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Really Rock Out Loud

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 29
Date: November 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

When it comes to video games in the shape of rhythm, there have been some of them that really have dominated the past several years like Dance Dance Revolution and singing games like Singstar for the Playstation 2. nevertheless, the one big hit that makes everyone want to rock out loud this past year had been the success of Activision's Guitar Hero series. Although there has been so much great success of the game series, many other have wanted to take the gameplay a bit step further by adding the beat of drums, and a hint of a mighty voice from a microphone for one rocking video game that takes it a much more hyped step further, and that adds into Rock Band.

Rock Band, for the Playstation 3, takes the excitement we've seen from music franchises like Guitar Hero, and bring more elements of rock by adding drums, and a microphone, by bringing the new element of rock to gameplay. That can also be said with the songs that you can unlock and choose from. The music you can jam too also takes it a bit higher, by bringing in artists that haven't yet seen the light from Guitar Hero in any of the games, and that adds onto the gameplay well. The graphics work very well, but the gameplay is in the songs as you jam to classics from R.E.M. on their 1988 hit Orange Crush, to rock gods like The Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter, and Bon Jovi with their 80's anthem Wanted Dead Or Alive. There are also cherrished hits from The Red Hot Chili Peppers with their 2005 hit Dani California, and the Foo Fighters guilty pleasure Learn To Fly. There are also other recent guilty pleasures like OK Go and Here It Goes Again, and Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl to play with here as well. The gameplay is simple to pick up for multiplayer action, or solo mode, as you conquer solo tour mode, or the multiplayer action gameplay of Band World Tour Mode.

The game comes with all the essentials you need from a guitar, a drum kit, and even a microphone, so you can jam anyway you simply desire to all your favorite songs, which adds well into the gameplay. Sadly though, there is one big disadvantage to the game, and that is the price. With the price rounding to over $200 for the entire gameplay kit, it may bring down the feeling fo being everywhere to the pockets, but as a party game, it jams in the multiplayer action very well into the game, by bringing the element of fun to the game.

All in all, Rock Band is a really great concept for those who've simply grown tired of Guitar Hero after awhile. It is a great game to rock with you and your friends whether it is online by downloading extras, or just wanting to practice on your beats, Rock Band works great as a must have for your Playstation 3, and brings in the kind of muscle the system has lagged behind from competeition from the Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. There is no other way to say it but Rock Band Rocks On!!!

Graphics: B+

Songlist: A-

Sound: B

Control: B+

Fun & Enjoyment: B 1/2+ for solo play; A- for multiplayer action

Price: B

Overall: B+

Two Words for Fun:

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 54 / 58
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Rock Band.

It all started 8 years ago when I was introduced to Guitar Freaks at Gameworks in Tempe, AZ. The idea of playing a musical instrument as part of video game was addictive. Granted, the songs were original and limited, and the game bundle (offered only for the PS1 in Japan) was expensive, but Konami had the right idea.

Enter Guitar Hero. The original PS2 version, released two years ago, took the Guitar Freaks ingenuity and turned it into a product that appealed to the American audience. Those of us who had spent hundreds of dollars at Gameworks pounding songs on Guitar Freaks knew exactly what to do with the guitar and how to read the screen. I snagged one the week it came out and played to my heart's content. With subsequent releases of GHII and Rock of the 80's, I had enough music to last me for a couple of years. Last year Guitar Hero II became the high-demand Christmas item to give, breaking out of the die-hard "gamer" audience and into the average household (a feat very rarely accomplished by developers who publish games that require a unique controller).

Harmonix, the developer for Rock Band, has their experience with successful rhythm-based games. Frequency, Amplitude, Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero all won the hearts of audiences and game reviewers. With the success of these games, their partnership with MTV Music to create Rock Band is ingenious and exciting. Who else would be better suited than MTV to convince musicians and music publishers to contribute to this project? And what more brilliant way could any band market themselves? They provide a single hit recording which is then mass distributed through a video game then played over and over by the fans that made the song a hit to begin with - no musician or band can go wrong.

And what about the game itself? Addictive. Energetic. Hypnotic. Entertaining. Fun.

Here are some real issues: price. The special edition bundle complete with the game, drum set, wireless guitar/bass and microphone is retailing for $169.99. It's expensive and a lot of money to spend on one video game. The nice thing is the guitar controller can be used to play Guitar Hero; however, it is still a lot of money for one game.

Another issue: system calibration. Some HD televisions and HD sound systems are causing a slight delay in game play, the source of a lot of frustration. There is a very limited and weak calibration setting in the game but it doesn't solve all the problems.

