User Reviews (1 - 11 of 91)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

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.

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.

Great game-problems with guitar

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My husband and I had to get this game after playing it over at a friends house. We got it fairly quickly and started using it right away. We have 11 and 10 year old boys and it's a great family game. They love Rock Band night.

My only issue is with the guitar. Ours started having problems with the strummer (I'm not sure if that's what it's officially called). It wouldn't hit the notes when you strummed it and it sometimes wouldn't go into overdrive when you raise the guitar. We contacted the manufacturer and there were two options. 1) We have them send a box, return our guitar in it and wait for a new one to be sent. This would take at least a week and we wouldn't be able to play in the interum. 2) Put up a $125 deposit on a credit card, they would send a replacement out immediately and we ship ours back in the postage paid box. As long as they receive it within 30 days, there is no charge on the credit card.

We chose the second option. About 4 days later, we receive the replacement guitar. Notice I didn't say 'new'. It seemed to be a refurb because it had a few scratches on it. We tried it out and it is worse than the one we already had. Now we have to send it back and try for another one.

Hopefully this isn't a huge issue, but it has been a little disappointing. We hope to have the issue resolved soon.

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.

Rock out with Rock Band

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought a PS3 because of Rock Band. That's how much I wanted to play the game. But before you rush to buy, take note of a few things.

1. If you own a 40 gig PS3, there are not enough USB ports to plug in all Rock Band peripherals unless you have a USB hub. Without that hub, only two people can play at a time.

2. The guitar hardware strummer is known to have problems. Mine broke within days, as did those of two others I know. You can't exchange it at a retail store, but EA has a support site that lets you send any faulty peripheral back in exchange for a new one. I waited about 2 weeks for mine.

3. Don't forget to calibrate the audio/visual syncing. Having tried Rock Band on a few televisions, I had to calibrate the audio/visual delay each time, otherwise it just doesn't feel like you're rockin' out.

Those points aside, Rock Band is awesome. The guitar parts are, on average, easier than they are in the Guitar Hero games, but they're still fun. If you can master the drums, then you WILL be able to play a drum set in real life - which totally rocks. The only thing I dislike about the drums is that the tapping is painfully obnoxious, so unless you blast the game's volume, you'll hear a constant "tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap..." As for the singing, I found that you don't actually have to sing the words. As long as you can hum the pitch, you can do well.

Rock Band will bring hours and hours of fun, and it's one of those games that has infinite replay value.

New to music/rhythm genre games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Let me start by saying I am new to the music/rhythym games. Ive never played Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, etc. So what made me spend this much on a game? The drums and the party aspect.

Multiplayer: When you have a few friends/family over pop this in and have fun for hours. Beginners can have the bass or sing while more experienced rock on the lead guitar and drums. Went 5 hours straight first day, another 5 hours the next day. Crazy fun!

Solo: This game is still fun for solo play. You make your own rocker and play through the songs and unlock the hidden ones. Also, you need to practice sometime and solo time is perfect. You can slow the songs down to learn easily. After about two weeks (I dont play any real instruments) I have pretty much mastered the game on medium difficulty on both guitar and drums and am now working on hard. You dont need to be a musician to get good. Anyone can do this.

Lasting appeal: Getting bored of the songs? Download more online at the playstation store!!! Every week there will be a few more songs to download and play in Rock Band. This game will last a LONG TIME! You are not gonna finish it and then want to sell it. Its here to stay.

The instruments themselves: Ive been going pretty hard from day one and have had no problems and think they are built well for a video game controller. Depending on your TV set you are going to have to calibrate your instruments. I tried the auto calibrate but it was still off. Go into manual calibrate and follow the simple steps, IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE!!!

Awesome game and worth every dollar spent.

Couldn't stop playing this game!....Until the guitar broke :(

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My family got this last week as an early Christmas present. My whole family has had a blast with it, 6 y.o., 9 y.o., and two 40'ish parents! The game is so much fun, never thought I would hear my kids singing 'Gimme Shelter", but they do and they love it. I'm still playing the easier versions on both the guitar and the drums, but it is a lot of fun to go out on tour and win new clothes, cash, and even a broken down old van. My only disappointment is that after a few days use , the guitar is acting up, and since we took it out of the box, the drum is testy. I understand the manufacturer is shipping replacements quickly and without question...but when you pay 170 dollars for a game, you shouldn't have to take it back to the store. As long as they do indeed ship new instruments, my 5 star review will stay intact!! Buy this game,you will have a blast!

Just . Buy . It .

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Holy smoke. Just buy this game, right now. If you and/or your kids like Guitar Hero, this will Blow. You. Away. Rock Band was created by the two geniuses who created Guitar Hero I and II. My 16 year old can't stop. He especially loves the drums. My 12 year old plays the guitar along with him. My husband and I even sang. Yeah - I said my two sons were PLAYING. TOGETHER. It's totally awesome and worth every penny. (We have had no problem with the guitar controller.)

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.

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

Actions