I am a real drummer. Even though I have tonnes of real gear, I took the plunge and purchased the Rock-band bundle back in February. I thought if I am going to play video games anyway, I might as well play something musical right? Plus I thought it would be really fun to jam with my friends, the musically inclined and not so musically inclined. My impressions of the game will be in two parts: A) Solo as a drummer and B) Multiplayer (not online) with up two two other real life band members. These impressions also include the recently released Rockband 2. Read on for part two: Playing well with others in Rockband/Rockband 2.
What is the hardest part about forming a band? Is it finding the right members? Is it getting the right sound? Is it getting the right look? Is it not getting evicted by the neighbors? Or is it finding the right name? Many of these same questions will have to be asked when you pop in Rockband or Rockband2 for the first time.
Once you fire up the game, you will get to customize your characteristics /clothes and choose your name. You will also have to sit through this for every other member of your band ( so this would be a good time to read through the manual that came with the game to kill some time.)! You have the option to get really picky about every detail or just take what they give you and get down to making music. The game will even generate a band name for you if you can't think of one.
In Rockband 2 the character you create can play any instrument that you have connected to your system. This is a big improvement over the first Rockband. Now my "drummer" character can sing or play bass/guitar according to what I am playing/doing in real life. This usually happens to drummers a lot as bringing Rockband drums to a buddies house will be tougher than say a microphone or guitar(again, just like real life). Plus the "stick noise" from playing on the kit is still enough to annoy most parents/significant others in the next room...welcome to the life of a drummer!
My backup instrument for this part of the review was the bass guitar. One because it is a little easier than guitar, and two because you don't often have people arguing to play bass. My brother plays bass and I have a deep respect for those unsung people who help us drummers hold down the rhythm section - so the choice was natural.
I won't go into too much detail about each instrument as I'd prefer to deal with the band dynamics. However I will go over a few things regarding the bass as I am pretty sure not too many articles address the bass details much.
As far as playing bass guitar, well you will probably be holding a guitar controller when you play(Rockband does not make a bass controller - bassists get no respect!). Like guitar you'll have to hit the notes as they scroll towards you on screen. Also you end up using the whammy bar for bass as well (which shows that Rockband hasn't shown bassists the amount of love which it shows the other instruments...yet). Bassists usually have less notes to play (in quantity and at the same time) than the guitarists do. Also there is usually at least one guitar solo per song (which can be tricky), so that is another way the bass differs from playing guitar. I admit I haven't played every track, but there is not one that I can think of that has a bass solo in it. I got up to playing on the hard difficulty pretty quickly and can do some of the simpler tunes on expert.
However this does not mean that there are no challenging bass lines available to play. Run to the hills by Iron Maiden, Train Kept a Rollin' by Aerosmith and Shackler's Revenge(which I could not play for the life of me) by Guns N Roses were all exceptionally challenging.
If you have talked to anyone who has played either Rockband game, you know that playing with friends is the best part of playing Rockband. There is just something about grabbing your instrument, choosing a song and then doing the best you can to kick some butt!
You are rewarded for playing a harder skill level by gaining more money and more fans when you finish each song. However the harder the difficulty the more likely you are to fail and lose fans/money. Each band member can choose their individual difficulty level. It is usually good to start at say medium and work your way up as you get the hang of it.
If you are having difficulty and are about to be booed off stage, any band member who has built up enough energy (read the first part of this review to learn more about building up energy)can "save" you and get you back into the song. However three strikes and you are out (even the rock gods have their limits)! When one player "strikes out" it is only a matter of seconds before the crowd stops the song altogether. You'll often see the drummer throw his drumsticks down in disgust.
If you are all rocking on a grand scale and building up a lot of energy you'll build up the most points when all the band members go into "overdrive" at the same time (meaning using all their individual energies up at the same time). This is pretty tricky on the tougher songs as everyone has to be doing well enough in the song to earn the energy in the first place. The payoff when you accomplish it though is awesome.
Between both RB games and all the downloadable songs online there is reportedly over five hundred songs you can play! There is an incredible amount of variety here and I think it is safe to say there will be many songs you like available to play. As well there will be songs you might not even like but will LOVE to play on this game with your band (trust me, it will happen). Just keep in mind it is called Rockband for a reason- there are no country or rap songs here!
Another fun part of the game is the challenge component. You will have challenges that start out as "warm up" challenges of maybe 4 or 5 songs that are fairly easy, right up to a metal onslaught of every metal song in a row (17 songs on my hard drive). These challenges unlock other challenges and a lot of the highest level challenges give you unlockable content that you cannot purchase in the shop ( my male bassist got a "deer suit' complete with antlers, spikes and a dead bird on his chest, while our female singer got a new top to wear...namely a SNAKE and nothing else)!
This game appeals to a large cross section of people. It is easily the most social game I have played. So often playing video games adds up to only one person playing alone staring at a screen for hours. Even when you play with others online, there is still a distance between you and your online buddies. Rockband attracts many people who usually have no interest in video games. Rockband2 has added a "no fail" feature to allow moms and dads to play with their "rockstar" kids (without bombing out) as well as the "young" dad who is perhaps trying to bond with the pre-teens.
If you have trouble drumming up (pun intended) people to play with you in front of your t.v., there is a online feature in Rockband 2 that allows you to play online with others to form a band. I have not tested this personally so I cannot comment on lag or other connectivity issues. I would guess though that this experience would still be better than playing alone. There are also daily challenges for your band to accomplish and updates to you when some breaks one of your records etc. Sounds like there is a lot to keep you busy if you do a lot of online gaming.
I have heard many real musicians and wannabe lament the recent trend of instrument related video games. For some reason people are threatened by others claiming expert status on Guitar hero or Rockband. I just take it as entertainment. Video game skills do not transfer to the real instrument and vice versa. However I think it is a great way to expose today's younger generation to a lot of classic bands and music that they might not have heard of before. If anyone is inspired to pick up a real instrument and learn to play directly from getting hooked on either video game series, that can only be a good thing in my book. Just be careful to as cranking the tunes and bringing "the rock" will still P#ss off the neighbors!
copyright 2008 www.drumystic.com Virtual band still p#sses off the neighbors 2
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