Another issue: the controllers themselves. Last night I spent many hours acquainting myself with the drum kit and got frustrated when cymbal crashes did not land correct. A successful hit has to be nearly dead center of the pad itself and that is not realistic when landing a cymbal crash. It is also frustrating that the pads do not react very well to snare rolls, a necessity in a drummer's repertoire. Anybody with actual drumming experience will find this process frustrating and will probably run back to their real drums for solace and comfort ("I can play drums, I can!").

However, all games face issues and luckily with time they can be fixed. Eventually, the price in the game will fall, great for those on budgets. System calibration will improve as game updates are pushed through online (a wonderful yet tedious aspect of the PS3/XBOX 360). The controllers themselves will improve with further technology and once third party developers get the thumbs up from Sony/Microsoft, they will come out with all sorts of accessories and equipment that will enhance and improve game play.

I can't wait.

Complaints aside (come on - we all have them), this game is everything fun. It is innovative and creative and never-ending. Tired of guitar? Try vocals. Beat the drums? Try bass. And the best part - find a band online or invite friends and have a ball. You will, you will spend hours and hours escaping into the great fantasy of being in a rock band. Guitar Hero put an air guitar in our hands, Rock Band gives you the rest. Expensive, yes. System bugs, yes. Controller delay, yes.

Worth it all, absolutely. And if you're still unsure, check out any big-box electronics store or video game retailer and play the demo. Better yet, check out the local video game retailer for Rock Band competitions (they do have them) and try it for yourself. You will love it.

Best Party Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This Game is Guitar Hero III on Steroids.

The Special Edition is and incredible value with all the HW you get. The drum's are the most fun for me.
Their is a patch 1.01 for PS3 owners I don't know about other platforms. The PS3 versions Fender guitar is cordless which is a bonus, I was worried it would be wired. The Guitar Hero III guitar will work with this as well which is nice if you prefer the feel of it over the Fender. I am undecided as of yet. The whole set looks to be solidly constructed. New music is only $5.49 for a set of 3 songs. Enough reviewing, our groups break is over off to the next set.

More fun than the law should allow

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 10
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've had this game less than 24 hours, and I'm already prepared to call it the best game ever. I never thought I could enjoy anything more than guitar hero, but this has done it. That drum controller is ridiculous fun. I've also played guitar and sang at the same time on a few songs. I own a real mic stand, so I was able to set it up. I've enjoyed guitar hero and karaoke revolution, so this is combining those games for me, plus adding that drum set! I did have to put in some time calibrating for the lag caused by my DLP TV, but once I did everything worked superbly. So if you're having trouble with the rhythm, spend a little time working that out. I can't wait to play it for hours and hours and hours...

The big questions will be:
1 - Will the hardware hold up
2 - Will the downloadable content come through, and will it be reasonably priced.
3 - Will the online play deliver.

If this game comes through on these counts, this could very well go down as my favorite game of all time.

Excellent Drum Kit, disappointing guitar controller

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 71 / 87
Date: November 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I, like most fans of the Guitar Hero series, have been anticipating the arrival of this game since I first learned of its development back in July. When I first saw the photos of the guitar controller I became ecstatic. It looked like the guitar controller I have always wanted since I actually own a real Stratocaster made to the Eric Clapton "Blackie" design. The controller looks almost exactly like my real guitar! So with that combined with the fact that the game was created by the original development team fir Guitar Hero I and II, Needless to say I was quivering with anticipation.

The is no doubt that the guitar gameplay is very similar to the Guitar Hero series. For some reason though, I seem to have a harder time focusing on the notes in Rock Band since they are little rectangles instead of fat circles like in GH. But the song list is amazing and that certainly makes up for some cons. However there is one thing I cannot get over:

The Guitar controller sucks. There. I said it. The construction of the unit is just the cheapest of cheap plastic. When you are playing it, you feel as though you have to be careful not to break it. Yeah, the buttons are designed better in my opinion but the plastic actually bends under minimal pressure. WTF!?!?! And while I was excited about the buttons on the lower fretboard for solos, they are almost too narrow to be played by average adult hands. So now I will find myself plugging in my GH3 controller for Rock Band.
But there is a huge plus side: The drums. They are just incredibly fun to play. And while they may not be built like real drums but rather electonic drumpad abominations from the 1980's they seem as though they can stand up to some abuse. They are pretty hard to rock out to on the advanced levels making them a fun and addicting challenge. I have a good friend who is a drummer and he picked them up and did amazing on his first go do they are pretty realistic as you can get. The developers claim that if you can play the drums on expert level on the game than you are basically playing drums for real. Pretty neat.
The mic. I think this is alright. Works well but seems to almost force you to not sing in your natural singing voice. Instead they really want you to sound like the person singing the original song. Hard to sing like Roger Daultry one song and then switch to Billy Corgan the next. This feature seems to be almost designed for parties.
All in all a solid game. The song list is great and does not disappoint. Like I said, I just found the guitar controller and game play to be a letdown. At least the drums are great. But hey, you may feel differently. Have fun with it.

