of our family & friends to it.

First, the guitar.  OK, so it’s basically Guitar Hero…  Yes, the guitar that it comes with is the suck.  Its fret buttons being flush with the neck are teh suck, and it’s rather flimsy.  We are having to return ours after about 14 hours of play (you can no longer strum down, and the fret buttons are less than satisfactorily responsive.. I promise), but of course the Guitar Hero guitars work with it (Woot!), so keep the GH3 wireless guitar, as that is really the smoothest guitar to date.

Next, the drums. Besides needing a stool the drums are in my opinion the best new instrument, they feel stable, they  respond well (for the most part, as always there is always a time when you know you hit the red and it doesn’t go off) and they make you feel like a key member of the band, yes I think most instruments can, but for me the drums more so.  If I miss a beat, it can easily affect the rest of the band and if I don’t do well it almost always prevents the band from getting 4 – 5 stars.  But if I am doing well everyone seems to have any easier time keeping the rhythm and can get in a groove.

The microphone adds an interesting touch to the band.  While we may have always sung along to Guitar Hero, those of us that knew we were not good singers seem to have a slight advantage here over the vocally-elite (Barring those that have actually taken classes).  You don’t have to be a good singer, but you DO have to control your pitch to play the game.  My 8 year old daughter can sing the right pitch if she knows the song, going up & down where IT wants you to go, not what you remember it doing.. but I have a killer time singing “Black Hole Sun”, as I have never before sung the song the way the game wants me to.  Of course, there are also songs that will kill female vs. male voices: Changing octaves to hit higher/lower notes is something you’re going to want to practice in private a few times before having friends over.  That being said, there are definitely songs that you are going to hit 100% (on easy) the first time through… which is one more thing I should probably touch on.  Difficulty level seems to be determined by how much leeway you have.  You are given phrases, and hitting 80% of the phrase seems good enough for easy… maybe 90% for medium.. etc.  This seems easy enough on “Maps”, or something common, but I could kill the person that invented the “hmmm” parts out of NOWHERE on some of these songs.

We highly suggest trading off occasionally as well.  Everyone is going to have songs that they excel at, and sharing some of the pain of the Metallica songs is really best.

There of course is also a bass player, and you can really feel it in the songs and can almost affect a band as much as the drums, but since this mode was available in Guitar Hero, and hasn’t changed much, most of you will know what  it’s like.

Each instrument is vital to the success of your band, and although some appear to affect the band more then others, they are all key, and if one band members screws up, you can only save them 3 times before the whole band is kicked out.  This brings a nice addition to the multi-play, which in itself is one of the nest aspects of the game, playing locally with 2-4 people or over live is a pleasing experience and makes you want to come back every night and practice.

We are really pleased with the amount of songs in the game, we have played for 4 days straight and haven’t unlocked them all, some of course suck, but overall we enjoy them all.  Also a very nice addition is the customization of your character, each band member can buy clothes, change their hair, buy accessories, new instruments, get tattoos etc, which really makes you want to do better so you can buy more things.

There is so much to Rock Band that we just can’t cover it all, but take our word for it, this is currently the only “Guitar” game you need.  And if you want to join our band, look for “The Ocean Dwellers”  Our band based after Cthulhu.

See you onstage!!!