User Reviews (31 - 41 of 198)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Rocking Out with Rock Band

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Rock Band is perhaps the greatest party game to ever reach the console market.

The game allows up to four players at one time to play along to a song and has a large assortment of songs to choose from with the option to purchase more online as you need to (they are nickel and diming you but even with the normal selection you have enough songs 58 to live off of without downloading any others).

One of the most engaging pieces of the game is the ability to develop characters who are completely customizable. From shades to tattoos you can make your character look as close or as far away from you as possible.

In terms of the gameplay, each instrument gives you a completely different experience. Fans of Guitar Hero will likely pick up the bass and regular guitar parts of the game more easily because it's a very similar interface --- you use your left hand (or right if you're left handed) to hold the colored buttons down and you strum a bar with your right hand to activate the guitar.

As for drums, it's very similar to real drums in the sense that the sticks themselves are real and you have four pads to hit along with a foot peddle (which is hard to coordinate when you first start).

Singing is somewhat trivial and as long as you know the general pitch you can manage to sing each song fairly easily. As long as you're seriously singing and not just humming with the right pitch you should have fun though. There are some songs which are near impossible to sing and I think it's kind of weird to expect you to be able to handle all range of vocals from Metallica to REM but it does allow all sorts of people to find songs they like.

There are some major annoyances with the game as it is right now, however, regarding XBox Live. The chief complaint I'd have is the fact that the Band World Tour (multiplayer mode with a career) does not currently work online. You cannot add friends to your band and just play. Likely, in a rush to get the game out, they put this off. There has been some talk on web forums that they plan on perhaps patching the functionality in but until we see it I don't think anyone should pay much mind to that.

Another annoyance with XBox Live is that when you do the Band Quickplay with others online (the only online mode available right now) and select a song the microphone can only be heard locally. So even if you have a singer online you cannot hear this person if you're not in the same room as them. You can make it so the lead singer can be heard but you have to hold down the left or right trigger on the controller for the singer. It's just an annoyance and doesn't make sense why they decided to do it this way.

The Band World Tour is fun, however, if you have people over. You're given the ability to progress in your band, earn fans and money, and generally continue to gain notoriety as you continue your quest to the top. As you get more fans and complete gigs other locations and cities open up to you allowing you to progress more and sing harder songs. Challenges of varying forms also appear from time to time which is always fun and nerve wracking if you're unsure if you can perform the song.

The solo mode, on the other hand, seems like it was just thrown into the game to give whoever owns it something to do when they're friends aren't around. You play songs with the solo tour, buy new clothing, and just move onto the next gig without the need to do anything else. It's a shame the same system of building up a fan base wasn't applied to the solo tour but again the game isn't the sort you should be playing all too often alone so it's not that big of a concern.

All in all, it's a great game that brings people together and even after you're good at the songs replay value is fairly high. If you can take a hit in the short term to pay for the special edition and get the drums, the guitar, and the microphone it definitely will pay itself back in terms of enjoyment.

awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This product blows away the guitar hero series.My son and I can't get enough of this.We play sometimes for about 4-5hrs at a time.Once in awile we get someone to sing with us to add to the total excitement.I would recomend this product to anyone that has tried the guitar hero series.I am 56 years old and my son is 37 and we get so much pleasure in playing this game.

Awesome game, Hardware very very BAD.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: February 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Never had so much fun playing, great party game.
But the hardware is very weak, first guitar lasted 2h, support call, one week pass by another guitar comes, broken out of the box, support call, two weeks pass by, another one, faulty buttons. Its a never ending nightmare.
Those guys should double their price tag, yes its worth the double, but give you rock solid hardware.

Solid & well thought out

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I never knew drumming could be so hard! I lack any functional coordination! But I love this game. Having owned and played the Guitar Hero series since December of 2005 I was anxious to take things in a new direction with Rock Band. I wasn't disappointed. At first the new style Guitar Controller with recessed buttons felt a bit odd.. but only for a few minutes until I realized that this was one well thought out and positively reworked piece of gaming technology. A huge improvement over the standard GH controller? I wouldn't say that, but definitely better in my opinion and it has a strum bar that feels solid and doesn't make that annoying "click" "click" sound! RIGHT ON! Also, I love the addition of having a second set of fret buttons to jam some solos with.

I enjoyed most of the songs on the game, but that is a very subjective thing so I can't rate this game entirely on its song selection. But being among the "older" crowd that plays this game I can say that I did enjoy a lot of the songs they had to offer.

I did notice that this game was very easy on the guitar side of things. Even the Expert levels were a bit too easy for my taste to play. But that's cool. I didn't like the rectangular shaped notes all that much, but that could be due to the fact that I'm used to round shapes dropping down the screen at me. Not that big of a deal really, but I mention it because I would prefer to have round notes drop instead of rectangles.

Drums. I must be the most uncoordinated person on the planet! Before this game arrived I had visions of myself whaling like a mad man on the skins, sadly I found out that I can't operate two limbs, let alone three limbs independantly of one another. I look like some type of broken electronic monkey drummer toy as I kick when I should punch and basically look like some type of neurological wreck when trying to drum to simple songs on the easiest of levels! But I'm learning and that's what makes this game great, it's a challenge and I know that down the road the reward will be great.

Singing, forget it. I croak like a wounded toad but I'm sure for some people this will be great fun.