Lucky

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you were one of the few lucky people able to buy this product when it was in stock, then you already know how fun this game is. The fact that many stores did not stock the ps3 version of this game makes this game even more rare. The gameplay is an upgrade from guitar hero, and is really fun. The drums have to be my favorite because not only are they the most fun to play but they are also the most engaging. The microphone is another cool aspect that when thrown in at a party makes beer drowned voices even better. I recommend this game to everyone, expecially because new songs are coming out every week!

Gameplay-10
Sound-10
Visuals-10

The only thing i am not happy with is that individual guitars will not be available until febuary so you will have no bass player until then. But i love the game besides that fact.

What a cool experience!!!!! GREAT FUN!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First, I have never played any type of other singing or guitar game for any of the video game platforms, other than making a fool of myself for a few minutes at the local Wal-Mart's Guitar Hero demo. I have friends and co-workers who have been telling me for months, how cool the Guitar Hero franchise is and that I should check it out. Having a PS3, the first available game was Guitar Hero III (Legends of Rock) that came out in late October. I was doing lots of research and getting ready to buy GH III, when I started hearing about rock band. It sounded very interesting, the whole concept of being able to do 4 different things (Rhythm, Bass, Drums and Rock the mic) in one game. So I decided that Rock Band was going to be my choice and my way to break the ice into this genre of game.

All that being said, I was able to get this game last night at about 7:30 Central time. I got it home, opened the box and glanced at the instruction book. Put together all the peripherals (Guitar and Drums) and stated playing.

Now, keep in mind that I have zero musical experience with guitars or drums or vocals for that matter. I started out with the vocal tutorial, spent about a half hour messing with that. Correction, WE spent about a half hour with the vocal tutorial. My wife was along for the ride as well. I'm 30 years old and she's 28, and we were like to kids in a candy store. We Had so much fun trying to out score eachother on the easier songs as we got our bearings with ths vocal portion of the game. Our Yellow Lab Toby, was looking at us like we had lost out minds. A lot of the songs we didn't recognize by title, but as soon as they starting playing, we knew them and were ROCKING!

After about 3 hours, I plugged in the guitar and left the mic in my wifes hands. I didn't do the guitar tutorial, so I was kinda flying blind with it. I picked it up pretty quick, and we were soon rocking tandem to this game. We had so much fun playing, singing and laughing. We decided to call it a night and it was well past 3 am. I haven't even plugged in the drums yet or really even scratched the surface with the guitar yet. This game is such a neat concept and going to be so much fun! We both had smiles on our faces the entire 7 or so hours we played.

My initial impressions are this game is going to be HUGE! With a vast song library included and the ability to download new songs, it will be a neverending experience. The peripherals seem to be solid and well built. I will post more as learn more and get more hands on time with the game. As for now, I have to get back to our husband/wife Rock Band.

DEFECTIVE! Do not purchase this product!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 33
Date: December 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The peripherals on this game are complete junk. Just read the rockband forums and you can see how many people are having problems with this game.

My guitar was defective out of the box, so I went through the warranty replacement process and received a second guitar that stopped working after about 40 minutes (one of the frets registers as permanently down)

I have seen MANY other reports of people having similar problems. This product was obviously rushed to market with many known defects and should be recalled.

rock band ROCKS!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It is everything all in one! Buy this for your kids and they will love you!! My kids have never owned GH games and are not into Rock but they are blown away by this game! It is fun for the entire family!! ALSO we own all the systems and decided to purchase it on PS3 due to the guitar being WIRELESS! (Xbox is a wired guitar) I'm not worried about any snags comming up in the system, like everything else the company always improvise with updates. (we heard it all last year when PS3 was released!PLEASE!) JUST HAVE FUN!!

Great game, poor controllers

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Rock band is a great improvement over Guitar Hero games. It is fun to play however the controllers do not quite meet the expectations and can take away from your overall fun factor.

My drum set had a faulty pad right out of the box and had to wait 2 weeks to get the replacement. The online replacement procedure was very simple and quick yet was too good to be true as seen in the result. Guitar controller looks and feels great, hope it does not die on me soon. No problems with the mic so far. As can be seen on the EA's support forum posts, a good number of people are having problems with their controllers which makes me think that the controllers suffer from lack of quality control.

Another thing to mention is that the drum pads are extremely noisy when you tap on them with the wooden sticks. If you don't have the volume up on your TV set, it is a good chance that you will only hear your tapping on the drums rather than the music or the notes you are playing. Some people are even sticking foam and felt sheets on their drum pads to reduce the tapping noise.

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