Over all I love this game and it has delivered. And this goes without mentioning the ability to form bands with people over the internet and play concerts together. Wow! This is a great idea and a great game. Worthy of 5 stars.

Rock Band

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Great game. Play it almost every night with my roommate. Often times our girlfriends get involved. I have an extra guitar so we can play with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Makes you feel like you're in a real band.

One big problem tho... many people, including me, have problems with the guitar. The strum bar just doesn't hold up to much use.

Technical Issues

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, this is the greatest music game of all time...leagues above any Guitar Hero title...

I've experienced 2 major issues with this title since I bought it and they are both serious game breakers...

1. When I go to play a solo career (regardless of instrument) it requires that you login to your gamertag, it tries, then locks up after saying it cannot connect to XBL. (which is bull because it is connected the whole time). After the lockup, I have to hard reset my 360...though this is random and the game is fine once it gets going it happens the majority of the time. I've had to restart my 360 about 5 times thus far on the first night with the game.

2. The Fender Stratocaster is great except it activates Overdrive (aka Star Power) on it's own when it wants to without my consent.

Other than that, this is THE game of the Christmas season and I highly recommend it...though there is no excuse for the technical issues.

Guitar Hero who?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm another that owns GH II and played around with GH III. I just finished 6 hours with my new Rock Band setup, with my kids, with my drummer (who is a phenome)- this is way too much fun. I like the new RB controller over the GH controller... and not just because I'm a Strat player to the bone. I really like the additional set of fret buttons up on the neck- I sure hope that switching to them for leads (on harder levels) will result in point bonuses. Gotta be a point to having them besides giving people a choice.

My drummer thought the drum pads were fine- he did really well beng the first time he's played any type of game like this (this guy has the hands of a old jazz drummer and can play with sticks and logs and still make it sound sweet). He did mention, as a drummer, it would have been cool if the pads were placed more in a "traditional" arrangement- and he said his left foot was bored! LOL A high-hat pedal would have been good- add another level of complexity beyond the medium levels of the game. I'm looking at doing some structure mods to the drum kit frame, make them stronger, but it should be fine without it- although this kit was designed for 1) people who have never played drums and 2) people that play with a light touch, from the wrist. Old school "play with from the shoulders and with construction boots on" drummers will tear this set up. It doesn't take a lot of force to make this work. You do have to be accurate though, it doesn't tolerate off-center hits all of the time.

The vocal mic pitch tracking did really well. I'm not a great singer, but I can carry a tune, and sometimes with the right pitch. And it showed during the game. Granted, I'm a guitarist in real life (or at least, I play one on TV), and do vocals only if I really, really have to- just because I can never remember the words. Notes are one thing, words are another. I don't know why. It just works that way for me. So I'll be interested to see how well it tracks words on the harder levels (only played on medium today- I play on Hard and Expert on GH II and III). The mic will hod up well- except someone's bright idea to tell the user to "hit the mic with your hand" to keep a beat during those "cowbell moments' (good term and good review Lisa Shea)- the mic will be another oft-replaced item. No matter. I'm plugging in my USB headset mic and trying the sing/play thing... you don't lose points for not keep the beat during those "cowbell moments" (hehehe... "I gotta fever, and the only prescription is... more cowbell!")

Overall- you really get your money's worth with this game. And add the fact you can collaborate bands over Xbox Live- that's too freakin' cool. Detail in the game is tremendous, nice touches throughout. Re-playability is so high with this game- truly adds to the value over time. Harmonix really had a lot of foresight with this creation. OK, it's still basically Dance Dance Revolution for your fingers- and it's a LOT of fun! So is playing live music on a real instrument. But those are still two different worlds, although RB lets you have more fun with it and you have to eat a lot less ramen and mac-n-cheese in order to perform on the RB stage. :-) And people won't throw beer bottles at you... and if they do, stop inviting those people over to your house! LOL

Rock Band - Very Satisfied

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am very satisfied with my purchase. The best feature is that 4 people can play at once and GH guitars are compatible. It took me awhile to figure out the mic requires regular controller to be plugged in to activate. The new guitar is a nice change from GH guitar but does take some getting use to because it the strum bar is so sensitive...less fatigue in comparison. Drum kit is a nice challenge and fun for younger players.

Guitar issues: Yes. Worth dealing with: YES!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've never played Guitar Hero, so this is my first experience with music & my XBox 360. This game is a BLAST!! My wife, who is NOT a gamer, is addicted to the drums, and my finger tips are numb from playing the guitar for too many hours. I've experienced problems with the guitar, but I went online, filled out a problem report, received a RMA & UPS tracking number. I'm told that my replacement guitar will be here within 2 Days. This is an AWESOME game, and worth the $$$$.

Guitar Hero Has Been Dethroned

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You heard me right, Rock Band is the coolest game there is when it comes to music video games. What they did was take Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero and mixed it all together with great songs and a drum set and made it explode! It is that fun, especially when you have friends all taking up an instrument and jaming together. It is definitely worth every penny that you spend on buying it. The graphics are amazing and the game is definitely fun to play. I haven't been this impressed since Guitar Hero II and even this is better if you can believe that. It is just a variety that makes this so good. You can take turns playing different instruments with your friends and take turn singing the songs. It is definitely a game to play when you invite someone over. This is the kind of game that you play for hours and are sad when you have to go to bed for the night. It is that addicting! Bravo! Here's to a hopeful future for this series, and it really deserves it.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions